14.03.1996

Brent crackdown

Tory councillors in the London borough of Brent plan to derecognise Unison, the union which represents local government workers. The personnel committee is to put its proposal to a full council meeting next month.

The Tory witch-hunters are trying to victimise the regional official, but as councils around the country set their new cutting budgets, the reasons for this move are clear.

Brent has a vicious record both under Labour and Tory of cutting services and council workers’ conditions and pay.

Now they are upping the ante, but they do not have to get away with it. This move could backfire if workers throughout Brent get militant and make sure they do not get away with it.

This is not just an attack on one union or one union official, it is an attack on the rights and conditions of all workers. The Tories backed by Labour and their ‘stakeholder’ whitewash are trying to write unions out of history to unleash an unfettered crackdown on the working class.

In Brent we have a month to organise to make sure these plans do not even get off the drawing board.

Linda Addison