Brent Museum and Archives, located in The Library at Willesden Green,
preserves and showcases the history of the London Borough of Brent. It
houses a vast collection of over 10,000 objects, including historical
documents, photographs, and artifacts as well as council records, local
newspapers, and more.
With this funding, the museum will undertake a detailed cataloguing
project of the Brent Trades Council (BTUC) archive, which documents the
organisation’s involvement in a wide range of local and national
campaigns and social justice issues from the 1960s through to 2013.
The Brent Trades Council is the community branch of the Trades Union
Congress (TUC) for the London Borough of Brent. It represents union
members from organisations including UCU, RMT, GMB, CWU, Brent NEU, and
various Unite branches, working in solidarity to champion workers’
rights and social activism.
The cataloguing project will deliver access to this vital collection,
enabling local communities, schools, and researchers to explore Brent’s
rich history of trade unionism and political activism. BMA will also use
the BTUC’s archives to create greater engagement with the borough’s
diverse communities and encourage conversations about Brent’s past and
present identity.
Cllr Promise Knight, Cabinet Member for Customer Experience, Resident Support and Culture said:
This
funding is a fantastic opportunity to preserve and share the powerful
history of the Brent Trades Council. These archives capture the voices
and struggles
of our local communities and workers, and through this project, we can
ensure that their stories inspire and educate future generations.
The
project is expected to be completed over the next year, with the
collection becoming fully accessible for public use and academic
research.
NEU staff at The Village School in Kingsbury were on strike for he second day today. Staff are fighting for reinstatement of their leave of absence policy which was removed by the Academy Trust without consultation. Staff say that the Tust broke its own rules by not negotiating with unions first. Ante-natal, carers' and medical/disability leave are particuarly affected.
The largely female and ethnically diverse workforce were on the picket line this morning in good cheer and with a tune or two.They were encouraged by many toots of support from passing vehicles including buses and commercial vans. Solidarity messages from parents and other schools were read out and enegetically applauded.
I understand that tough negotiations have made some positive progress but there are still several sticking points. A union meeting at the school gates received a report back on the negotiations, listened carefully and then overwhelmingly voted to go ahead with tomorrow's scheduled strike to win the final elements of their demands.
Pete Firmin gives a solidarity message from Brent Trades Council
More strikes will be held next week if staff demands are not met.
Apologies for sound quality - not very good PA combined with traffic noise. Speech summaries below.
Workers for the homelessness charity St Mungo's, currently striking for a decent wage when the charity's executives are paid large salaries, received support in Wembley on Friday when a solidarity rally took place outside Brent Civic Centre.
Dawn Butler, Brent Central MP, spoke first but had finished by the time I got there. Brent North MP Barry Gardiner told the rally that the government was trying to make people insecure in their employment as a way of keeping them down. He said, 'We won't buckle down, we won't touch our forelock and say if that's all you can afford, thanks very much then. Because that's not the way trade unions operate, so I stand with you, keep up the fight and solidarity.'
Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, in a speech that was hard to hear, said that the work at St Mungo's was important. He said that as a council they would take the dispute up with St Mungo's to make sure that the dispute process was open, fair and transparent. He, councillors and the Labour Group were commited to fair pay: 'We'll make sure you guys get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.' [St Mungo's get a good proportion of their income via contracts with local councils.]
A Unite organiser said that the workers had a mandate for indefinite industrial action. He said that there had been other issues as well as the current pay dispute with the charity including a glass ceiling on pay, bullying and harassment and dismissal and attemnpted dismissal of their union members. They had made it clear to the employer that enough was enough and they were not going to put up with it anymore.
The employers thought the strikers would buckle within a couple of weeks and brought in agency workers, ahead of the workers being forced to return. Instead the strike and the momentum of the campaign had grown.
The union was now looking at what extra steps they could take and had a plan to take the fight to the directors, the trustees, and the funders who hold the purse strings. They would be contacting those with whom St Mungo's had business links, the City of London, and other charities linked to St Mungo's.
He concluded by saying that a 10% salary increase was needed at the very minimum/
Jonathan Ffuxman, Secretary of Brent Trades Council and a member of Doctors in Unite, said that this was a battle for control of the charity. He said that it beggared belief that a respected charity was a cash cow for its executive while the workers, who helped people off the street to restore their lives, got the minimum wage, were bullied and harassed and were completely over-worked.
As a GP he had seen the work St Mungo's did from his Practice. Life expectancy for homeless people was just 45 years. St Mungo workers are the people who are picking them up from the street, giving them somewhere to stay and helping them. It was an essential service and, 'What do they get? The minimum wage.'
He appealed for support from the labour movement against the background of strikes by doctors, nurses and others who are fighting back.
'If you are not in a union - join one. If you are in a union - get active. Make your union do stuff. Every union needs to be fighting hard and showing solidarity.'
