Hotel Sold Out

Scan page 1

The 23 week strike over Oxford is over. The picketing, maintained continuously during that period, is over. The 17 strikers are now having to look for other jobs.

This is the result of one of the most treacherous sell outs by the leaders of the Transport and General Workers Union in recent years.

Beginning last December, the Randolph strike became the first of a wave of strikes against the Trust Houses Forte chain of hotels. Soon afterwards, strikes broke out in Birmingham, Sheffield and London.

These strikes became part of a major move toward unionisation of low paid workers, such as Grunwicks in West London and the Club One Bingo Hall in Coventry.

In line with national policy of the TGWU to organise in hotels, TGWU members at the Randolph were called out on strike by the local District Organiser of the TGWU by the local District Organiser of the TGWU in defiance of a chambermaid victimised for trade union activity.

OFFICIAL The strike was made official after two days and the strikers received f6 a week in hardship money from the TGWU Region 5 committee. This was the only support they were to receive from the union in the first three months, From early on the strikers were demanding a national blacking of THF establishments by the TGWU whose lorry driver members deliver to their hotels all over the country.

Initiated fiom the Oxford District Committee of the TGWU and supported by two demonstrations organised by the local trades council, this demand was adopted as policy by the GWu national trade group committee covering hotels after a lobby of that committee by the strikers.

Then quoting the High Court decision against the UPW on the blacking of South African mail, Jack Jones stepped in to overrule the committee's decision and declare the blacking "illegal"

He later changed this to say that other members would not The reality was that workers in THF canteens were volunteering strike support and TGWU officials were fighting to keep them at work.

The picket was maintained for nearly six months with the support of local trade unionists and students mainly organised through the Oxford Student Trade Union Liaison Committee.

Cont'd Back Page, 3. BRITISH LEYLAND first step toward actual control of industry.

placed under an observation glass."

Trotsky, The Transitional Programme, the programme of the Fourth International

----- pull-quotes -----

trade union recognition at the Randolph Hotel in