A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE FOR LOCAL CHILDREN

The picket line at Grunwicks, Chapter Road, Willesden

Chatting last night after a Brent Green Party meeting in Willesden, we got round to discussing the Grunwick dispute which took place round the corner at the Cobbold Road and Chapter Road Grunwick photo processing factory owned by George Ward. I described joining picket lines at 6.30 in the morning as a young teacher, before going off to do a day's teaching, often bruised as a result of the pushing contests between police and pickets.

The dispute lasted from 1976-1978 and was significant in many ways.  Firstly,  it was a dispute involving immigrant workers from East Africa, Indian and the Caribbean, that broke through into the national trade union consciousness.  It produced solidarity action from the Cricklewood Postal Workers' Union, who stopped delivering the processing mail orders, and when this was stopped by court action, other unions joined in mass pckets including miners and printers. It was also a dispute that mobilised many women trades unionists and activists: a women only mass picket met with unprecedented police violence. Immigrant workers became visible for the first time and other disputes followed, aided by the workers' experience of mobilising against colonialism.

Secondly it marked the first major intervention by the National Association For Freedom (yes it was NAFF - probably why they renamed themselves the Freedom Association, currently going large on climate change denial) on the side of bosses and against trade unions, and was in many ways a rehearsal for action against the miners during the Thatcher era.

Thirdly, it exposed weaknesses in the Labour government and the labour movement which we still suffer from today. The precarious Callaghan government was split on the dispute. Shirley Williams, a member of Apex, the strikers' union, joined the picket line, while Home Secretary, Merlyn Rees, sent in the police and the Special Patrol Group to break up the pickets.

Many Brent schools take part in Black History Month every October. They often study American Civil Rights leaders while UK studies are often about Black role models or celebrities. A study of Grunwick would reveal the strength of self-organisation and solidarity action and relate immediately to local people and the local area. In the revealing video produced by Brent Trades Council Vipin Magdahi, a member of the Strike Committee, says, "You can go to any college or school - but what we learnt in those days nobody could teach us."  Jayaben Desai, leader of the dispute, on hunger strike outside the TUC to ask for support, was asked by Len Murray, then leader of the TUC, "Who told you to do this?" (He was obsessed with the idea that the 'ultra-left' was responsible). She replied, "Nobody - it is part of our Indian tradition."  The strike failed when the wider movement decided to concentrate on fighting the Labour Government's pay restraint and social contract, but there is much children could learn from this strike which was of national significance.

There is an exhibition about the strike called 'Striking Women: Voices of South Asian Workers from Gruinwick and Gate Gourmet'  at the Women's Library, London, E1 7NT until 31st March. Images can be found on the SocietyGuardian website.  It would be wonderful if it could be exhibited at the Willesden Green Library in the future and visited by local children.

Copies of the DVD cost £10 and can be ordered through the Brent Trades Council website or by writing to Brent TUC, Willesden Trades and Labour Hall, 375 High Road Willesden NW10 2JR, enclosing a cheque for £10 payable to Brent TUC.

HAVE YOUR SAY ON CIVIC CENTRE AND ELIZABETH HOUSE REBUILD

The Civic Centre site

Brent Greens have previously asked searching questions about the lack of public consultation on whether the borough really requires a new Civic Centre.  The Council recently announced that they were consulting on the plans and a story in the local press and in the council's own Wembley Way told readers they could find details on www.brent.gov.uk/planning.  However this only takes one to the main portal and there is no direct link to the plans. You have to go through several menus and know the exact address or the case number to eventually get to the appropriate page.  The case number can only be found if you happen to have spotted it in the classified ads at the back of the local newspaper. Brent Greens have previously asked that important consultations should be linked from the Council's home page, or at least the planning portal.

Anyway we have decided to do the Council a favour and advertise the consultation, which officially closes on January 31st, although submissions can be made afterwards and may be taken into account if there is time to add them to papers before the Planning Committee. Follow this LINK to go to Civic Centre plans where you can also submit a response. The plans are likely to go to the Planning Committee at the end of February or mid-March. If you want to inspect the plans in details they are available at the Town Hall One Stop Shop, the Willesden Green Library and the planning department at Brent House. Case number 09/2450 and Planning Officer david.glover@brent.gov.uk

As the Council is itself the applicant in this case it is regrettable that the process has not been more accessible and the short time left to respond raises doubts about whether residents have been given a fair deal. You can't help feeling that the Council's decision to advertise for a contractor to finalise the design and build the Civic Centre withba closing date for tenders of February 10th 2010, before the Planning Committee considers the application, is jumping the gun somewhat. The Council hope to complete the building by the end of 2010.