Cllr Gwen Grahl, a member of the Brent Cabinet with a background in working for charities said that over the last few decades the charity sector had become more like corporations with executive earning big salaries while there were povery wages for the workers and the use of fire and rehire and zero hours contracts. She said some charities then undermined the permanent workers by introducing agency staff: 'I fully support you and will join your picket line on Friday.'
Cllr Jumbo Chan, who is a member of the NEU which is also currently in dispute, said that workers were being blamed for other crises that were going on at the moment including the economy.
He told the strikers, 'The bosses think they are getting away with it, but by say "No!" you are doing something powerful. You are puncturing not just the bosses but a powerful narrative that is supported by politicians, economists and academics. There is no law that says bosses can earn whatever they want and workers always have to take what they are offered.'
Chan said that the strikers were facing a titanic struggle but have the labour movement behind them and full support.
Responding to the speeches a St Mungo's worker thanked the speakers and those attending and said it really meant something to the strikers. He said they were fed up with the lie that they had to accept 3% a year when price rises were in double figures. 'Enough is enough' had to start meaning something. They had gone into a meeting with management on Tuesday really hoping that there would be a sensible offer but nothing came. It was a waste of time and they now had no option but to escalate the action.
He concluded, 'We are getting more confident as this dispute goes on and we are not going back in there until we have won.'
Supporters are asked to join the picket line from 8.30am on Friday at the St Mungo's facility in Pound Lane Willesden, just opposite the bus garage entrance.
There will be a Rally to support the workers at the St Mungo's homelessness charity on Friday June 16th outside Brent Civic Centre at noon.
The main speakers at the Rally, organised by Brent Trades Council, will be local MPs Dawn Butler and Barry Gardiner.
Take along your union banners and placards so that that we make a big declaration of solidarity with workers struggling for a decent wage when executives earn tens of thousands.
Nearest tube Wembley Park but also accessible from Wembley Central station and multiple bus routes.
The rally will be preceeded by a short picket outside St Mungo's facility in Pound Lane, Willesden, opposite the bus garage at 9am.
Brent Fights Back will be holding an organising meeting on 18th January at 7pm to discuss how we can share information and support local activity across the borough led by different Brent Campaigns. The meeting will be held at BBMC, 386 High Road, London NW10 2JR
If you are interested in coming (it will be in person and on zoom) and would like to be kept informed of local activities, please email
Jonathan Fluxman spoke at today's Cabinet Meeting
about Brent Trades Council's concerns LINK that proposed Brent-wide Public Space
Protection Orders (PSPO ) prohibitions on the use of megaphones and amplified
microphones would curb the free speech rights of political campaigners and
protestors.
Fluxman said that in the present form in which the
prohibition was framed there was no exemption for such protests, He went on to
criticise what he termed a 'flawed consultation and said that Brent Trades
Council should have been directly consulted on this aspect of the PSPO
proposal.
Commenting on the meeting he said:
We were pleased to hear several
reassurances from Cllr Butt that the PSPO is not intended to limit
protest. My comments are now on record. I said in its present form
there is no exemption, and we would like to see the wording of the exemption to
ensure our rights to protest are protected. Cllr Butt said everything
would be minuted and the right to protest would not be restricted: the right to
protest is protected in law.
He also said we would be added as
stakeholders in future, and indicated to the officers that they should do
so.
We do need to ensure that the
wording of the PSPO is clear when it is published, but it is all minuted, and
the Cabinet were clear that the our fundamental rights to demonstrate will not
be limited.
Brent Trades Council took to the airways to publicise the 100th Anniversary of Willesden Trades Hall on K2K Radion this week in a sort of labour movement Desert Island Discs.
Maha Rahwnji interviewed Mary and Diane to
learn about the history of the iconic building. Mary Adossides is Chair of Brent Trades
Council and Secretary of the Willesden Trades and Labour Hall Society and Diane White is Manager of BBMC and bassist in
band, Akabu.
Tickets include food and range from £5 unwaged to £20 general entry and £50 solidarity. Book HERE.
The Celebration of 100 Years of Working-class
History in Brent fundraiser will be held on Saturday 15th October 2022, from 7pm till late at
the Brent Black Music Cooperative (Theorem Music Complex). High Road Willesden. Nearest tube Dollis Hill, Close to the Trades Council building.
Programme
Akabu - reggae band
Food and Bar
with contributions from
- Dawn Butler MP on why the Trades Hall matters
- Chris Coates, a short history of the Trades Hall
- Fitzroy on the Apollo Club
- Sundara Anitha on the Grunwick strike and screening of a clip from the
Grunwick strike
The history of this amazing building
The
Willesden Trades and Labour Hall was registered as a friendly society on 30
August 1922. The Trades Hall became the HQ of the Labour Party, but also of
local trade unions.
