Grunwick dispute
Encyclopedia
The Grunwick dispute was an industrial dispute involving trade union
recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden
, North London
which led to a two-year strike
between 1976–1978. During a decade of industrial unrest, the Grunwick dispute became a cause célèbre
of trade unionism and labour relations law, and "at its height involved thousands of trade unionists
and police
in confrontations, ...over 500 arrests on the picket line and frequent police violence
." The total of 550 arrests made during the strike was at the time the highest such figure in any industrial dispute since the General Strike
of 1926. Journalist Paul Foot
described the dispute as "a central battleground between the classes
and between the parties." The dispute was reported nightly on the national television news, depicting the often violent clashes between the strikers and the Metropolitan Police's
Special Patrol Group
. Grunwick was the first time that this paramilitary
police unit had been deployed in an industrial dispute. The mostly female, immigrant, East African Asian strikers – dubbed "strikers in sari
s" by the news media
– were led by Jayaben Desai
, whose membership of the union was later suspended following her hunger strike
outside the Trades Union Congress
(TUC) headquarters in November 1977. This was also the first dispute where the majority of strikers were from an ethnic minority
and still received widespread support from the labour movement – previous disputes involving immigrant workers which had taken place in Leicester
and Southall
had "remained marginalised" and had even led to "open and ugly racism on the part of white union members and their leaders."
The incumbent Labour
government commissioned the Scarman Inquiry, chaired by Baron Scarman, which recommended both union recognition and re-instatement of the workers, but the employer, backed by the right-wing
National Association For Freedom
(NAFF) and the Conservative Party
, rejected the recommendations. The TUC subsequently withdrew their support and the workers' strike committee announced the end of the dispute in June 1978. The repercussions of the strike for British industrial relations were far-reaching, significantly weakening the British trades union movement. For the Conservative Party and the right-wing this was seen as a major political and ideological victory, preparing the ground for their success in the 1979 general election and their subsequent curbing of the unions' power in the 1980s.
In 1973, there had been a previous dispute over union recognition at Grunwick, and a number of workers who joined the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) were subsequently laid off
. Baroness Williams described it as employing "a great many Asian women on fairly long hours and pretty low wages" – the average pay at Grunwick was £28/week while the average national wage was £72/week and the average full time wage for a female manual worker in London was £44/week. Overtime was compulsory and often no prior notice would be given. Of the company's 440 employees, 80% were of Asian origin and 10% of Afro-Caribbean
origin, and application forms for employment at Grunwick asked for passport numbers and "date of arrival in the UK." The MP for Brent South, Laurence Pavitt
, said that in his dealings with the company over "many years" prior to the dispute, the management had been rude and intransigent, failing to respond to his letters, and treated the workers in a "deplorable fashion."
MP Joe Ashton accused the firm of "exploiting coloured workers", and writer and political activist Amrit Wilson asserted that Grunwick's management "made use of the poverty of Asians" and would turn away non-Asian applicants. Grunwick strikers explained: "Imagine how humiliating it was for us, particularly for older women, to be working and to overhear the employer saying to a younger, English girl 'you don't want to come and work here, love, we won't be able to pay the sort of wages that'll keep you here' – while we had to work there because we were trapped." Jayaben Desai said: "The strike is not so much about pay, it is a strike about human dignity." The 1977 Scarman Inquiry would ultimately conclude that "physical working conditions in the company before the strike were good; although the rates of pay were low prior to the strike, the company increased financial benefits paid to workers in November 1976 and April 1977 [until] the rates of pay were broadly comparable with, and in some respects, slightly better than, those paid by comparable firms in the industry... and employees understood and accepted the requirement of compulsory overtime during busy periods." A claim by the Socialist Workers Party
alleging that Grunwick was a "racist" employer was also later withdrawn as "completely untrue and unfair".
