North London

An eyewitness account by a Hackney picket:

I went from my picket line to the CLR James library picket at about 10. On the bus up there I was a bit disturbed to see a police helicopter hovering above Dalston Junction. When I got to the library there were a huge number of TSG kettling about 35 people with a mobile sound system. I managed to speak to people in the kettle and they told me that two people had been beaten up and arrested earlier when people had tried to block the road.

I called people on my picket line and asked them to come quickly to the library. A small group of us stood around for ages occasionally having short conversations with the kettled protesters or telling the police that they were disgusting. I phoned my picket again and was dismayed to find out that they had all gone to another picket line that was nearer.

The electricians had called a national day of action for the same day as the student protest of November 9th, which looked like it could have a lot of possibilities. Would these two very different movements be able to link up?

In the sixth week of the conflict, following last Wednesday's site occupation, electricians gathered on Oxford Street outside two building sites, as part of demonstrations against the attempts to change working conditions in the largest construction companies. Changes include pay cuts of 35% and de-skilling which would affect thousands of workers. The construction companies are trying to push the changes through by December and are threatening workers with the sack if they don't sign new contracts. 

North London Solidarity Federation have written a statement sending our solidarity to comrades in Brazil.

A secção do norte de Londres (Reino Unido) do sindicato Associação Internacional de Trabalhadores envia a sua solidariedade para com a luta dos seus companheiros pertencentes ao Sindicato de Artes e Ofícios Vários de Araxá em Minas Gerais, Brasil.

Estes trabalhadores tem sido sujeitos a várias situações inaceitáveis, inclusive baixos salários e demissões injustificadas praticados pelo seu empregador FF Comercial (marcas Lotto e Finta). Eles contam agora com o nosso total apoio para com a sua luta que passa também a ser a nossa luta.

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Today at 7.30 am electricians briefly occupied a building site in protest at attempts to cut their pay and conditions.

The conflict is because the “Big 8” of construction employers want to withdraw from the JIB (Joint Industry Board) agreement on pay, grading and seniority. They want to bring in new grades of semi­skilled electricians earning £10.50 and £14 an hour instead of the current hourly JIB rate of £16.25.  The protests against this change have been going on for several weeks now all across the country. Last week at the Olympic site workers blocked the site entrance for some time but, as the site is so huge, the management just moved people coming in to work to a different gate, so the protesters blocked the main road near the site for twenty minutes. The demo today was bigger, maybe 250- 300 people, and started out next to Farringdon Station.

Today at the Shard site near London Bridge, around 200 site electricians protested against an attack by employers on their pay and conditions. The “Big Eight” of construction employers want to withdraw from the JIB (Joint Industry Board) agreement on pay, grading and seniority. They want to bring in new grades of semi­skilled electricians earning £10.50 and £14 an hour instead of the current hourly JIB rate of £16.25. It would also get rid of seniority, making it easier for employers to pick and choose who works on site.

As the recession has affected the building industry especially badly, the employers think this is a good time to take on the electricians, who are one of the strongest groups of workers in the building industry. If they win then they will attack pay and conditions across the board in construction.