Through the 1920s and ‘30s, the Hall was mainly used for
union and LP meetings with popular speakers such as Sylvia Pankhurst. In 1932
the local branch of the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement was given the
large hall for 2 days every week and later in October, 60 of the 500 strong
Scottish and West Coast contingent of the National Hunger March slept over in
the hall. In February 1934, the Hall was under police surveillance during a
meeting of 12 women from the Catering Section of the Willesden Hunger March
Solidarity Committee.
The Labour Party was still an active presence in the Hall
and continued to organise larger meetings there, including on the Cuban crisis
1962. In June 1962, during a brief visit to London, Nelson Mandela was invited
to address the Willesden Trades Council in the Anson Hall.
When Willesden and
Wembley joined to form the London Borough of Brent in 1965, it became the home
for the merged Brent Trades Council. In 1969, the Trades Hall welcomed the
London Apollo Club which became a famous London music venue, occupying much of
the Ground floor. It is said that Bob Marley played there when he first came to
London. During the 1970s until this century, the Apollo Club became one of the
most popular reggae venues in Brent.
The 1980s brought dramatic economic
changes to Brent with major factory closures of well-known names like Smiths
Industries and Guinness. The building became nationally known during the
Grunwick dispute 1976-78, when a small group of mainly Asian women workers in a
photo-processing factory in Chapter Road took strike action to protest their
low wages and poor working conditioning.
By the turn of the century, it was clear
that deindustrialisation, had deeply affected the Trades Council’s base and
income. The Society, which owns the building, ceased to be a registered. The
Trades Hall and the Apollo Club are now closed to the public for health and
safety reasons as the older part of the building is in a poor state.
Celebrating the centenary of this iconic building and of its rich working class
history will provide the opportunity to relaunch the hall and the Apollo Club
to serve as a Labour Centre in Brent at a time of revival of the trade union
movement.
The first event organised by Brent Keep Our NHS Public saw a cross party and non-party group, along with Brent Trades Council, demonstrate outside the Willesden Centre for Health and Care today.
The event coincided with the 73rd anniversary of the NHS and centred on defending it from privatisation, including the US takeover of some Brent GP surgeries and the potential selling of patient data, and support for the NHS15 campaign for a 15% rise for health workers who have lost 20% of their pay in real terms over the last 10 years.
Apart from fairness to the staff the pay rise is also necessary for the effective running of the NHS , with 100,000 vacancies and 36% of nurses thinking of leaving already impacting on the quality of care. A significant increase such as 15% would help maintain staff numbers and improve recruitment, leading to a reduction in waiting times for patients and better care all round.
Our NHS as a 'public good' is being undermined in a variety of ways but immediate action on pay would make a considerable difference in the short and longer term.
Nearly 40 years on from the above, the battle for our NHS continues. Last night was the inaugral meeting of Brent Keep Our NHS Public part of a national campaign against privatisation of the Health Service. Last night, as in 1982, it was supported by some Brent councillors (I am not sure if there is official backing from Brent Council itself).
Cllr Neil Nerva, Lead member for Public Health, Culture and Leisure, introducing the Trades Council sponsored meeting said that on the doorstep there was currently more concern about access to NHS services than privatisation, but went on to list the various threats from privatisation. Cllr Janice Long said that not only was it important that this was a cross party campaign but that it should reach a much broader audience. She said it was important to keep the message simple and was doubtful about the effectiveness of Patient Participation Groups, but GP Jonathan Flaxman urged people to get involved with them to overcome the powerlessness of patients. Cllr Ihtesham Afzal urged more street protests: There is one tomorrow:
Other councillors who attended were Cllrs Thakker, McLennan, Dar, Kabir and Hylton along with Trades Council members and other activists.
25th May is the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd and the start of the Black Lives Matter protests.
This year, the TUC and Stand Up To Racism started a week of action on May 17 to mark the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd with on-line meetings,'Take the Knee' events and also requests for Town Halls and other public buildings to be lit on the 25th May.
TAKE THE KNEE AT WILLESDEN GREEN
Also, in line with many other places, we will be holding a socially distanced and covid secure event of 'Taking the Knee',outsideWILLESDEN GREEN STATION on Tuesday, 25 May. AT 5.30pm.
We hope Black Lives Matter West London will support the event and deliver a short speech.
Other speakers welcome.
26 th May
Stop our GP practices being sold off to Centene USA
Johnbosco
Lwongo from We Own It and Jonathan Fluxman from Doctors in Unite will outline
next steps in building a Brent Campaign. Your contribution to this discussion will be valued.
Brent Trades Council is urging local residents and trade unionists to sign an open letter to Sadiq Khan urging him to stop attempts to change the working conditions of London bus drivers.