One of the benefits the Council claims for a Civic Centre is that it will make it possible to dispense with their use of other buildings and we have asked at the Wembley Area Consultative Forum what they intend to do with the redundant buildings. We didn't get a very clear reply but this artist's impression gives a clue.  It comes from the documents submitted for the demolition and replacement of Elizabeth House in Wembley High Road (the offices and flats behind the petrol station next to St Joseph's church on Wembley Triangle and backing on to the grounds of St Joseph's School). The Civic Centre would free up other buildings in the area including Chesterfield House, Brent House and Mahatmi Gandhi House.

The plan is for a 13 storey building comprising 115 flats and a ground floor commercial unit. Follow this LINK to the planning documents. It is case number 09/2506 and is due to be decided no earlier than January 28th 2010. Planning Officer avani.raven@brent.gov.uk

Convoy gets through - then Galloway deported

A volunteer hands over the keys to his vehicle

The Viva Palestina convoy have now handed their aid over to the Central Council of Charities - a non-governmental body of civic societies - at a ceremony in Gaza City. Convoy volunteers will now be visiting hospitals and other places where their aid will be put to use, as well as taking a tour of the devastated areas of Gaza.


Keven Ovendon, convoy leader, said "The level of support internationally for this mission has been tremendous. We`ve been understandably in a bit of a bubble - especially when we were barricaded in at the port of Al Arish. But we´ve got some sense of the scale of solidarity events and of media coverage.


"The sight of people lining the streets virtually the full length of the Gaza Strip, after waiting for 10 hours for our last vehicles to pass (thanks to further Egyptian delays) was the only vindication of that this initiative ever required.

"This was an incredibly diverse group of 518 people. Now we aim to build on that across the UK and internationally.

"Thanks to everyone who responded to the calls to action from the VP office. There are thousands of emails to respond to and we will do as soon as we can. We are now working on further plans for coordinated initiatives over the next 12 months, which will be announced shortly. "

British MP George Galloway was officially deported from Cairo today (Friday), when Egyptian plain-clothes police officers bundled him onto a London plane.


Galloway had been trying to return to Rafah after news broke that seven of the Viva Palestina convoy members were said to be arrested. Police, who at one point were numbered at 25 mainly plain-clothes officers, refused to allow him to return.

Information from Viva Palestina website

Anti-racist Action in the Workplace

Everyday life in the workplace is a scene of struggle and at its most stark is a battle between management attempts to divide and rule and workers efforts to unite and better their working conditions.

The divide and rule tactics can be based on gender, qualifications, different contracts and other working conditions and hierarchy. Increasingly immigration status has become an issue with on the one hand companies using the insecurity created by immigration checks and raids on workplaces to drive down pay and conditions, and unions seeking to organise all workers, including migrant workers, to provide secure jobs and decent wages and conditions. 

Privatisation and out-sourcing of services in the public sector means that these struggles often take place in schools, hospitals and colleges where cleaners, maintenance staff and catering staff are employed on minimal wages and with few employment rights. The prevailing climate of mounting racism and right-wing activity attempting to blame immigrants for the economic crisis is reinforced by highly publicised raids by riot style squads on workplaces to check the immigration status of workers and detain those whose papers are not in order.

The Hands off my Workmate campaign aims to prevent the use of immigration law and the activities of the Borders Agency to intimidate migrant workers, and especially their use on workers who are seeking to exercise their rights to join and organise trade union membership and representation. It is important to recognise that such raids introduce insecurity and potential violence into the workplace and the shock of seeing workmates with whom you have built up friendship and solidarity seized in front of you is a distressing experience. It was similar emotions that caused many schools to organise against the deportation of families when children and their parents had become part of the local community and local people experienced the shock of the brutality of the state at first hand. Now the brutality is more hidden as children are held in detention centres with their parents at places like Yarl's Wood and prevented from going to school. A moving interview with Yarl's Wood children was published in the Guardian in August.