Although there were allegations that the working conditions at Grunwick resembled those of a sweatshop
, other contemporary writers described the premises as "clean and well lit but frugal." However, the dispute began during the hottest summer in the UK
since records began, when the air-conditioning at the premises was not then in operation, and no allowance was made for this in terms of the employees' productivity.
to contact a trade union to represent them. They were then advised by the TUC to contact APEX, the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff
, described by Baroness Williams, who was at the time sponsored by APEX, as "famous throughout the trade union movement as the most determinedly moderate and fundamentally anti-communist union of them all." Others called it the "least dynamic and most right-wing of trade unions", and pointed out that as a "white-collar
" union it was not well-disposed to draw upon support from its members, often "isolated groups of workers" employed in small offices.
, Albert Booth
, establish a court of inquiry into the dispute. On 7 September Grantham addressed the TUC's Annual Congress regarding the Grunwick dispute. As a result, on October 7, 1976 Len Murray
, General Secretary of the TUC, requested trade unions give "all possible assistance" to the strikers, including "boycotting Grunwick's services." Acting on the advice of Albert Booth, on 15 October 1976 APEX formally requested ACAS to take up the case under section 11 of the Employment Protection Act 1975
(c.71).
at Cricklewood
. This arrangement ended on 1 November, when UPW agreed to stop handling all mail in or out of Grunwick and refused to allow Grunwick staff to collect it themselves. This had an enormous impact on the business, and on 3 November 1976 Ward claimed that the company faced going into liquidation at the end of the week if the mail continued to be withheld. Ward received backing from his local Conservative MP, John Gorst
, who called for an emergency debate about the matter in the House of Commons. Backed by Gorst and NAFF, Ward threatened to take legal action against the UPW in the High Court, claiming the actions of its members was in direct contradiction to the provisions of section 58 of the Post Office Act 1953, which said that any officer of the Post Office who "wilfully fails to handle mail" would be guilty of a misdemeanour. Tom Jackson, the General Secretary of the UPW, responded that "The Post Office Act was written many years ago and it has never been tested in relation to sympathetic industrial action. Until it is, as far as our union is concerned, we are going to support these workers who are being badly treated by a nineteenth-century employer." The Act was not considered by observers to be as effective as Ward and Gorst believed, and had not been used by the Conservative government during the seven-week long national Post Office strike in 1971. On 4 November Ward agreed to meet ACAS in return for UPW calling off its boycott, and following talks between APEX and UPW Grunwick staff were once more allowed to collect mail from the sorting office. Ward still applied for an ex parte injunction against both the Post Office and the UPW on 5 November, which was refused by Mr. Justice Chapman in the High Court. Usually, a party moves ex parte to prevent an adversary from having notice of their intentions. At a second inter parte hearing before Mr. Justice Slynn on 9 November, the firm consented to the dismissal of its application for an injunction.
On 18 April 1977 the company served a writ of ultra vires
on ACAS, alleging that it had exceeded its authority by canvassing the opinions of the strikers. The case was heard during June–July 1977. In his judgement, delivered 12 July 1977, Lord Widgery
, the Lord Chief Justice
, dismissed the claim by Grunwick that the ACAS report should be declared void. Lord Widgery said that ACAS had "made all reasonably practicable efforts to canvass staff opinion", but had been prevented speaking to all employees as Grunwick had deliberately withheld their names and addresses. He said "I am satisfied that Mr. Ward could have supplied these lists at any time but declined to do so in the belief that he could thereby exercise some control over the proceedings." He also "rejected Grunwick's contention that the dismissed strikers could no longer be legally recognized as workers concerned with the dispute." Grunwick were ordered to pay costs, in the region of £7,000, to APEX and ACAS. Ward stated that he would refer the case to the Court of Appeal
.
The appeal was heard by the Master of the Rolls
Lord Denning
, Lord Justice Browne and Lord Justice Geoffrey Lane
on 29 July 1977. While Lord Justices Browne and Lane disagreed with Lord Denning's decision that strikers were not "workers", all three were in agreement that the failure of ACAS to canvass all of the employees, even though it was through no fault of their own, rendered the report invalid and as such it was declared void. While accepting that ACAS had made all the efforts that it could to ascertain the opinions of the workers inside Grunwick, the failure to do so meant that it had "not complied with the conditions and safeguards of section 14 of the Act." ACAS said that it would appeal the decision, which had effectively made the Act unworkable where an employer refuses to cooperate. The subsequent appeal was heard before Lords Diplock, Salmon, Edmund-Davies, Fraser and Keith, who dismissed it on 14 December 1977.
