Politics can help win this strike

Parking enforcement workers employed by Greener Ealing, a wholly owned trading company of Ealing Council, are still striking.

Ealing Labour branch has passed a motion calling on Greener Ealing and Ealing Council to recognise Unite and meet the workers’ demands. More political pressure on the Council can help to win the dispute.

The strike, beginning on 27 August 2024, is the longest these workers have ever been on. A key demand is recognition of their chosen union, Unite.

Four workers have now been dismissed following a series of disciplinary investigations launched during the strike. The timing of these investigations and dismissals is suspect, especially since the alleged breaches were not identified as such at the time they took place and only became grounds for investigation several months later, when the workers were well into strike action.

The strikers briefly resumed work for two weeks in November to allow for a reballot and for notice to be served of renewed strike action. In those few weeks, the strikers were given the worst shifts. They returned to a chaotic work environment where some workers are continually being asked by the employer to change roles and responsibilities.

Despite the workers unfailingly picketing the council every day since August, not a single councillor has spoken to the workers, except once to tell them to keep the noise down. Ealing Council is a Labour council under a Labour government, and it is egregious that they have stood by while union recognition is taken away in an organisation they own.