ELECTRICIANS SACKED by DAF Electrical remain on strike,
nearly a year after they walked out in defence of their union reps. DAF
attempted to break the union but has dismally failed.
Hugh Caffrey, Manchester
The strikers have sacrificed well over £130,000 in lost
pay but are determined to continue their dispute in defence of genuine
fighting trade unionism.
With enormous support from the labour movement they have
battled the judicial system, the council and the union bureaucracy to get
justice. Members of Manchester Socialist Party spoke to Steve Acheson, DAF
convenor and EPIU branch secretary, and asked how the dispute is developing.
Steve told us:
"We’re 48 weeks into the dispute now and
the only thing that can beat us is if they run out of somewhere for us to
picket. We’ve been told that this job at the courts will be over on 6 May but
we’ve got an option of going to picket Crown House’s office. Or if we can get
the funding, going to the Royal Dental Hospital in London where DAF and Crown
House are operating."The TGWU at the moment has allowed us to reintroduce a
hardship appeal (which they suspended in December). The hardship fund we were
getting, of £50 a week, we’ve not had that yet. We got £900 off our own union
as three weeks back pay but at the moment we’re 12 weeks behind with the other
[TGWU fund]."The ranks are still supporting us as they have from day
one in many unions. I will say the four unions that’ve been most distant in
this dispute are the construction unions – GMB, UCATT, TGWU and Amicus."We’ve got to build on the rank and file. We’ve made some
great links – Glasgow, Edinburgh, Preston, Liverpool and London especially.
These people have made sure we’ve been able to maintain the strike."We’ve attended meetings all over the country. We’re
prepared to go to meetings even after this dispute is long over to ensure that
these links are maintained for future disputes.""[On the Liverpool initiative for a new workers’ party] I
can’t disagree with it because we’ve collected 37,000 signatures and many
people have come to us with their own experiences of being let down or sold
out… I think there’s thousands upon thousands looking for some kind of
alternative."