Students and staff at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London took solidarity action when migrant worker cleaners were held in detention after a raid and forced management action to provide papers to the workers and the release of those held in detention, as well as reconsidering the out-sourcing of cleaning contracts.  The HOMW promotes similar action in other workplaces.

Green Left have agreed to support the campaign, recognising its importance in combating racism and protecting fundamental human rights and I hope that the Green Party nationally will follow their lead. Solidarity action at workplace and community level is an effective and practical way of challenging the divisive activity of the extreme right.

Viva Palestina Convoy Faces Riot Police

The following message has been passed on to me from the Viva Palestina convoy taking humanitarian aid to Gaza. Refused entry by Israel they attempted to cross via Egypt:

To all friends of Palestine


Our situation is now at a crisis point! Riot has broken out in the port of Al- Arish.

This late afternoon we were negotiating with a senior official from Cairo who left negotiations some two hours ago and did not return. Our negotiations with the official was regarding taking our aid vehicles into Gaza.


He left two hours ago and did not come back. Egyptian authorities called over 2,000 riot police who then moved towards our camp at the port.


We have now blocked the entrance to the port and we are now faced with riot police and water cannons and are determined to defend our vehicles and aid.


The Egyptian authorities have by their stubbornness and hostility towards the convoy, brought us to a crisis point.


We are now calling upon all friends of Palestine to mount protests in person where possible, but by any means available to Egyptian representatives, consulates and Embassy's and demand that the convoy are allowed a safe passage into Gaza tomorrow!


Kevin Ovenden
Viva Palestina Convoy Leader

Following her attention being drawn to the siutuation by Brent PSC, Sarah Teather, MP for Brent East has written to the Egyptian Ambassador and the British Foreign Secretary to urge humanitarian aid to be allowed to pass safely.

However the reply received to a similar plea by a Brent PSC member from the Foreign Office does not give much encouragement:

The UK Government's clear advice is against all travel to Gaza, and this is the advice we have given to the organisers of the Viva Palestine Convoy. While we understand the humanitarian motivation of such efforts, it is reckless to travel to Gaza at present and any medical and other essential specialist staff seeking to access Gaza should co-ordinate their entry to Gaza with the major international humanitarian organisations already on the ground......Entry to Gaza via Rafah is a matter for the Egyptian authorities and humanitarian organisations wishing to deliver aid to Gaza must work with the Egyptian authorities on methods of delivery. You should contact the Egyptian authorities for details of any planned openings.

Now Barnet Council Reject Welsh Harp Development

Barnet Council have refused planning permission for housing development on the Woodfield Nursery site in Cool Oak Lane, near the Welsh Harp, submitted by the same developer who wanted to develop the Greenhouse site in Brent.

The application was turned down on the following grounds:

1. Inappropriate development on Metropolitan Open Land with no special circumstances cited for development.
2. Loss of existing employment on the site.
3. Non-compliant flood risk assessment.
4.Insufficient information on the impact of the proposed development on biodiversity and nature conservation.
5. Insufficient information on whether the develoment ould provide future occupierswith adequate levels of amenity, particularly with regard to the proximity of the Hendon Rifle Club.
6. Insuffient infromation of the development's impact on the amenity value of trees, including those protected by Tree Preservation Orders.
7. No energy strategy or assesment of the energy demands and carbon dioxide emissions of the development submitted with the application.
8. No formal undertaking in the application to enter into a travel and traffic management plan.

The decision is very welcome and means that both local councils involved have now rejected the developer's plans. However he can still appeal the decision to the Secretary of State who could over-turn the decision. There is no news yet on whether the developer is minded to appeal.

GHASTLY STATIONS AND GHOST TRAINS

Central Square has been refurbished, new shops are opening, luxury flats are being marketed but amidst the private affluence of Wembley Central regeneration the station festers in public squalor. Just compare the architects' vision with the actual appearance of the station.  Rumour has it that money has run out and there is certainly no sign of work underway.  This seems to be the fate of much regeneration: money is poured into the profit yielding part of the development and the public service infrastructure part is deprioritised and neglected.  Hailed as a modern gateway to a new Wembley at the planning stage by Brent Council we are left with a ramshackle building which fails to come up to the standard of many an allotment shed.  What is Brent Council doing to get the work completed?

