and FIGHTING TO Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1976 a strike began at the small Grunwick film processing plant in Willesden, northwest London.
Initially a handful of workers walked out over pay, conditions, and trade union recognition. Of the137 strikers, most were Asian women.
The strikers joined APEX, the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff.
The strikers won the support of the whole of the labour movement in Britain and significant solidarity action abroad. Postal workers refused to handle Grunwick's mail (crucial to its business) in November 1976 before backing down in the face of a High Court Injunction.
Media coverage was extremely biased against the strikers, to the extent that print workers refused to print some articles critical of the strikers until given the right to reply.
Thousands mobilised to come to the picket line from all over the country.
Mineworkers, in particular, attended in large numbers for the mass pickets in June and July 1977.
Despite the fact that Labour Cabinet ministers attended the picket line in support, the police employed heavy tactics, resulting in over 600 arrests and many injuries. The police were widely seen as a company force.
Despite the mass picketing and action taken by sections of the movement, the strikers were unsuccessful in their denis to stop costlitial services to the plant and Grunwick's was able to sit out the dispute.
The defeat was a defeat for the whole movement, openingt he door to the introduction of repressive anti-union laws -and we are still trying to reverse this tide.