The Campaign Against Immigration Controls organised a picket yesterday at Total HQ in Watford to coincide with the deadline for surrender that the bosses had set, stepping up their offensive against the unions in the engineering construction industry with the taunt of asking workers to betray the most militant among them by reapplying individually for their jobs rather than securing reinstatement en masse.
9 of us from London (including two children) joined three members of the Watford Trades Council. Victimised Colombian cleaner, Alberto Durango, was due to attend but had to stay in London for childcare; also a Unite member, he had spoken strongly at our planning meeting in defence of the LOR workers’ actions in recent weeks, as an impressive display of solidarity and the kind of action needed to defend unionized workplaces everywhere. Apologies were also received from Raj Gill, of the GMB Hotel and Catering Branch which just passed a motion to GMB Congress calling for the regularization of all undocumented workers. Another message came from a leading direct action climate activist.
The Lindsey dispute has had thousands of hours dedicated to it, in talk and writing, throughout the socialist and trade union movement and beyond, with a small range of widely disagreeing –and noticeably stock - responses to the walkouts in January at Lindsey. There is, however, complete support for the reinstatement of the LOR workers. As a labour movement, we must ensure this happens by taking concerted action against Total for the workers’ sake, but also in our name, with our values, for reasons of solidarity which are totally opposed to the reasons that the anti-union BNP are mobilizing around this dispute, trying to reintroduce the rejected slogan of “British Jobs for British workers” and foment racism and xenophobia.
(This was sent as an e-letter to the BNP mail list yesterday: http://bnp.org.uk/2009/06/bnp-leader-urges-action-on-british-worker-stri...)
We had placards demanding reinstatement, against union busting, for freedom of movement & equal Rights for all. Chants saying "the Linsdsey workers are right to strike, all workers unite and fight", "Total Hear us say: Reinstatement form Today / Union busting No Way", "Sack the bosses not the workers", "Reinstate the Lindsey Strikers - Job for All!". We handed out leaflets produced by CAIC and Workers' Climate Action demanding re-instatement, explaining why anti-immigration controls activists and climate activists are supporting the sacked workers.
Lots of bus and car drivers bibbed their horns enthusiastic about the protest. Most of the workers and schools students at the end of their shifts took leaflets, some stopped to talk, all different kinds of people. We could only see one leaflet that had been dropped, and the secretary of the Trades Council noted that the response among workers had changed dramatically, compared with the mood on the street toward calls for solidarity in previous years in the area. Obviously, the scale and timing of the attack is remarkable. There wasn't quite outrage out there - yet; there was majority, though not overwhelming, support.
The display of solidarity across the industry - with walkouts and protest spreading to most key sites - must be met with equal determination across the whole movement, to secure justice for the Lindsey strikers. We will respond, as a priority, to calls from the wider movement to co-ordinate and build necessary action.
Photos by the secretary of the Watford Trades Council:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27689&id=1186283841