GHOST TRAINS FOR A GHASTLY STATION?

If the station building raises issues about  private-public partnerships in regeneration, the strange case of the Wembley Central 'ghost trains' exposes the absurdities of railway privatisation.

For some time Brent Council has been trying to persuade London Midland and Southern Trains to have more of their trains stopping at Wembley Central.  They think that doing this would give regeneration a fillip by making access to Wembley easier by public transport.  At present London Midland stop trains on their Euston-Milton Keynes-Northampton route on special occasions at the Stadium or Arena - the aim is to have a regular service.  This would also benefit residents who have friends and relations in places like Hemel Hempstead, Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes which since the 1950s have rehoused much London 'overspill' from North West London.

Southern have timetabled trains for Wembley Central but there is a catch. Travelling from Milton Keynes towards Harrow and Wealdstone, Shepherds Bush, Clapham Junction, Selhurst and East Croydon, although station destination boards list Wembley Central neither the carriage matrix route indicators  nor the automatic recorded announcements announce that the south bound service is going to stop at Wembley once passengers are on board. Just after Harrow the guard occasionally cuts  in to say the service is going to stop at Wembley, often quickly followed by the recorded voice soothingly announcing that 'The next station stop is Shepherds Bush'. All likely to cause anxiety to Wembley bound passengers who think they may be carried straight through to the Bush!

Mystified? Well so was I so I asked the staff about it.  Apparently Virgin Trains have put conditions on the route which means that apart from a couple of trains, officially south-bound trains should only pick up passengers at Wembley (not let them alight) and north-bound trains should only let them off (not let them board)!  So officially you can't do a return trip from Wembley to Milton Keynes, but you can to Shepherds Bush, Clapham Junction, Selhurst or East Croydon. I was given the impression that Virgin would be happier if no one knew about the trains at all.  The staff, sensibly, think the whole situation is barmy so stop and let passengers on and off as they would at any other station.  However, as Michael Caine might say, 'Not many people know that'.  One official said, 'Well the regulars get to know about it', and another assured me that the situation was due to change in 2012.

Meanwhile the platforms serving these trains are approached through heavy metal gates opening directly on to Wembley Square. Station staff wait at the gates in the wind, rain and snow to check tickets and lock the gates between trains.  The platforms themselves are cold, empty and windswept and I live in fear of being a bit tardy getting off the train  and finding the gates locked against me, abandoned all night with only the famous Wembley Central rats for company.  I did hear about one guard who didn't hop back on the train quickly enough after unoffically letting passengers off, who was left behind on the platform.

If any readers want to risk it, then on a weekday southbound trains are at 4 or 5 minutes past the hour between 9am and 9pm and north bound 7 or 8 minutes past the hour between 9am and 9pm. It could be a magnificent service: only 15 minutes to Shepherds Bush and 27 minutes to Clapham Junction; 5 minutes to Harrrow and Wealdstone and 12 minutes to Watford Junction. The full timetable which includes earlier trains and Saturday trains is available HERE (Book 5).

Meanwhile could Brent Council, the Transportation Unit, and the GLA sort this one out?  I can see no reason why the Big Bad Virgin Wolf should be depriving Brent residents of this useful and potentially very convenient public transport link.

URGENT: Help the Gaza Convoy On Its Way

The Egyptian authorities are blocking the Viva Palestina aid convoy at Aquaba by imposing impossible conditions ahead of it going through the Rafah crossing into Gaza. Viva Palestina is a registered charity which is delivering medical aid, food and educational materials following the devastation in Gaza carried out a year ago by the Isralei military. Israel continues to thwart attempts at reconstruction and recovery.

The Brent branch of Palestine Solidarity raised more than £500 from local people to help fund the convoy.  Martin Francis, Chair of the Brent PSC has written to the Egyptian Embassy asking that the convoy be enabled to go on its way.  His plea has been copied to Barry Gardiner MP for Brent North.

Readers may add their voices to this request by writing to the Egyptian Embassy at eg.emb_london@mfa.gov.eg and copying to their local Member of Parliament http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/