The local Brent Trades Council, led by its President (veteran construction union activist and Communist Party Industrial Organiser Tom Durkin) and its ambitious young Secretary (TGWU activist Jack Dromey
), had become increasingly active in support of the strikers, mobilising support from other Trades Councils, trade unions and other Labour Movement bodies across Greater London. From the Spring of 1977 this had led to delegations of trade unionists from other parts of London starting to attend at and support the picket lines and the Grunwick management and the police had responded by preventing pickets from having any contact with workers entering the factory. In the Summer the Strike Committee, supported by the Trades Council, decided to call mass-pickets in an attempt to prevent buses carrying non-striking workers entering the Grunwick premises and a mass-picket and demonstration was called for 22 June 1977. This mobilisation call was vigorously taken up by several Trade Union and Labour Movement bodies across London and by virtually all leftist political organisations (notably the Communist Party
and its newspaper, the Morning Star, the Socialist Workers' Party and various political groups inside the Labour Party). The 22 June event became a national demonstration of solidarity with the Grunwick strikers.
On 22 June delegations from Trades Councils, several Constituency Labour Parties and a great many trade unions (including Miners and Print workers) attended the mass-picket. The attendance of the President of the Yorkshire Area of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill
, and a delegation of mineworkers from as far-afield as Yorkshire, South Wales and Kent, was highlighted by the media. There were clashes between police and pickets (and a large number of arrests) when police tried to escort buses carrying non-striking employees into the Grunwick plant and bloody scenes between the police and the pickets were broadcast on television.
The Labour Government decided to commission an enquiry under Lord Scarman and the pickets were called off in mid-July to wait for the result of the enquiry. APEX announced it would abide by the outcome of the enquiry but Ward did not, saying he would only submit to the normal courts.
ruling upheld Ward's right not to recognise a union. The strike's support from other unions "slipped away" leaving the strikers called off their action on 14 July 1978, nearly two years after it had begun. Their demands for collective bargaining were never met.
Government Ministers, Shirley Williams, Denis Howell
and Fred Mulley, went onto the picket line at Grunwick in May 1977. Williams subsequently lost her seat at the 1979 general election and the poet Kingsley Amis
commented that "I bet she rued the day she turned up on the Grunwick picket line".
Postmen who refused to deliver Grunwick's mail were suspended, disrupting postal service in the area, and the Attorney General
refused to initiate any action against them and stopped anyone else from doing so.
In August 1977 Sir Keith Joseph
, a prominent Conservative
politician called the Grunwick dispute "a make-or-break point for British democracy, the freedoms of ordinary men and women" and described Labour ministers who joined the pickets as "'[m]oderates' behind whom Red Fascism spreads". Joseph was seen as speaking beyond his remit, as the more moderate James Prior was the Shadow Employment Secretary. Some Conservative wets
called Joseph "off his head" and Thatcher said his comments were "too sharp".
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden
Willesden
Willesden is an area in North West London which forms part of the London Borough of Brent. It is situated 5 miles north west of Charing Cross...
, North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
which led to a two-year strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
between 1976–1978. During a decade of industrial unrest, the Grunwick dispute became a cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
of trade unionism and labour relations law, and "at its height involved thousands of trade unionists
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
and police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
in confrontations, ...over 500 arrests on the picket line and frequent police violence
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
." The total of 550 arrests made during the strike was at the time the highest such figure in any industrial dispute since the General Strike
1926 United Kingdom general strike
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
of 1926. Journalist Paul Foot
Paul Foot
Paul Mackintosh Foot was a British investigative journalist, political campaigner, author, and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party...
described the dispute as "a central battleground between the classes
Class conflict
Class conflict is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes....
and between the parties." The dispute was reported nightly on the national television news, depicting the often violent clashes between the strikers and the Metropolitan Police's
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
Special Patrol Group
Special Patrol Group
The Special Patrol Group was a unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for providing a centrally-based mobile capability for combating serious public disorder and crime that could not be dealt with by local divisions....
