The Socialist 15 April 2020

Exit strategy? PPE and mass testing. Workers’ control of workplace safety.

MPs get £10k each for lockdown expenses - where's ours?

Dispatches from the front: NHS staff say give us PPE, not medals!

Johnson's hospitalisation: a tale of two treatments

Big pharma's profiteering holds back drug supply

Lockdown increases domestic violence calls - Tory money a drop in the ocean

NHS nurse: we're not wasting PPE - the Tories don't value us

Rapacious capitalism and the spread of coronavirus

Exit strategy? PPE and mass testing and workers' control of workplace safety

Fight back against the corona propaganda war

London Transport workers fighting private companies and TfL to secure health and safety

Unite opposes all cuts to domestic violence services

Passport workers forced back to offices as Home Office shirks its duty of care

Collectively demanding safe warehouse working conditions

Usdaw shop workers' union activists meet via Zoom

Coronavirus workplace news in brief

Sabotage - the inner workings of Labour's political machine exposed

Plymouth students discuss rent strike

Final push for May Day greetings

Socialist Party coronavirus crisis finance appeal

Join an online Socialist Party meeting during lockdown

The Socialist Party and socialist ideas are growing

How the catastrophe of WW1 sparked revolution

Going viral: Socialist comments on the corona crisis

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1082/30617

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 15 April 2020 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook

Plymouth students discuss rent strike

The Old Dairy student accomodation Plymouth (Click to enlarge)

Sami Vickery, Plymouth College of Art student and Old Dairy tenant

The Old Dairy is private rented accommodation provided by Host to students in the University of Plymouth and Plymouth College of Art.

It is one of the few Plymouth student-let buildings that has yet to put into place measures to assist students during these special circumstances, such as rent discounts or early cancellation of our tenancy agreements.

Rather than staying in large blocks of shared flats, a lot of students have opted to return to our families, to ensure we're adhering to social-distancing recommendations. We are unhappy that we are still required to pay in full for accommodation when our college has shut.

We're even expected to pay utilities as part of our rent, utilities that simply aren't being used since many of us are not present in our flats. Host has told us that no action will be taken and no changes will be made to tenant contracts.

Students have collected over 400 signatories in less than a week, to allow students to exit their contracts early. Host has repeatedly rejected any requests for early terminations.

It will only do so if you receive a letter from your GP to exempt you from the tenancy agreement. This further highlights how poorly this is being handled.

Host opts to take away precious time from doctors, to settle petty disputes. This proves it has chosen money over morals.

Old Dairy students are discussing the possibility of a rent strike.

Colleges and universities have shut. Does the government seriously expect students to pay for our rent in full, when many of us have lost jobs or are on reduced pay?

Surely it's reasonable to not pay for accommodation we're not using?

In this issue

Coronavirus news

MPs get £10k each for lockdown expenses - where's ours?