by Callum Cant // Workers strike against unsafe conditions at an East London recycling plant
On Tuesday, a group of workers, mostly Peruvian migrants, got in touch with the United Voices of the World union. They had heard of the UVW through a friend and knew that it was a fighting union. By 4pm they were sitting in the UVW offices in a high rise office block above a bowling alley near Elephant and Castle roundabout, discussing what could be done to keep them safe.
At 9.30am on Wednesday morning, 15 workers confronted the site manager. They demanded immediate changes to working conditions to make the plant safe - or else they would walk off the job and begin a wildcat strike. The site manager told them to fuck off, grabbed one of the key organisers and tried to push him about, then threatened to sack them all. By 11am all 15 workers walked out into the rain. Within minutes, the conveyor belts had stopped, the plant was closed, and the boss was out in the yard, negotiating in broken Spanish. The transition from contacting the union to beginning strike action had taken 19 hours.
On the picket line, issues of safety were uppermost. The workers refused to return to work until they had gloves and full-face masks with ventilators. The law gives workers a right to stop work if their safety is at risk, so their strike could be conducted with a degree of security. They also demanded soap and toilet paper for their toilet, showers for after their shifts, and 4 sets of uniforms. The boss began to concede. The masks were ordered with next day delivery, no one would start work until they arrived, the union would be given the chance to approve them and the entire strike would be conducted on full pay. Toilet paper and soap were ordered next, then they were told a shower would be fitted within the month, and finally that 4 sets of uniform would arrive by the end of the week.
But before long, workers were listing other demands. They made the boss force the bullying site manager to apologise for grabbing a striker and trying to push them about earlier that morning. They demanded a pay rise to the London Living Wage and the introduction of sick pay above the statutory minimum. The boss tried to head them off: ‘we’re in the red, we can’t afford it’ and so on. But before long, he was saying he’d speak to the board, and would meet with the union next week to discuss further demands. Workers agreed to return to work as soon as basic personal protection equipment had been provided. In less than a day, the world had been turned upside down.