Flying SparksThe Bulletin of the Jubilee Line
Strikers |
| Bulletin 2 : Wednesday 25th November
1998 |
| Bosses
Reject Compromise |
| They have declared war against
our rank & file power! 650 striking electricians and 75 plumbers stay solid as solidarity grows. We strikers came out over a week ago when the bosses tried to isolate selected rank and file union members from the biggest Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) site at London Bridge. What began as a dispute over safety fire-alarms, and then over victimisation of the Jubilee 12, has now become an all out attack on our powerful rank & file sparks organisation. On Monday we proposed to the bosses that we would compromise, and if they needed 12 transfers then it could be done on a voluntary basis - and we would all be back at work on Tuesday. But they rejected this point-blank, demonstrating even more clearly to us all that their tactic was the first salvo in a US-style union-busting onslaught. Becthel, a US company took over general JLE site management 3 months ago, and are responsible for hiring sub-contractors like Drake & Scull (our employers). Becthel have stood firm behind Scull - and we believe they are behind all this. The bosses refusal to compromise
is in fact a declaration of war |
| Background to this attack |
| Sparks first came in numbers onto the JLE project in
February 1996. Inside 6 months the first shop-steward was
elected with over 50 Sparks in the union. But we did
something unique (and something all other building
workers should note): besides paying the union AEEU subs
of £1.35p per week we sparks, by ourselves, set up our
own rank & file hardship fund of £2.00p per week!!! The
reason for this was that as there’s no sick pay in
our contract we needed to do it ourselves - and by god we
did it, and it worked brilliant. The Shop supports our members in hardship; we finance our own rank & file struggles with great success against management attacks; we give money to other causes. Just recently £1,000 to Wigan striking Sparks - we held weekly collections on the sites. Also recently we gave £300 to the rank & file Rail Strike Support Group (defending sacked RMT Rep. Steve Hedley), who ironically have just returned the honour themselves with a hefty donation to our strike fund. Great camaraderie, eh! By April 1997 there were 200 sparks on the job. A 5-strong Committee of stewards was elected and we held monthly meetings. Three days later eleven Sparks were sacked, including all of the 5 elected Shop Committee. Immediate unofficial (and very illegal!) 100% walkout resulted. As with today, the AEEU repudiated the action, and Drake & Scull sacked all 200 of us. We picketed out every site for a week - and then total victory! All were reinstated! Since then our rank and file body has had a number of
defensive disputes and been very successful, to the point
of radically improving our safety and general working
conditions. We wish other workers on the JLE and
elsewhere would copy-cat our example - as it would
strengthen workers everywhere and the trade union and
labour movement in general - and we would give full
support to their actions! |
| The
Present Attack |
| It is in this context that the present dispute takes
place. It may even be the reason why this particular
Becthel company were selected to run the JLE project,
considering their anti-union busting experience!? They
have been getting quite heavy-handed against all JLE
workers on numerous minor issues over the last several
weeks - and now - we have this situation. We do not
believe this is an attack on the AEEU officials. The
General Secretary of the AEEU seems to prefer talking to
managers than to those who pay his wages - us lot. This
attack against the rank & file Shop at London Bridge,
the biggest of the London sites, is the first salvo
against the whole of The Shop spread over 15 sites in
inner-London. |
| What
Has To Be Done |
| We electricians and plumbers are proudly sticking
together. We welcome all those workers and others who
want to join our picket-lines and rubbish totally all the
crap lies in the press and all the ‘red-scare’
stories spread by the lie-machines. We recognise the need
to link up with other disputes and to get the support
from the whole trade union and labour movement. Also - we would like to thank all those unions, groups and individuals who have supported us so far. Thank you all - let us together turn this important struggle into another victory for us - and for us all. -------------------------------------------------------- The Jubilee strikers have picket lines at the three
tube stations: Waterloo, London Bridge and Westminster
every morning from 7am. We are appealing to all
supporters: join our picket lines! |
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