. Grunwick was the first time that this paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
police unit had been deployed in an industrial dispute. The mostly female, immigrant, East African Asian strikers – dubbed "strikers in sari
Sari
A sari or sareeThe name of the garment in various regional languages include: , , , , , , , , , , , , , is a strip of unstitched cloth, worn by females, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. It is popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal,...
s" by the news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
– were led by Jayaben Desai
Jayaben Desai
Jayaben Desai was a prominent leader of the strikers in the Grunwick dispute in London in 1976.Born in Gujurat, India, Desai moved to Tanzania in 1965, but was then expelled and arrived in Britain, where she took up low-paid work, first as a sewing machinist, then processing film in the Grunwick...
, whose membership of the union was later suspended following her hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
outside the Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
(TUC) headquarters in November 1977. This was also the first dispute where the majority of strikers were from an ethnic minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
and still received widespread support from the labour movement – previous disputes involving immigrant workers which had taken place in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
and Southall
Southall
Southall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...
had "remained marginalised" and had even led to "open and ugly racism on the part of white union members and their leaders."
The incumbent Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government commissioned the Scarman Inquiry, chaired by Baron Scarman, which recommended both union recognition and re-instatement of the workers, but the employer, backed by the right-wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
National Association For Freedom
The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-right and libertarian, which has links to the Conservative Party. TFA was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom and gained public prominence through its anti-trade...
(NAFF) and the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, rejected the recommendations. The TUC subsequently withdrew their support and the workers' strike committee announced the end of the dispute in June 1978. The repercussions of the strike for British industrial relations were far-reaching, significantly weakening the British trades union movement. For the Conservative Party and the right-wing this was seen as a major political and ideological victory, preparing the ground for their success in the 1979 general election and their subsequent curbing of the unions' power in the 1980s.
Background
Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories is a photographic finishing and processing business, trading under a variety of brand names including Bonusprint, Doubleprint and Tripleprint, founded in 1965 by George Ward. At the time of the dispute, the firm operated on a postal basis, in which customers mailed undeveloped films and payment to the laboratory and received finished photographs back through the postal service. The growth of amateur colour-photography meant that small High Street chemists which had previously serviced this market "could no longer afford the equipment to develop family snapshots, and the photo-processing field was left wide open for larger, specialist companies" such as Grunwick. Grunwick's trading profit at the time was reported as being a steady 30% and above per annum.In 1973, there had been a previous dispute over union recognition at Grunwick, and a number of workers who joined the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) were subsequently laid off
Layoff
Layoff , also called redundancy in the UK, is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as when certain positions are no longer necessary or when a business slow-down occurs...
. Baroness Williams described it as employing "a great many Asian women on fairly long hours and pretty low wages" – the average pay at Grunwick was £28/week while the average national wage was £72/week and the average full time wage for a female manual worker in London was £44/week. Overtime was compulsory and often no prior notice would be given. Of the company's 440 employees, 80% were of Asian origin and 10% of Afro-Caribbean
British African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
origin, and application forms for employment at Grunwick asked for passport numbers and "date of arrival in the UK." The MP for Brent South, Laurence Pavitt
Laurence Pavitt
Laurence Anstice Pavitt was a Labour and Co-operative Party politician in the United Kingdom.Pavitt was a lifelong pacifist and a conscientious objector in the Second World War...
, said that in his dealings with the company over "many years" prior to the dispute, the management had been rude and intransigent, failing to respond to his letters, and treated the workers in a "deplorable fashion."
MP Joe Ashton accused the firm of "exploiting coloured workers", and writer and political activist Amrit Wilson asserted that Grunwick's management "made use of the poverty of Asians" and would turn away non-Asian applicants. Grunwick strikers explained: "Imagine how humiliating it was for us, particularly for older women, to be working and to overhear the employer saying to a younger, English girl 'you don't want to come and work here, love, we won't be able to pay the sort of wages that'll keep you here' – while we had to work there because we were trapped." Jayaben Desai said: "The strike is not so much about pay, it is a strike about human dignity." The 1977 Scarman Inquiry would ultimately conclude that "physical working conditions in the company before the strike were good; although the rates of pay were low prior to the strike, the company increased financial benefits paid to workers in November 1976 and April 1977 [until] the rates of pay were broadly comparable with, and in some respects, slightly better than, those paid by comparable firms in the industry... and employees understood and accepted the requirement of compulsory overtime during busy periods." A claim by the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
alleging that Grunwick was a "racist" employer was also later withdrawn as "completely untrue and unfair".
