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Saturday, 20 August 2016
The Grunwick strike began 40 years ago today: 'WE ARE THOSE LIONS' - commemoration events
Monday, 10 October 2016
Upcoming Grunwick40 events - exhibition, film, conference
From Grunwick40 |
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Saturday, 9 April 2016
'Trade unions are not just for white men' - Grunwick film and panel at TUC on Friday
Friday April 15th at Trade Union Congress 23-28 Great Russell Street WC1B 3LS 7pm
The TUC Race Relations Committee in association with the SERTUC Film Club presents a screening of ‘The Great Grunwick Strike 1976-1978: A History’, followed by a panel discussion on the lessons that can be learnt from the dispute.
ORDER YOUR FREE TICKET HERE
Message from Grunwick 40
We need your donations to commemorate the heroes of the Grunwick Strike
40 years ago a group of Asian women asked for the right to join a union and were sacked by their employer. Their bosses thought that Asian women were passive and obedient and wouldn't fight back.
But that group of workers gained the support of thousands and went on to wage one of the longest and most important disputes in post-war British history.
40 years on we want to celebrate them.
We have ambitious plans to install a big mural close to the original factory site in Willesden, as well as stage an historical exhibition and a conference. But we need money to make it happen.
Please give whatever you can afford.
We have some exclusive rewards for people who donate including badges, posters, DVDs and rare artwork from the 1970s so please consider making a personal donation or asking your union branch to make one. Every £ helps to ensure that the legacy of the brave Grunwick strikers is not lost.
Visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/grunwick40 to donate.
Monday, 31 October 2016
"We are the Lions" has opened to much praise and is stimulating solidarity with Deliveroo, Uber drivers and Durham teaching assistants
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Jayaben Desai: Lessons from the past for the future
The scene outside Grunwick's, Chapter Road, Willesden as painted by Dan Jones |
As I watched the film and once again saw Jayaben's bravery in the face of police violence, her impish sense of humour that bettered many a journalist, her self-identification as a strong woman against crude stereotypes of Asian female submissiveness and most of all her steadfastness in standing up for her rights and that of her fellow workers, I could not help but be moved. As people spoke about Jayaben from different perspectives our appreciation deepened. We heard from Amrit Wilson how Jayaben invited her to her home and talked at length about herself and the strike and the links with race and colonial struggle. It was alleged that George Ward, the Grunwick boss, continued to pursue Jayaben after her death, with threats of legal action against obituarists who mentioned accusations of racism at Grunwick.
We heard from an Asian Women's group how Jayaben clashed with the group's chair about the suppression of ego and advised the women to stop buying jewellery with their money but instead empower themselves by using the money instead to buy driving lessons. It also emerged that she was an erudite contributor to the Gujerati Literary Society.
Cllr Janice Long asked for support to persuade Brent Council to name a building after Jayaben Desai to commemorate her life and urged to audience to write to the leader of the council, Cllr Ann John, who was also present. Another speaker, stressing the need for children to be educated about the importance of Jayaben's role, urged that a school be named after here.
Broader issues were also raised. Pete Firmin linked the struggles of immigrant workers, and the support they received from rank and file white trade unionists, with David Cameron's attacks on multiculturalism and the attempt to divide new arrivals into 'good' and 'bad' migrants. Jack Dromey, then Secretary of Brent Trades Council and now a Labour MP reminded the meeting that a few years before Grunwick, dockers and Smithfield meat porters had marched in support of Enoch Powell after his 'rivers of blood' speech. Jayaben had said, 'We are lions - I am afraid of no one' . She went on to say that the strike had shown that immigrant workers will fight and white workers will support them. Dromey concluded that Grunwicks had 'demonstrated all that is best in our movement and in our immigrant community'.
There were many critical comments about the TUC's role at Grunwick's and warnings that their lack of will to fully use their potential power remains in 2011 as we face the attacks on public services, benefits and the vulnerable. Geoff Shears, at the time a young legal representative for the strikers, confessed that he had felt intimidated by Mrs Desai. He said that anti-trade union laws did not exist in their present form then but instead there was a conspiracy that enabled courts to break the law by restricting the solidarity action of postal workers, the police to break the law by attacking pickets, and George Ward to ignore the recommendations of the Scarman Inquiry that came down 90% in favour of the strikers. He said that had prepared the ground for Thatcher in the 1980s and warned that it would be used again by the Coalition government. Mrs Desai had understood the meaning of solidarity as requirement for workers to organise collectively to ensure that the unions served their interests.
Billy Hayes, General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union (successor to the Union of Post Office Workers) said that the union's next conference would be considering awarding honorary membership to Jayaben Desai and wiping out the fines imposed by the union on the Cricklewood postmen who refused to deliver Grunwick mail at the time.
As I have remarked on this blog before LINK Jayeben and the story of Grunwick is a far better subject for children to study in Brent Black History Month than rehashed versions of American black history that currently dominate the curriculum.
Monday, 6 July 2020
Grunwick strike: Film of 'We are the Lions Mr Manager' available on-line for limited period.