The change, called 'remote sign on', would mean drivers instead of going to a garage to begin their working day going to a bus stop or other venue and joining a bus. Their working time would begin at that point and pay would be reduced if the bus was late. Drivers would only be paid for the time they are behind the wheel. The bus stop would of course lack the facilities of toilets and canteens available at a garage and limit interaction with other bus workers. It is believed that the change would equate to a 7% fall in earnings.
We urge you as Mayor of London to stop
remote sign on which bus operators are proposing to introduce on some
bus routes. You have already instructed the Board of Transport of London
(TfL) to order a moratorium on remote sign on in London which is
conditional on “research” being done on its impact.
Why is this important?
Research shows that remote sign on is bad news for
drivers, detrimental to passengers and risks the safety of all road
users. If a bus is delayed the driver is left, unpaid and in the open,
for considerable lengths of time in all weathers, increasing issues of
tiredness and fatigue. Driver fatigue is a health concern and a tired
driver places passenger safety at risk. Also Unite the Union, of which
you are a member, calculated that remote sign on would equate to an
immediate seven per cent cut in wages on average for affected workers.
Terms and conditions of London bus drivers are under attack by bus
operators. The outsourcing of routes to 16 different operators means bus
drivers have different rates of pay, different contracts and different
sets of terms and conditions depending on the company they work for.
Drivers working for RATP London United are already taking industrial
action across 7 bus depots for improved pay and in defence of their
terms and conditions. Metroline and Metroline West bus depots have now
won their ballot for industrial action opposing the introduction of
remote sign on and in defence of their terms and conditions.
Only bus operators benefit from this scheme as they cut costs by
reducing wages. This is why despite your moratorium Unite’s 4,000
members have vowed to fight remote sign on with everything they have as
they are concerned your moratorium will not achieve a suitable outcome.
They have given overwhelming support to taking industrial action in defence of their terms and conditions.
Please ensure that as Mayor of London, you give bus drivers a cast
iron guarantee that bus companies are not allowed to compete on pay and
conditions for staff, please set a minimum and equal standard of
employment for all bus drivers and re-assure bus drivers, who are
essential workers, that both their pay and their terms and conditions
are in safe hands whilst you are Mayor of London? And please keep to
your pledge if re-elected Mayor on 6th May.
Join Brent Trades Council, Stand Up to Racism, local trade
unions, and other organisations to protest racism at Brent’s Civic
Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley Park, HA9 0FJ (nearest tube Wembley Park)at 1pm
Bring your union or your organisation’s banner, physically distance,
wear a mask, stay safe – limit numbers to a max of 3 per banner to
ensure we remain within the law.
What is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination?
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is
observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa,
opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against
apartheid “pass laws” in 1960. In 1979, the UN General Assembly decided
that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and
racial discrimination, beginning on 21 March, would be organized
annually in all states across the world. Since then, the apartheid
system in South Africa has been dismantled. Racist laws have been
abolished in many countries, and we have built an international
framework for fighting racism, guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
The Convention is now nearing universal ratification, yet still, in
all regions, too many individuals, communities and societies continue to
suffer from the injustice and stigma that racism brings.
This Saturday 20 March is UN anti-racism day. It’s 60 years since the
apartheid government in South Africa gunned down people struggling for
freedom but in Europe, the ugly head of racism rears its head again.
Hungary’s racist leader Viktor Orbán blames migration and ‘foreigners’ for the economic crisis. He is not the only one.
Across the world the racist right is reacting in similar ways which has led to a spike in racist attacks and which spreads fear.
Already in Britain planned draconian legislation is set to target
B&ME communities. Johnson’s Tory government has failed miserably to
address racism in this crisis. This new legislation must be opposed.
The report into the Windrush scandal shows the racism at the heart of
the Tory government and its Hostile Environment Act. Refugees seeking
asylum from war zones are being left to drown in the Mediterranean and
turned back from British shores.A majority of black people are stopped
and searched by the British police. The enquiry into Grenfell has still
not reached any conclusion. A disproportionate of B&ME workers have
suffered deaths from COVID.
Brent Trades Council's next meeting will be an online rally"Toward Zero Covid: a campaign to beat the pandemic in Brent" on Wednesday February 24th at 7pm.
Our panel of speakers include :
Helen O'Connor, GMB and ex-nurse, who leads on this campaign on the People's Assembly
Shelly Asquithfrom the TUC who has been invited to speak on the importance of unionisation and working with Labour councils
Dr Jonathan Fluxmanfrom Unite Doctors branch on the proposed campaign in Brent urgingBrent Council to provide hotel accommodation when a family member needs to self-isolate. Households are the most common place for spread of the virus and we have many low-income overcrowded households in Brent, an important reason for the high death rate in the borough.
Patrick Vernon (OBE and member ofUnison). He will address the difficult question of vaccine hesitancy.Amongst other achievements, Patrick was awarded an OBE in 2012 for his work on tackling health inequalitiesand was included in the 2020 Power list of 100 influential Black People in Britain.