Although there were allegations that the working conditions at Grunwick resembled those of a sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
, other contemporary writers described the premises as "clean and well lit but frugal." However, the dispute began during the hottest summer in the UK
1976 United Kingdom heat wave
The summer of 1976 was the hottest summer in the UK since records began. As well as the heat, Britain was in the middle of a severe drought.-Heatwave and drought effects:The temperature reached 80°F every day between 22 June and 16 July...
since records began, when the air-conditioning at the premises was not then in operation, and no allowance was made for this in terms of the employees' productivity.
Dismissals
The strike was sparked by the dismissal of Devshi Bhudia, at the firm's Chapter Road premises, on Friday 20 August 1976 for working too slowly. Three others, Chandrakant Patel, Bharat Patel and Suresh Ruparelia, walked out in support of him. At 6.55pm Jayaben Desai put on her coat to leave and was called into the office where she was dismissed for doing so. Her son Sunil walked out in support of her. On 23 August 1976 the six began picketing outside Grunwick, and were advised by the Citizens Advice BureauCitizens Advice Bureau
A Citizens Advice Bureau is one of a network of independent charities throughout the UK that give free, confidential information and advice to help people with their money, legal, consumer and other problems....
to contact a trade union to represent them. They were then advised by the TUC to contact APEX, the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff
Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff
The Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff was a British trade union which was formed in 1890 as the Clerks Union and later was renamed as the National Union of Clerks...
, described by Baroness Williams, who was at the time sponsored by APEX, as "famous throughout the trade union movement as the most determinedly moderate and fundamentally anti-communist union of them all." Others called it the "least dynamic and most right-wing of trade unions", and pointed out that as a "white-collar
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
" union it was not well-disposed to draw upon support from its members, often "isolated groups of workers" employed in small offices.
ACAS involvement
Having signed up as members of APEX, the pickets returned to Grunwick where 50 more workers walked out demanding the right to join the union. The pickets also headed to Grunwick's nearby Cobbold Road premises where a further 25 workers walked out and joined the strike. According to APEX's subsequent testimony at the Scarman Inquiry, their grievance with the company consisted of "low pay, long hours with compulsory overtime, petty restrictions imposed on working people, a bullying attitude on the part of supervision, and frequent dismissals and threats of dismissals," leading to "the expressed intention of bringing in trade union representation." On 24 August 1976 Grunwick made an offer to reinstate all striking employees if they dropped their demand for union representation, which was rejected. On 2 September 1976 all 137 striking workers were dismissed from the company's employ. In the intervening period, APEX had declared the strike "official" and sought a meeting with Grunwick management, as did, informally, ACAS. The company refused to meet with APEX or ACAS. On 5 September 1976 the general secretary of APEX, Roy Grantham, requested that the Secretary of State for EmploymentSecretary of State for Employment
The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment...
, Albert Booth
Albert Booth
Albert Edward Booth was a British Labour Party politician.Booth was educated at Marine School, South Shields and Rutherford College of Technology . He was a design draughtsman. He served as a councillor on Tynemouth Council 1962-65.Booth contested Tynemouth in 1964...
, establish a court of inquiry into the dispute. On 7 September Grantham addressed the TUC's Annual Congress regarding the Grunwick dispute. As a result, on October 7, 1976 Len Murray
Len Murray
Lionel Murray, Baron Murray of Epping Forest, OBE PC, known as Len Murray was a British Labour politician and union leader.-Early life:...
, General Secretary of the TUC, requested trade unions give "all possible assistance" to the strikers, including "boycotting Grunwick's services." Acting on the advice of Albert Booth, on 15 October 1976 APEX formally requested ACAS to take up the case under section 11 of the Employment Protection Act 1975
Employment Protection Act 1975
The Employment Protection Act 1975 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The long title was,-Outline:Together with the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974, these Acts constituted the Labour Party's employment law programme during the era of the Social Contract, and the EPA...
