Yesterday, some 80 or so construction
workers, many of them unemployed, gathered outside the head office of the TGWU
(Unite) in central London,
demanding action from the union. Many had been refused work at a
Nottinghamshire power station. The crowd was later addressed by Tony Woodley,
the joint general secretary of Unite, who recognised the just cause of those
demonstrating. “Casualisation is the curse of the construction industry as it
has been on the docks and elsewhere”, he said.
The demonstration, with banners and
placards, moved off to the headquarters of Alstom, the French engineering
group, where a lively picket was held. One worker, who had brought along a Union
Jack, was asked to put it away, which he did, saying he had nothing to do with
the racist BNP. An Italian photographer urged the worker to display the flag,
but union stewards step in to prevent this, saying they did not want to give anybody
the wrong message.
In an echo of the Lindsey oil refinery
dispute, workers claimed that Spanish subcontractors, Montpressa and FMM,
working at the Staythorpe power station, are refusing to employ local
construction workers, preferring instead to employ workers on lower terms and
conditions from abroad. While workers saw the agreement at Lindsey as a step
forward, the war was not over.
‘Socialist Appeal’ was the only political
group at the demonstration at the beginning, where we made most of our sales.
Later the SWP turned up with their paper ‘Attack the bosses not foreigners’,
which was not an issue for those workers present. The walkout at Lindsey was
over trade union terms and conditions and not against the foreign workers. ‘British
jobs for British workers’ was whipped up by the capitalist media. As Phil
Willis, an unemployed steel erector, who has been out of work for over a year,
said: “I have more in common with workers in Latvia,
Poland and Italy than any
employer.”
All in all, it was a good demonstration,
which expressed the real bitter feelings of those workers in the construction
industry. As a contribution to the workers’ struggles, ‘Socialist Appeal’
comrades are producing a 4-page special about the problems facing construction
workers. This should be used throughout the country wherever construction
workers are in dispute and will be of great use in explaining the real issues
to those workers outside of the industry. We also managed to get a leaflet out
which went down well amongst the construction workers. We must make sure that
our material is used to the full in cutting across the distortions of the media
and presenting the real grievances of the workers. What is clear is the fact
that this dispute, which has involved illegal and unofficial action and
solidarity action, is simply the beginning of the struggle of workers
nationally to defend themselves against the growing attacks of the employers.
