Police raid Labour Club: pickets held
Socialist Press1980 1980-02-27Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 10 →
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Thirty uniformed police burst into the offices of Labour Party on the evening of February 18 and seized files relating to the organisation of steel pickets in the West Midlands.
The raid followed one the previous night on a house in Edgbaston, Birmingham, in which two steel pickets who were staying there were Dear Comrade Editor, I read with great interest your article on the recognition dispute in Slough.
Although your reporter managed to get quite a lot of arrested.
Another picket was arrested in Corby the following day-and all three have been charged with conspiracy to carry out criminal damage.
They are alleged to have damaged lorries at Telford, Shropshire-using implements found in the Borough Labour Party offices.
The scene seems set for a repeat of the Shrewsbury conspiracy trials of 1972.
The raids raise important information into it I think there are one or two things that could be added.
In particular an important development around the strike has been the use of flying pickets.
These have been despatched from Chix to warehouses that are doing business with the firm.
Lorries have been turned away from businesses in Maidenhead and Slough and some firms have agreed that they will stop trading with Chix for the duration.
Obviously by hitting the business of the suppliers and questions about the police information.
Either the raids are a complete frame-up, or the police must have heavily infiltrated the picketing organisation.
As well as establishing a defence fund it is essential that the labour movement in Birmingham should establish an inquiry into the police action so that the necessary steps can be taken to defend the security of working class organisations against police intimidation.
Reader's letter Although there are problems with blacking the water supply to Chix (which comes from a private supplier) they are not the problems which he spells out.
Despite this, many people in the GMWU and other unions would respond to the call for a conference and some discussion must take place as to how this could be convened.
Too many unionisation disputes like the Chix struggle have been lost: Grunwicks, Garners, Sandersons to name but three.
At a time when all trade union rights are under attack