Coming of Age : 1976 and the Road to Anti-Racism

1976 were the most notable examples of this side of our work.
Grunwick strike - August 1976 to July 1978 (6)
Grunwick Laboratories was described in 1977 by Which? magazine as the most efficient
and the least expensive of all the film-processing companies. From 100 employees in 1973,
by 1976 it had grown to a workforce exceeding 480. Pre-tax profits were £13,500 in 1969,
£126,719 in 1973-74 and £210,687 in 1975-76. By August 1976 when the strike broke out in
the mail order department, Grunwick was occupying several properties within half a mile
radius of Dollis Hill underground station in Willesden. (7)
Grunwick exploiting a vulnerable workforce
Grunwick was successful in persuading photographers from the Netherlands, Belgium
and Germany as well as Britain to post their films directly to the company for rapid and good
quality turnaround at cheap rates. The low prices it offered depended on hiring a cheap and
vulnerable work force. In 1974 when Jayaben Desai, the leader of the strike, started work,
the majority of her co-workers were white women. (8) The presence of a large and vulnerable
workforce in the shape of thousands of Asians of Indian origin expelled from Kenya and
Uganda and concentrated in a few areas of Britain, one being the borough of Brent in west
London, meant that the company discriminated in favour of cheaper Asians. By 1976 over
90% were people of colour whose wages in real terms were considerably lower than what
was paid in 1974. Holiday entitlements were also reduced and compulsory overtime with little
or no advance notice was enforced.
The role of IWA (GB)
We arrived at the Grunwick factory gate soon after the strike had begun. The starting
point was a walk-out by Jayaben Desai, joined later by 130-odd workers, the majority of
them women, over the humiliations they suffered. They were required to ask permission to
go to the toilet and reprimanded for staying there for more than ten minutes even during
pregnancy or menstruation.
What began as a walk out for self-respect was soon to become a strike for the recognition
of APEX (Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff) as their
union. The workers wanted APEX to negotiate on their behalf. The management was willing
to take them all back but not recognise the union. The national press chose to present it as a
story of poor, helpless Indian women in saris, speaking very little English, being denied their
normal rights as workers.
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