In the Wake of Grunwick Andy Forbes

386 MARXISM TODAY, DECEMBER, 1978 In the Wake of Grunwick Andy Forbes (Grunwick has been one of the most important industrial struggles during the period of Labour Government. This month sees the publication of Grunwick: the Workers' Story by Jack Dromey and Graham Taylor. In this article the author looks at some of the questions thrown up by the Grunwick dispute.) "Through us the public can see the true attitudes of This article attempts three things. First, a political the government, the TUC, the courts and the police. characterisation of those groupings involved in the We have found reality. It is a good experience— strike—what were their aims, their motives, their don't you think so? We have gained many things. political situations? Secondly, an examination of how If there is a defeat it is not our defeat, it is the defeat of the TUC and the Labour Government. We the law mediated between their arguments. Thirdly, I are fighting for basic rights". venture to suggest perspectives for a new, clearer Jayaben Desai1 attitude to and intervention in the process of legal mediation. The dispute which started in August 1976 at the Grunwick film-processing laboratory in Willesden The Company and the Workforce was one of those strikes that history chooses to The strike began on Friday, August 20 1976, when throw into the national-political arena. Originally six employees of Grunwick Ltd., walked out of the an argument about conditions of work at one fac factory in protest at oppressive working conditions. tory, it was transformed, during a series of legal The six resolved to build a union base within battles and physical confrontations, into a declared Grunwick and their initial campaign resulted in a struggle for basic democratic rights, and the whole mass walk-out of a further sixty workers the follow spectrum of British political organisations, from right ing Monday. By Tuesday evening the Association of to left, was mobilised in defence of contradictory interpretations of those rights. 1 From the Guardian 18.1.78, p.4. MARXISM TODAY, DECEMBER, 1978 387 Professional and Executive, Clerical and Computer nerable labour market cleverly, discouraging all but Staff (APEX, the union to which they had been immigrants from working at Grunwick's and offering referred when enquiring at TUC headquarters) had wages that were relatively competitive (they were sixty new members. At the same time Jack Dromey above average for the industry as a whole) while of the Brent Trades Council had made first con remaining generally low. tact with a group of strikers who were inexperienced in trade union struggle and who were nearly all APEX East African immigrants. This was not a well- The strikers who joined APEX on that first planned action by experienced militants; it was an Tuesday could hardly have been aware that they were angry impetuous response to a management which joining one of the least dynamic and most right- became more determined as the strike went on. wing of trade unions. It identifies strongly with the Conditions at Grunwick have been described as right-wing of the Labour Party and pursues policies those of a "sweat-shop". Physical conditions in which fly in the face of TUC policy. It is one of the August 1976 certainly deserve this label, since at the few unions to maintain a list of prescribed organisa height of Britain's hottest summer for decades the tions (including the Communist Party) whose mem air-conditioning at Grunwick's Chapter Road plant bers must declare their political affiliation when was not yet in operation. No allowance was made standing for election to union posts. for this in terms of the pace of work. Long hours But its right-wing leadership (General Secretary, were worked for a basic starting wage as small as Roy Grantham, is a model "moderate"), though £25 for 35 hours and £28 for 40 hours, with com obviously an important factor, is not the only reason pulsory overtime on weekdays at 1.25 times the hourly for its failure of nerve at the height of the Grunwick rate for the first six hours, and 1.5 times after that. saga. As with all white-collar unions APEX has the "Maternity leave" was non-existent. The workplace problem of offering support and protection to was clean and well lit but frugal. isolated groups of workers who are employed in a More insidious were the psychological features huge variety of situations, ranging from huge that the strikers complained of: what they saw as industries to small offices. The "office politics" the undercurrent of racist and paternalist arrogance syndrome with its emphasis on personal achieve in the management's attitude. While even the most ments, does not produce the same political attitudes right-wing commentators were forced to admit that as the shop-floor. Moreover, the economic crisis there was a complete lack of effective grievance bites harder at small firms, and