(c.71).
Union of Post Office Workers' boycott
When the strike began, members of the Union of Post Office Workers (UPW) refused to cross the picket line to deliver mail, but allowed representatives of the firm to collect it from the local sorting officeSorting office
Sorting office or Processing and Distribution Center is any location where postal operators bring mail after collection for sorting into batches for delivery to the addressee, which may be a direct delivery or sent onwards to another regional or local sorting office, or to another postal...
at Cricklewood
Cricklewood
Cricklewood is a district of North London, England whose northeastern part is in the London Borough of Barnet, western part is the London Borough of Brent and southeastern part is in London Borough of Camden.-History:...
. This arrangement ended on 1 November, when UPW agreed to stop handling all mail in or out of Grunwick and refused to allow Grunwick staff to collect it themselves. This had an enormous impact on the business, and on 3 November 1976 Ward claimed that the company faced going into liquidation at the end of the week if the mail continued to be withheld. Ward received backing from his local Conservative MP, John Gorst
John Michael Gorst
Sir John Michael Gorst was a British Conservative Party politician.He was educated at Ardingly College and read French and History at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In 1953 he joined the advertising department of Pye Ltd...
, who called for an emergency debate about the matter in the House of Commons. Backed by Gorst and NAFF, Ward threatened to take legal action against the UPW in the High Court, claiming the actions of its members was in direct contradiction to the provisions of section 58 of the Post Office Act 1953, which said that any officer of the Post Office who "wilfully fails to handle mail" would be guilty of a misdemeanour. Tom Jackson, the General Secretary of the UPW, responded that "The Post Office Act was written many years ago and it has never been tested in relation to sympathetic industrial action. Until it is, as far as our union is concerned, we are going to support these workers who are being badly treated by a nineteenth-century employer." The Act was not considered by observers to be as effective as Ward and Gorst believed, and had not been used by the Conservative government during the seven-week long national Post Office strike in 1971. On 4 November Ward agreed to meet ACAS in return for UPW calling off its boycott, and following talks between APEX and UPW Grunwick staff were once more allowed to collect mail from the sorting office. Ward still applied for an ex parte injunction against both the Post Office and the UPW on 5 November, which was refused by Mr. Justice Chapman in the High Court. Usually, a party moves ex parte to prevent an adversary from having notice of their intentions. At a second inter parte hearing before Mr. Justice Slynn on 9 November, the firm consented to the dismissal of its application for an injunction.
Definition of "worker"
ACAS were empowered by section 11 of the Employment Protection Act (EPA) to "ascertain the opinions of workers to whom the issue relates", but Grunwick, backed by NAFF, disputed that the strikers should be included, on the grounds that they had been dismissed and so were no longer "workers" of the company. John Stacey, Grunwick's personnel manager, said "The truth is that we do not care what their opinions are." In the meantime, the company awarded a 15% pay rise to non-striking workers on the understanding that they would not join the union. In response, UPW said it would consider resuming its boycott of Grunwick if the firm would not cooperate with ACAS. Harold Walker, the Minister of State for Employment, also urged Grunwick to cooperate with ACAS to end the dispute and criticised the involvement of NAFF, saying that this was not the first time that this "ultra right wing political organisation [had] sought to interfere in industrial disputes, with harmful consequences." Grunwick would not turn over the names and addresses of those still working to ACAS, or allow them access to the workers, saying that it would only do so if their opinions were canvassed while those of the strikers were not taken into consideration. The company explained "We are bound by the opinion of the loyal workers inside our company" and would not heed those of the strikers "outside". The draft report prepared by ACAS, who had been unable to canvass all of the workers, recommended recognition of APEX by Grunwick for negotiation purposes. Grunwick responded to the draft by seeking legal advice to challenge the recommendation, centred on the definition of "worker". The union maintained that if Grunwick's submission was proved in law, it would render the employment provisions of the EPA meaningless and create a legal loophole whereby employers could "dismiss with impunity workers who asked for recognition."On 18 April 1977 the company served a writ of ultra vires
Ultra vires
Ultra vires is a Latin phrase meaning literally "beyond the powers", although its standard legal translation and substitute is "beyond power". If an act requires legal authority and it is done with such authority, it is...
on ACAS, alleging that it had exceeded its authority by canvassing the opinions of the strikers. The case was heard during June–July 1977. In his judgement, delivered 12 July 1977, Lord Widgery
John Widgery, Baron Widgery
John Passmore Widgery, Baron Widgery, OBE, TD, QC, PC was an English judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 1971 to 1980...