You can be the first to see our film of edited archive footage of the production 'We are the Lions, Mr. Manager! touring 2017-18/ filmed at TARA Theatre, Earlsfield, London in November 2017.To view film click link: https://youtu.be/emDZYCbX_Eg The film will be available for one month ONLY until 6th AUGUST. Please click icon on bottom right that says cc for Subtitles.If you enjoy the film please make a DONATION via our donate pop up or our Support Us page on our website: http://townsendproductions.org.uk
A suggested donation would be £3 which would help the company through these difficult times. Many thanks, and we hope very much you enjoy the film. Please keep an eye on our website for more online offerings coming soon, while we're not currently able to tour.
The Grunwick Strike of 1976 to 1978 wasn’t a strike about wages – it was about something much more important than that: it was about dignity. Dignity at work. Newly arrived immigrant workers were employed by the Grunwick film processing factory in North London in the belief that they would be easy to handle, to browbeat and to exploit. Yet, they found their own distinctive voice in the course of the struggle to secure their rights. Each morning the strikers, a group of predominantly Asian women led by Jayaben Desai, in colourful saris often hidden beneath heavy woollen coats, would take up their posts on the picket lines, unbowed and unbroken in the face of intimidation, the threat of arrest and the sting of the cold. Even during the hardest of times, Jayaben Desai had the uncanny ability to evoke a mood or sum up a situation with a perfectly weighted turn of phrase and a way and with words that captured the very essence of the human spirit. She had the measure of the most brutish and charmless of her managers, when she told them: ‘What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo. But in a zoo there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance on your fingertips, others are lions who can bite your head off. We are the lions, Mr. Manager!’Grunwick truly did make history: it focused the issue of the exploitation of immigrant workers, nailed the myth that Asian workers were passive and unorganisable and defined the trade union and political lives of tens of thousands from across the nation who came to the streets of Willesden to back the Grunwick workers. Grunwick was a defeat. But a struggle like Grunwick cannot be considered a total loss. It illustrated how a section of totally unorganised workers, ignorant of trade unionism and insecure in a foreign land can yet develop militancy and attract huge solidarity. It showed too that all the forces of the state, the monied, the media, the police, the courts, employers, racial prejudice and women’s inequality can be swept aside by the freshness and dynamism of determined struggle. Grunwick is still posing questions to today’s generation about the role in society of women, workers and immigrants. And the strike still carries a challenging message about the need for human dignity.The play was written by Neil Gore, directed by Louise Townsend and features Medhavi Patel as Jayaben Desai and Neil Gore as almost everybody else.COMING SOON! - Podcast of 'Dare Devil Rides To Jarama' & a documentary film of interviews made with Shipbuilding communities across the UK.The script is available to buy from Stagescripts:
Sunday, 6 March 2016
Book now for Grunwick commemoration mural workshops
Click on image to enlarge |
This is your chance to partipate in designing a mural which will be installed on a prominent wall in Willesden in Autumn 2016.
In 1976, six workers walked out of Grunwick Film Processing Laboratory in Willesden and ignited an historic two-year dispute which united thousands to demand better rights for poorly treated workers. 23rd August 2016 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Grunwick Strike, and offers a moment to remember, to commemorate, to celebrate and to learn.Now the high street that saw 20,000 people come down in a single day to support the strike is looking pretty drab. As you arrive at Dollis Hill tube station and walk past the former Grunwick site to the main road, you’ll see plenty of plain, bare walls and unloved spaces.
We will be installing a mural close to the original site of the Grunwick factory to brighten up our high street with a permanent reminder of the power of our community; and to inspire future generations to come together to challenge injustice.
The workshops will be run by an experienced mural artist who will lead us in looking at a range of archive materials, including photographs and film. Using a variety of materials and printing techniques we will then create our own images of Grunwick which will eventually will be digitally combined to produce a design for the final mural.
Everyone aged 13 and above is welcome. You don't need any artistic ability as full guidance will be given, but if you have any photographs, press cuttings or memories of the dispute then please bring them along to share.
The workshops will run from 10.30am-3.30pm including a lunch break.
We are also running shorter workshops over three weeks on different dates at the Dudden Hill Centre, click here for details.
If you would like to contribute to the Crowdfunder which is riasing money for this project click HERE
At time of writing £1,600 of the target £12,000 has been raised
Thursday, 21 April 2016
Last chance to help fund Grunwick40 commemoration
The work on the exhibition has started and the commemorative mural is taking shape with some stunning art being created at the community workshops.
We believe that the Grunwick mural will be the first ever piece of public art to mark the contribution of Asian women in Britain.
The mural is expensive to produce and install but we want to make it as high impact as possible. The Grunwick strikers fought for justice for all workers and now we want to do justice to them with a colourful tribute that is big, bold and celebratory.
We need your donations to help make this happen.
This is the final week of our crowdfunding campaign and your last chance to get the fantastic rewards when you donate.
Please give whatever you can afford.
We have some exclusive rewards for people who donate including badges, posters, DVDs and rare artwork from the 1970s, so please consider making a personal donation or asking your union branch to make one. Whatever the amount, every £ helps to ensure that the legacy of Grunwick is not lost.
