AFTER 21 months on strike, Magnet workers voted by 47 to 34 to accept redundancy.
After heated debates the strike committee were REINSTATE unable to reach an GHB agreement on dation to the strikers and the deal was put to a secret ballot without one.
340 workers were sacked from Magnet kitchens in Darlington after going on strike for a minor pay rise. Since then they have organised a picket throughout the dispute facing physical attacks and intimidation.
Magnet, along with the numerous other long-running trade union disputes (Critchley Labels, Hillingdon, Liverpool Dockers), was always going to be extremely difficult in a period where the wider labour movement has been so passive.
Without a militant trade WORKER: THE MAGNET RLINGT union movement that can mobilise support for such disputes it is no surprise that many of the strikers felt unable to see any strategy that could win back their jobs. At the same time, disputes such as Magnet have proved an inspiration for working class militants across the country and have exposed the myth of 'partnership' between bosses and workers that is currently being peddled by union leaderships. lan Crammond, secretary of the strike committee, told Socialist Outlook 'If the trade union leaders would get their heads out of the sand and stand up for the people they are supposed to, we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. "If they stood up for ordinary workers and not the flashy suits and Tony Blair we wouldn't have had to go on As the Camden libraries dispute enters its IOth week. Camden's Labour council is becoming more open with its threats to sack all the strikers and recruit a scab workforce. Up until now Il of Camden's 13 libraries have been shut throughout the dispute.
A demonstration of around 500 took place at the end of April and the strikers' supporters include Maureen Lipman, Michael Foot, Dorris Lessing, Michael Palin and numerous other well known radicals from Hampstead and Highgate. Whilst the council are unlikely to carry out any mass sackings prior to the local elections it is clear that the council are digging in their heels, and may even be prepared to lose some councillors from the Labour group in order to defeat the workforce. It is also clear that the strikers will need to spread the dispute in order to guarantee a victory in their fight against restructuring and down grading of posts.
Camden strikers threatened with mass sackings