, the Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
, dismissed the claim by Grunwick that the ACAS report should be declared void. Lord Widgery said that ACAS had "made all reasonably practicable efforts to canvass staff opinion", but had been prevented speaking to all employees as Grunwick had deliberately withheld their names and addresses. He said "I am satisfied that Mr. Ward could have supplied these lists at any time but declined to do so in the belief that he could thereby exercise some control over the proceedings." He also "rejected Grunwick's contention that the dismissed strikers could no longer be legally recognized as workers concerned with the dispute." Grunwick were ordered to pay costs, in the region of £7,000, to APEX and ACAS. Ward stated that he would refer the case to the Court of Appeal
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
.
The appeal was heard by the Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...
Lord Denning
Alfred Denning, Baron Denning
Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning, OM, PC, DL, KC , commonly known as Lord Denning, was a British soldier, mathematician, lawyer and judge. He gained degrees in mathematics and law at Oxford University, although his studies were disrupted by his service in the First World War...
, Lord Justice Browne and Lord Justice Geoffrey Lane
Geoffrey Lane, Baron Lane
Geoffrey Dawson Lane, Baron Lane AFC PC QC was a British Judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 1980 to 1992. The later part of his term was marred by a succession of disputed convictions...
on 29 July 1977. While Lord Justices Browne and Lane disagreed with Lord Denning's decision that strikers were not "workers", all three were in agreement that the failure of ACAS to canvass all of the employees, even though it was through no fault of their own, rendered the report invalid and as such it was declared void. While accepting that ACAS had made all the efforts that it could to ascertain the opinions of the workers inside Grunwick, the failure to do so meant that it had "not complied with the conditions and safeguards of section 14 of the Act." ACAS said that it would appeal the decision, which had effectively made the Act unworkable where an employer refuses to cooperate. The subsequent appeal was heard before Lords Diplock, Salmon, Edmund-Davies, Fraser and Keith, who dismissed it on 14 December 1977.
Extension of picketing
By March 1977, picketing had also begun outside London chemists' shops in an effort to stop them doing business with Grunwick. Grunwick attempted to take out an injunction restraining pickets from demonstrating outside shops and handing out what the company alleged were "defamatory leaflets". In the High Court Mr. Justice Gibson refused to grant the injunction, saying that he would not interfere with peaceful picketing in a trade dispute. The company was unable to provide evidence of violence by the pickets, and as the strike committee claimed that they could justify their allegations in a court of law the judge declined to restrain the distribution of leaflets.Mass-Pickets
The dispute, and the media hype around it, became far more heated for a few weeks in June and July 1977 when mass-pickets formed of trade unionists and supporters from across London tried to stop non-striking Grunwick workers from entering the workplace. Police responded with greater numbers and more aggressive tactics and violence broke out on a number of occasions.The local Brent Trades Council, led by its President (veteran construction union activist and Communist Party Industrial Organiser Tom Durkin) and its ambitious young Secretary (TGWU activist Jack Dromey
Jack Dromey
Jack Dromey MP is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington since 2010...
), had become increasingly active in support of the strikers, mobilising support from other Trades Councils, trade unions and other Labour Movement bodies across Greater London. From the Spring of 1977 this had led to delegations of trade unionists from other parts of London starting to attend at and support the picket lines and the Grunwick management and the police had responded by preventing pickets from having any contact with workers entering the factory. In the Summer the Strike Committee, supported by the Trades Council, decided to call mass-pickets in an attempt to prevent buses carrying non-striking workers entering the Grunwick premises and a mass-picket and demonstration was called for 22 June 1977. This mobilisation call was vigorously taken up by several Trade Union and Labour Movement bodies across London and by virtually all leftist political organisations (notably the Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
and its newspaper, the Morning Star, the Socialist Workers' Party and various political groups inside the Labour Party). The 22 June event became a national demonstration of solidarity with the Grunwick strikers.
