24 April in London
The picket line at the Shelter office on Old St, London, was good. On the workers' third day of strike action - after a long pause, a lot of pressure from management, and a lot of foot-dragging or worse from full-time union officials - picket numbers were still buoyant, and the mood was defiant.
Old Street is the base for Shelter's top management, and employs a lot of agency workers, so some people did go into work. But, during the time I was on the picket line, only similar numbers to those on the 5 and 10 March strikes.
I hear that there was some weakening of the strike in other areas. That is to be expected in the circumstances. I believe victory is still possible if the action is continued, even with a bit of fraying. The reactions from some managers going in to the Old Street office suggest that they are a bit rattled and out of their depth: these are, after all, bosses who have never faced a strike before and never expected to face strikes.
The Old Street pickets later went on to the joint NUT-UCU-PCS demonstration from Lincolns Inn Fields to Westminster, which was excellent. Police estimated the numbers at six thousand, but it looked more. The crowd was young, energetic, and bubbly - mostly, so far as I could judge, young school teachers.
One young teaching assistant (a Unison member) I spoke to was excited and happy because teachers at her school, on the initiative of a couple of left-wing NUT activists, had organised a picket line, and she and other Unison members had refused to cross. I heard of another school where an NUT picket line was sustained by just one young teacher, yet some ancillary workers refused to cross.
However, it seems school picketing was generally weak, despite 769 schools in London (BBC figures) being at least partially open on the day. I heard of one school where the Unison members (teaching assistants, admin, etc.) met and voted not to go if the teachers had a picket line - and then the school NUT decided not to picket. There seems to have been no drive from the union tops or even from the union left "establishment" to organise pickets.
At the end-of-march rally in Central Hall, the Shelter strikers were not allowed to speak on the platform. That is particularly disappointing since the Shelter strike's effect depends above all on publicity, and part of the idea of scheduling the strike for 24th and 25th was to use the big rallies on the 24th to publicise the dispute.
Shelter workers told me that they had lobbied hard to get on the platform. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka wanted them to be allowed to speak, but they were blocked by the NUT, despite the NUT now being nominally under left-wing administration, with Christine Blower as acting general secretary, a left majority on the Executive, and well-known NUT leftist Alex Kenny chairing the Central Hall event.
An AWL member asked Christine Blower why the Shelter workers had been barred. "Oh, it's complicated. I can't remember all the details. I think in the end we agreed they could speak in Lincoln's Inn Fields" (true, though few would have heard them). What's complicated about it? No answer.
The NUT leadership did, however, find time on the Central Hall platform for TUC general secretary Brendan Barber, a man for whom a sell-out of combative workers is like a fine meal to a gourmet.
Same sort of picture with the union officials in the Shelter dispute. RMT deputy general secretary Patrick Sikorski, to his credit, came to offer support on the picket line; so did a couple of workers from neighbouring offices. But the officials from the Shelter strikers' own union, TGWU-Unite? TGWU-Unite general secretary Tony Woodley, whose office is only a short walk away? No sign of them.
The picket and the demonstration were, however, evidence of a new generation of young trade unionists who can shake up the old guard at the top of the unions, whether right-wing or nominally left-wing.
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Report from a Birmingham council worker
Today's strike [of Birmingham council workers, over "single status@: 24 April] was bigger than yesterday's [23 April].
Yesterday, 75% of binmen worked but today only one depot worked (Montague Street, in the city centre, and not very well judging by the rubbish in the city centre!) and that was mainly staffed by agency workers.
At Perry Barr depot over 60 pickets stopped all but a few 'street cleansers' working - the street cleansers are mainly temps too. A couple of bin wagons were spotted around the area, but these had just a driver whom none of the binmen knew - and of course you can't collect bins on your own!
A couple of 'anti-graffiti' squads went out from Perry Barr, but it's the first time as these aren't even based there.
These workers are a small number compared to the 40,000 council workers affected by the change in contracts, but of course if binmen strike the results are immediate and very high profile.
At the rally in Victoria Square and march/demonstration in the city centre there were significantly more than for our strike in February - 4,000/5,000?
Pics
Some photos here.
Report from Leeds:
A huge number of closures and partial closures. We tried to get accurate numbers but the effects on schools changed in a daily basis (always in our favour). I think up to 80-90% of schools were affected, many by total closure.
We had at least 500 at the rally. Our big worry was the rain. At 8.30 on the picket lines it absolutely poured and continued until well after 9. I seriously thought this could ruin our rally as it was entirely an outdoors event. It certainly will have deterred some members who will have been deciding whether to head out from the outer reaches of the city but we were all really pleased with the turnout. And it wasn't just the numbers that impressed- it was the relative youthfulness, the enthusiasm and the positive mood. With 11 speakers at an outdoor rally it looked like everyone stayed to the end. There was no drift away and we had to virtually instruct people that they could go home now or go shopping. I had large groups from particular schools and some individuals make a point of coming up to me just to say how much they enjoyed it, how grateful they were to the Union, and how keen they were to go back into school and tell other what their day had been like.
Again as with most other reports the young teacher speakers went down wonderfully. We have turned up some really promising new activists in schools and at least one new Committee member.
One other very telling feature was the response of other local trade unionists. Many of the local public sector and council unions attended, were visibly impressed and made a point of hanging around afterwards to tell me how positive and inspiring the day was.
To then come home and see the pictures and reports from around the country and the numbers and composition of the London event was tremendous. Surely we cannot leave it long before seeking a fresh mandate for further action to build on this and using this great success to approach the other teacher unions to reconsider joining us. We had a vote on a proposal that if the government refused to change its policy would you support a further ballot for discontinuous action. It was early in the rally when we had the maximum attendance and the vote was unanimous.
Patrick Murphy, NUT Exec (pc)
Well supported in Notts
The strike in Nottingham was very well supported. There were, unfortunately, no picket lines that could have been used to embarass and focus other teachers, particularly those from the NASUWT, about the consequences of their actions.
The march however was well supported with close to 500 marching despite pouring rain at the start.
A rally followed with most of those marching attending. What was distinctive about the rally, apart from 2 brilliant speeches from our comrade Liam Conway who was called back to conclude the rally, was the contributions from new and young teachers.
The point made again and again and very well, was that this was only the start and that the key task was to go back amongst teachers and other public sector workers to prepare wider and more effective solidarity.
Comrades in the local news