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| last month's unveiling ceremony |
FOUR
decades after an initially unremarkable local dispute over working conditions
in a small north-west London factory exploded into one of longest, bitterest
and most influential industrial showdowns in British industrial history, the so
called ‘lions of Grunwick’ have been immortalised in major new public artworks.
Led mainly by Asian women, the iconic
Grunwick dispute of 1976-78 challenged not just stereotypes but also the ethos
of the predominantly white, male trade union movement of the day and, in the
process, inspired a generation to speak out against injustice.
Amongst
the tens of thousands who flocked to the cause of the Grunwick strikers and
their inspirational leader, Jayaben Desai, were postal workers from the then
Cricklewood branch of the UPW (Union of Post Office Workers).
Twice their refusal to deliver or collect
mail cut the jugular of the mail-order photo processing operation after its
fervently anti-union owner sacked his striking workforce after they refused to
drop their demand for trade union representation.
Quickly becoming a cause celebre of trade
unionism and labour relations law, at its height the dispute was reported
nightly on the national television news, with footage of the Metropolitan
Police’s Special Patrol Group (SPG) making mass arrests and violently
confronting the “strikers in saris”, as they were dubbed by the media of the
day, further enflaming tensions.
Former Cricklewood branch chair Colum
Moloney still vividly recalls the brutal treatment dished out to those on the
Grunwick picket line – a precursor in many ways to the horrific scenes that
unfolded in the subsequent Miners’ Strike
“The SPG were animals – more like an army
than anything,” he told The Voice
last autumn in an interview marking the 40th anniversary of the start of the
Grunwick dispute.
A
year on, Colum has just represented the Cricklewood postal workers who did so
much to provide moral and industrial support to the Grunwick strikers at the
unveiling of two large murals in Willesden that unapologetically portray the
heroic stand of the predominantly female workforce who unwittingly found
themselves centre stage in a wider schism in British society that directly
preceded the 1979 general election and intensified under the Thatcher
government.
Describing the murals as a long overdue
“tribute to the strikers and all those who supported a just cause,” Colum
stressed he was proud to represent his erstwhile colleagues at an event which
illustrated the extent to which the ultimate moral victory is now seen to lie
with the Grunwick strikers – despite their ultimate defeat in the dispute
itself.
The celebratory murals, which were
developed by over 80 local residents through a series of community workshops
with local artist Anna Ferrie, sit at two locations with direct associations
with the dispute.
One adorns a wall directly adjacent to the
former Grunwick factory site in Chapter Road, while the second, larger, mural
is at the railway bridge in Dudden Hill Lane near Dollis Hill tube station
where many of those supporting the strikers from across London and beyond
disembarked en-route to the picket line.
One of the most astonishing things about
the Grunwick dispute is how a showdown that was so bitter and controversial in
the late 1970s is seen as a cause for mainstream celebration of the spirit of
struggle today – to the extent that the Grunwick 40 commemoration project, of
which the murals are the permanent legacy, was part funded by a £24,800
Heritage Lottery Fund grant.
“Maybe the further back in time it is the
less controversial Grunwick has become,” observes CWU retired member and Brent
Trades Council chair Pete Firmin who regularly supported the strikers on the
picket line.
“For me the ultimate legacy of Grunwick is
the way in which it was a turning point in terms of the unions relating to
migrant workers and black workers,” he added.
“It’s great to have a memorial to the
strike, the strikers and their supporters so close to the site of the old
Grunwick factories. It’s a wonderful reminder of an important piece of local
and labour movement history. A job well
done by artist Anna Ferrie together with all those who participated in
community workshops to help design the mural.”
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