opportunity at Canary It was the biggest missed opportunity of the European Social Forum (ESF). What had been intended to be the coming together of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) and the anti-globalisation movement in support of the cleaners of Canary Whart was reduced to a foriorn protest in the heart of British capitalism.
The Canary Wharf complex is an overfiow for the financial institutions of the City of London where financiers earn astronomical salaries. The people who clean their offices make £8-9,000 per year. The TGWU has managed to unionise a small number of the cleaners and has been campaigning for a wage of E6.70 an hour.
As part of the campaign the TGWU agreed to arrange a march on Canary Whart with Globalise Resistance as part of the ESF.
But the moment the owners of the Canary Whart "estate" took out an injunction banning the march, the TGWU withdrew its support. The union's campaign to prevent people going to the event was a lot more energetic that its efforts to get a good turnoul had been.
Globalise Resistance correctly insisted that a protest had to take place. TGWU officials spent the morning at Alexandra Palace handing out leallets saying the event was cancelled.
If a real effort had been made it is certain that several thousand people could have been brought down from Alexandra Palace to Canary Whart. This would have been practical anti-capitalism in action. Instead several hundred police officers and the Canary Whart security staff were able to shepherd about 200 people on a five-minute walk out of the "estate
The only elected representative who supported the demonstration was Respect councillor Dil Rahman.
Faced with the reluctance of the TGWU and new Labour to support some of the most exploited workers in London, this is a challenge that the local Respect branch is likely to take up. r ESE REPORTS on the 2004 European Social Forum held in London in mid-October A special pull-out report