Michael Hindley reviews a piece of agitprop to celebrate the Grunwick Strike and explains why it is important to remember this important struggle.
The Grunwick strike, which lasted from August 1976 to July 1978, made a significant and lasting impact on industrial relations in Britain. In preparation for the fiftieth anniversary of the strike, Townsend Theatre are touring the country with their agitprop production of “We Are the Lions”. The title comes from a confrontation between a bullying manager at the Grunwick film processing factory in Dollis Hill, London and the spirited spokesperson for the workers, Jayeben Desai. When subjected to more bullying, Jayaben Desai snaps back:
“What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo. but in a zoo there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys, who dance on your fingertips, others are lions, who can bite your head off. We are the lions, Mr Manager.”
I caught up with the production at the Unity Hall, Nelson, Lancashire, a venue worth a mention of its own.
Originally opened in 1907 as a home for the Independent Labour Party (ILP) it was restored by volunteers and re-opened in 2021 and now houses a splendid exhibition of Nelson’s radical history, particularly of its local suffragettes. A suitable stage for this production, indeed.
The political background to the strike needs some explanation to a contemporary audience, who live in an era when the balance of power has swung decisively in favour of capital and further away from labour.
Determined to undermine the power of the trade unions movement, the Tory government of 1970 to 1974 of Edward Heath introduced measures, in their terms, to curb ‘wildcat’ or ‘unofficial’ strikes, that is, workplace actions for better pay and conditions, which often gathered momentum and gained ‘official’ support from unions.
In February 1974 during a strike by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Heath called a General Election asking bluntly ‘Who runs the country?’ The answer was a blunt ‘not you’ and Labour came to power with paper-thin majority. The government immediately settled the miners’ strike with a huge 35% pay award.
Later that year Labour Premier Harold Wilson called an election and increased marginally Labour’s majority in the House Commons. Labour agreed a “Social Contract” with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and passed legislation, which enhanced the shop-floor status of workers, including the right of recognition for workers, who wished to join a trade union. It was this Trade Union and Labour Relations Act (TULRA), which the strikers at Grunwick invoked when they walked-out of the factory in protest at their treatment. They were ‘recognized’ by the APEX union and the strike was made ‘official’.
Another innovation of the Wilson government was the Employment Protection Act (1975) which included the establishment of ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) which could offer a mediation procedure in disputes between management and workers. ACAS was to play a role in the Grunwick dispute when the APEX union referred the dispute to ACAS.
In retrospect it should be recognized that the 1974-75 Labour government advanced the cause of working people more than any subsequent Labour administration, whose efforts have been insufficient by comparison.
The media pictures of the strikers caught attention for the particular reason that the strikers were women, and migrant women at that, and even more significantly, Asian women from East Africa. Their families had migrated from India to East Africa during the British Empire to provide a basis for a middle class. These migrants eventually qualified for British citizenship. After the independence of the new countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, such people, even after generations in Africa, found themselves subjected to discriminatory policies culminating in August 1972 in Uganda where the dictator, Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Asian people. Many took advantage of their British citizenship to migrate to Britain, starting off a fresh wave of the anti-migrant racism, which remains endemic in our country.
It is noteworthy that this first stage of migration of East African Asians and their descendants, especially women, have continued to be among the highest achievers, educationally, professionally and in business, and have brought much benefit to our country. Certainly in Jayaben Desai, they have a remarkable and admirable pathfinder.
In March 1977 ACAS supported the Grunwick workers’ right to have their union membership recognized but ACAS had no power to enforce its conclusions. The limitations of the ACAS route to a solution was highlighted as the initial recommendation was challenged, defended, challenged again and finally dismissed in the unelected House of Lords.
The other feature of the Grunwick strike action was the issue of ‘secondary picketing’ and the phenomenon of ‘flying pickets’.
In the Miners’ Strike of 1972, one of the great successes for the strikers was managing to close the Saltley Gates Coal Depot in the West Midlands, which brought to national prominence, Arthur Scargill, then President of Yorkshire NUM. The mass picketing effectively ended the strike in the NUM’s favour.
There was considerable optimism on the left that similar mass picketing could turn events in favour of the Grunwick strikers as solidarity from other unions and supporters grew.
In response to more workers joining the strike and the mass picketing, from June 1977, the Grunwick management started bussing workers into the factory.
At this point a secretive and reactionary force, hostile to the cause of the Grunwick strikers, came into play in the form of the National Association for Freedom (NAFF), which became an influential factor in the outcome. This extreme right wing lobby sought to influence events and public opinion through their media and political contacts. NAFF was particularly anti-trade union and their activities were influential in committing the Tory party to a reversal of the pro-union laws of the 1970s. The Tories, under Margaret Thatcher, became the torchbearers for the hostile trade union laws from 1979 onwards.
The odds were always against the Grunwick strikers. Several in the trade union movement itself were uneasy about the violence, real and potential, of the mass picketing. The intransigence of the firm, especially Grunwick’s boss, George Ward, wore down the determination of the strikers and their supporters. The succession of legal decisions against the strikers’ cause was dispiriting, despite ACAS and Labour pro-union laws. After almost two years, the strike committee announced the end of the strike in July 1978.
The rising influence and activities of the nefarious NAFF, and similar networks, were to become a permanent feature of British politics. Their main targets were, and remain, the trade union movement, particularly the NUM – witness the defeat of the 1984-5 Miners’ strike and the left in the Labour Party.
The potential for ACAS to play a sympathetic role in workplace disputes was curtailed at birth and sadly has never been resurrected and strengthened since by subsequent Labour regimes.
Townsend Theatre Productions are to be congratulated in their dramatization of the Grunwick dispute, which showed the inspiration and limitations of union solidarity.
“We Are The Lions, Mr Manager!” is a two-actor show. Rukmini Sircar plays Jayaben Desai with eloquence and passion, while Neil Gore plays all the males, displaying energy and some remarkably swift changes of outfit – and still has breath to sing.
On their tours, Townsend recruit the support of local choirs, to add voice to the songs and presence to the crowd scenes, a most welcome innovation. In this Unity Hall production, the ubiquitous East Lancashire Clarion Choir were the supporting vocals.
Details of the itinerary of “We Are The Lions, Mr Manager” can be obtained here.
Michael Hindley is a former Member of the European Parliament and is now a freelance writer and lecturer on international politics. Follow on @hindleylancs.sky.social. This article first appeared on Substack.
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