Please make your donation by 12.30pm on Monday 25th April.
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Sunday, 19 March 2017
Inspiration and solidarity: Durham Lions pay tribute to the Grunwick Lions
Pictures courtesy of Grunwick 40 |
Their success in doing so was summed up when the exhibition was visited by the Durham Teaching Assistants who are mounting a terrific campaign of their own LINK. They have spoken of how their struggle has been inspired by Jayaben Desai and her fellow workers and they deserve Aditya Chakrobortty's LINK description of them as the 'Durham Lions'. The photographs speaks for themselves - pride and solidarity.
The exhibition finishes on Sunday March 26th (closes at 5pm) so if you haven't seen it get down to Willesden Library as soon as possible.
Link to other Wembley Matters coverage of Grunwick HERE
Monday, 11 July 2016
Grunwick & Lucas Aerospace 40 years on: what can they teach us?
Useful background on this video - this is not the film that will be screened on July 22nd
Screening of The Year of the Beaver and The Lucas Plan LINK, with discussion and brief talks by Kerria Box (Grunwick 40) and Solfed.
Sunday, 26 March 2017
Grunwick 40 Exhibition just closed but keep the struggle going and perhaps display it yourselves
From Grunwick 40
www.facebook.com/Grunwick40/
grunwick40@gmail.com
Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Celebrate 100 years of Working Class History in Brent Saturday 15th October
Guest post by Mary Adossides, Chair Brent Trades Council
On 15 October Brent Trades Council will be celebrating the centenary of the Willesden Trades and Labour Hall’s constitution. The Trades Hall has played a crucial role in the political, economic and social history of Willesden and then Brent since the early 20th century.
The front of the Willesden Trades and Labour Hall and Apollo Club
In her detailed article in the Willesden Local History Society Journal Winter/ Spring 22 edition, Christine Coates, documents this icon of labour movement history (WLHS website - in case anyone is interested https://willesden-local-history.co.uk/)
The growth of the industrial estates in Park Royal and Cricklewood, saw the growth of trade unions and political organisations and the push to have a venue for meetings meant the Trades and Labour Hall. The Willesden Trades and Labour Hall Society was set up 1922 and bought the Hall in 1924. Through the 20s and 30s, the Hall was mainly used for union and LP meetings with popular speakers such as Sylvia Pankhurst who founded the Willesden Branch of the Communist Workers’ Movement there in 1924.
During the 1926 General Strike, the Hall became a strike HQ. A local Council of Action was formed by the Willesden Labour Party with all the local TU branches. A strike bulletin was published and mass meetings were held on local Pound Green with football matches to fill the time between activity. Through the 1920s and 30s, support for unemployed and hunger marchers was organised from the Hall and the National Archives show it was under frequent police surveillance during this period.
After WW2, the Trades Hall continued to be an important hub for union and political campaigns. Nelson Mandela was invited to speak but the meeting had to be moved because of numbers. Willesden and Wembley joined to form the London Borough of Brent in 1965 and it became the home for the merged Brent Trades Council.
In 1969 an attempt was made to solve financial difficulties of the building with a long-term lease of the ground floor hall to the Apollo Club, a venue for reggae nights and West Indian music. It was a great success (Bob Marley played there). The rent was expected to pay the running cost of the building but did not resolve the hall’s financial difficulties.
Tom Durkin, President of Brent Trades Council, speaking to the Grunwick Women strikers during their 2 year strike 1976-1978
From 1976-1978 the rest of the building was used as a base for the Grunwick strikers struggling against workplace exploitation. At that time the Trades Council was probably at its strongest with 21,000 members and 130 delegates affiliated in 74 branches. Thousands joined the mass picket in Chapter Road, outside Dollis Hill in a week in action in June 1977 in solidarity with the Grunwick strikers and marched through Willesden led by Arthur Scargill supported by miners, dockers, printers, post office workers.
By the 1980s industrial decline led to a reduction in trade union activity. Unfortunately without income the building could not be properly maintained. The Hall gradually fell into disrepair but continued to be used by the Apollo Club, the Labour Party, Brent TUC and a few local groups until in late 2019.Its use had to be paused at the start of the pandemic.
The Society itself revived in 2019 as an unincorporated group.Any solution which involves retaining the building will involve further serious sums of money and are being considered by the Willesden Trades and Labour Hall Society.
On 15th October from 7pm Brent Trades Council is celebrating its iconic hall :
Join our event 100 years of Working Class History in Brent at the Brent Black Music Coop (BBMC) from 7pm, 383 High Road, NW10 2JR, nearest tube Dollis Hill (Jubilee Line). Dawn Butler MP will launch the event, Chris Coates will speak about the history of the building, others will speak about the trade union movement and the Grunwick strike. There will be film, poetry and music. The all female Akabu reggae band will entertain us during the second part of the evening. Tickets available on Eventbrite:
Mary Adossides
Chair
Brent Trades Council
brenttradescouncil@outlook.com