On 22 June delegations from Trades Councils, several Constituency Labour Parties and a great many trade unions (including Miners and Print workers) attended the mass-picket. The attendance of the President of the Yorkshire Area of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...
, and a delegation of mineworkers from as far-afield as Yorkshire, South Wales and Kent, was highlighted by the media. There were clashes between police and pickets (and a large number of arrests) when police tried to escort buses carrying non-striking employees into the Grunwick plant and bloody scenes between the police and the pickets were broadcast on television.
The Labour Government decided to commission an enquiry under Lord Scarman and the pickets were called off in mid-July to wait for the result of the enquiry. APEX announced it would abide by the outcome of the enquiry but Ward did not, saying he would only submit to the normal courts.
Aftermath
The Scarman Inquiry recommended the reinstatement of the strikers, said that the management had acted "within the letter but outside the spirit of the law" and that union recognition could "help the company as well as the employees". Ward rejected the report, the strikers were not reinstated and the union was not recognised. A House of LordsHouse of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
ruling upheld Ward's right not to recognise a union. The strike's support from other unions "slipped away" leaving the strikers called off their action on 14 July 1978, nearly two years after it had begun. Their demands for collective bargaining were never met.
Political Involvement
Three LabourLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Government Ministers, Shirley Williams, Denis Howell
Denis Howell
Denis Herbert Howell, Baron Howell was a British Labour Party politician.Born in Birmingham, Howell was educated at Handsworth Grammar School, Birmingham and became a clerk and chairman of the Clerical and Administrative Workers Union standing orders committee. He was a Football League referee and...
and Fred Mulley, went onto the picket line at Grunwick in May 1977. Williams subsequently lost her seat at the 1979 general election and the poet Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism...
commented that "I bet she rued the day she turned up on the Grunwick picket line".
Postmen who refused to deliver Grunwick's mail were suspended, disrupting postal service in the area, and the Attorney General
Samuel Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwich
Samuel Charles Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwich, PC, QC was a British Labour Party politician and cricketer....
refused to initiate any action against them and stopped anyone else from doing so.
In August 1977 Sir Keith Joseph
Keith Joseph
Keith St John Joseph, Baron Joseph, Bt, CH, PC , was a British barrister and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under three Prime Ministers , and is widely regarded to have been the "power behind the throne" in the creation of what came to be known as...
, a prominent Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician called the Grunwick dispute "a make-or-break point for British democracy, the freedoms of ordinary men and women" and described Labour ministers who joined the pickets as "'[m]oderates' behind whom Red Fascism spreads". Joseph was seen as speaking beyond his remit, as the more moderate James Prior was the Shadow Employment Secretary. Some Conservative wets
Wets
During the 1980s, members of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom who opposed some of the more hard-line policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were often referred to as "wets"...
called Joseph "off his head" and Thatcher said his comments were "too sharp".
Further reading
- Dromey, JackJack DromeyJack Dromey MP is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington since 2010...
; and Taylor, Graham. Grunwick: The Workers' Story (1978; LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
: Lawrence & Wishart). ISBN 9780853154136 - Durkin, Tom. Grunwick: Bravery and Betrayal (1978; Brent Trades Council).
- Rogaly, Joe. Grunwick (1977; HarmondsworthHarmondsworthHarmondsworth is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, close to London Heathrow Airport. The village is situated south of West Drayton.The nearest places are: Hayes, Harlington, Heathrow Airport, Longford, London, Sipson, West Drayton and Yiewsley....
: PenguinPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
). - Ward, George Fort Grunwick (1977; LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
: Maurice Temple Smith). ISBN 9780851171463
DVD
- Brent Trades Union Council, The Great Grunwick Strike 1976-1978 (Director Chris Thomas, 2007)
External links
- BBC On This Day.
- McGowan, Jack, "'Dispute', 'Battle', 'Siege', 'Farce'? Grunwick 30 Years On", Contemporary British History, Volume 22 Issue 3, 2008.