The latest and most vicious incident took place at 11.20 pm on Sunday May 25 when a taximinibus pulled up at the picket line and seven hooded men carrying iron bars attacked the pickets.
The six men in their fifties who were on picket duty at the time approached Magnet security to call police. It seems as if they may well have delayed doing s,0 as the police took 15 minutes to arrive when their normal response time is five minutes.
In the meantime the thugs smashed up much of the impressive camp that the strikers had constructed to make the long hours challenging the scabs more bearable.
They smashed up the portaloo and overturned the brazier so that it burnt down the portacabin. One tried to pick up a gas canister and throw it into the brazier to spread the blaze further but was unable to do so. They were then able to escape in the waiting taxi before the police arrived, leaving several strikers european МарспАс DEFEND HE WELFARE STATE needing hospital treatment.
The workers recognised some of their assailants as scabs. However the Magnet security cameras had been tampered with so that the film of the incident is too blurred to be any use as evidence. The police do seem to be taking this outrage seriously; a pleasant change from the last time the picket was attacked.
A few months ago one of scabs threw petrol at one of the cabins on the site. In order to avert the entrance MATTE JOBS Magnet strikers have been generous in their solidarity with Euro Marches: now they need extra support.
danger of fire this was carefully washed away with water. As a result the man involved was only charged with causing an affray and got away with being fined for an offence which had it been carried out by the strikers would doubtless have resulted in a far more serious charge and sentence. 340 workers at Magnet were originally sacked in September 1996 for going on strike for a modest pay rise. Since the disNOMINGRAN ANCHOLE TRADES UNION pute started, support committees have been set up in many areas of the country and regular actions called outside Magnet showrooms. The determination of the strikers and the solidarity they have received has put the company under increasing pressure. In the days before the attack on the picket line the strikers had heard that the scabs were having their hours reduced and benefits cuts. Some even had the audacity to faced both from management and scabs.
Neither Alan Milburn, in whose constituency the factory is, nor Tony Blair, in whose Sedgefield constituency several of the strikers live, has even bothered to visit the picket line.
Magnet strikers and their supporters are determined they should not have to wait thirteen years like workers at GCHO.
Since the recent attack the numbers on picket duty have been increased, and a mass solidarity action called for Saturday May 31 in DarlingA picket of Beresford's (the owners of Magnet is being planned for July at their Baker Street Headquarters in London. Actions at Magnet showrooms throughout the country need to be organised as well as speakers and collections at Labour movement meetings. This dispute can be won - lets organise one last push.
ON JULY 19-26, revolutionary INTEIRNATIO L I8