victimisations and procedures. The management was overbearingly arbitrary sackings are a feature of management present (looking directly into the mail-order depart behaviour when there is a large pool of unorganised ment through a window in their office). workers to draw on. How can we blame white- The problem was not only the individual attitudes collar unions for their commitment to legislative of Grunwick's managers and directors, but the protection for individual employees, given that this economic and political conditions which allowed is what is often most desperately needed by white- such attitudes to thrive unchecked. When George collar workers? Ward left accountancy and started Grunwick in 1964 However the strikers found themselves in capable he and his partners found themselves in a boom in enough hands as they embarked on that long struggle. dustry. The extension of colour-photography meant Jack Dromey, the secretary of the Brent Trades that small chemists could no longer afford the techno Council, and Tom Durkin, the chairman, liaised logical means to develop family snapshots, and the closely with Len Gristey, the APEX London Area photo-processing field was left wide open for larger, Organizer. Between them they organised regular specialist companies. Steady growth in consumer picket rotas, daily strike meetings, a strike com demand led to a buoyant and expanding market. mittee and a regular strike bulletin.3 Having failed in Figures show Grunwick's trading profit as being a numerous attempts to get Grunwick to talk, they steady 30 per cent and above per annum.2 resorted to the twin-pronged attack of court action But a large part of the company's high profit and labour movement solidarity. On September 7, ability was dependant on low labour costs, and 1976, Roy Grantham, who later assumed personal Grunwick found its natural home in the urban responsibility for the strike, spoke at the annual decay of Willesden. This is an area of London TUC, and on October 7 Len Murray called on trade notorious for its high unemployment and crumbling unions to give "all possible assistance" to the strikers. environment, inhabited by high concentrations of On October 15 the Advisory, Conciliation and immigrant workers who can afford nothing better. Arbitration Service (ACAS) was officially called in George Ward and his colleagues played this vul- 3 For a full account of the strike from the striker's point 2 For more details see Joe Rogaly Grunwick, Penguin of view see Grunwick: The Workers' Story by Graham Special 1977. Taylor and Jack Dromey to be published shortly. 388 MARXISM TODAY, DECEMBER, 1978 by APEX under section 11 of the Employment came off badly from the dispute (having to find Protection Act, to take up the union's claim for £90,000 to cover court costs) NAFF managed to recognition. Then on November 1, the Union of force trade unionists onto the defensive at critical Post Office Workers authorised its members at the moments, by involving them in long drawn out legal Cricklewood sorting office to black Grunwick's mail. battles, and can fairly claim a share of responsi bility for Grunwick's eventual victory. They are a George Ward's Allies force to be watched in future and illustrate the need The official entrance of ACAS prompted George for even the most powerful unions to carefully assess Ward to approach, on October 25, John Gorst, the legal ins and outs of the strike or solidarity Tory MP for Hendon North, who subsequently tactics they intend to adopt. took on an unprecedented role as free-lance political advisor to the company. It was Gorst who at the Trade Unions and the Law critical moments of the strike stood beside Ward at In Britain, legislation relating directly to trade every news conference and meeting, who carefully union activity is virtually non-existent. Trade unions controlled the management's tactics, developing all have never had any positive legal rights, not even the time a perverse litany of individual freedom, the right to strike, but have enjoyed immunity from the right to work, the horrors of the corporate state. the massive legal protection of property, unfettered This provided an ideological rallying point for a trade and free market contracts. Under common law wide alliance between extreme right and centre which the activity of unions smacks of "restraint of trade", would politically sustain Grunwick. "I am fighting indeed collective action is never far from being viewed for the freedom of a small person not to be blud as "unlawful assembly" or "conspiracy". Protection geoned and misrepresented by the powerful machin for strikers depends largely on the customs and prac ery of vested interests" declared George Ward,4 tices developed to deal with trade disputes by unions proclaiming his version of the anti-monopoly and management in particular industries, all of which alliance.

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