speeches and talks by a few sparks, members of the elected committee, a RMT spokesman showing his solidarity to our cause, a UCATT spokesman, the head of the student union showing solidarity (nice tash), was good to see the National Shop Stewards Network there giving their support once again and a surprise guest in the shape of Tony Benn.
He gave a speech on the need for unity in the industry, the point of trade unions and the need for us all to spread the word. There was a considerably larger police presence than at Blackfriars, possibly due to the fact that we were at the Olympic site gates but they were not too much trouble. At around 7am the top bloke at Westfield came out and was talking to the police with a very estranged look on his face. Most certainly not happy that we were outside his site, partially obstructing the site entrance. The police obviously informed him that there is nothing that can be done as it is a peaceful protest on public property. So around 8am, Westfields moved the site entrance around the corner away from us, which was a shame. A quick mention for the T.Clarkes lads that came along. Well done and thank you. Couldn't of been easy coming out with your governor standing at the top of the steps having a nose but that is the way forward. They may dock you a couple hours for not being on site, but that is all they can do. We need to see a lot more card labour coming along. Two hours money for trying to save your livelihood is nothing. The protest received its first piece of media coverage out of the construction and socialist loops in the shape of the London24 website. The Daily Mirrors investigative team "Penamn and Sommerlad" give a mention to what is happening in their column on Wednesday in a piece about the Blacklisting court case which had a very good result on Tuesday morning for the victimised Dave Smith. By 8:30 all of the speeches were finished and the protest was over for another day. I have added all of the pictures and video that I can find on the net of the protest below.
It looks as though the movement is spreading and we are going to be having a protest in the North East in either Newcastle or Middlesbrough on the 7th September to coincide with the London protest. More details to follow. If you think that a protest would go down well in your area let me know. Email me at jibelectrican2011@gmail.com
The next London protest will be at Europes tallest building, The Shard, London Bridge, 7th September 6:30am.
Just a quick comment on behalf of some of the T. Clarke lads. Those of us that stayed to the end of the protest lost more than a couple of hours. We were told just before we swiped out the night before that if we were not at our place of work by 8.00am, that we should go home and lose a days pay. Some left the protest early to beat this ploy, but there were some of us that stayed and took the loss. I will be losing another days pay next week when I attend the protest at the Shard. Hopefully, short term losses will reap long term gains.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that T.Clarkes carried through on their threat. But it is good to hear that you are some of the carded labour are not put off by this. In an ideal world every single one of you would come along and lose a days pay, that would really scare them but at the moment that is not going to happen. See you on Wednesday
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