Hotel workers go back bitter at union service

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Address London NW5 1HR SITALBI STON ARGA LEGUE .£1.10 .£2.20 . £5.50 £10.00 They had been on strike for two weeks for the reinstatement of their shop steward, Richard Elvidge who was dismissed for his trade union activities.

They went back disheartened and bitter at the lack of support from trade union officials.

They are quoted as saying "Too many • promises, too little action"

The maintenance men working in the hotel were all union members, probably EETPU, and they used to cross the official picket line No call came from their officials for this state of affairs to be stopped.

As always, the role of the police was made clear during this strike.

They limited the number of pickets to eleven for the three entrances.

This obviously made picketing very difficult, especially with the sort of people using the establishment. A mass picket was needed to put off the high bourgeoisie from using this hotel.

Police role

Another example of the role of the police was given by full time official Tilston:

"Then in the early hours of Wednesday morning, a tanker arrived with an oil delivery. The driver was non-union and the name of the company had been blacked out.

I tried to argue with the driver but the police arrived immediately.

They had a paddy wagon at the end of the street so they must have been expecting the tanker"

This is exactly the same tactic as the one used during the unionisation struggle against Trust Houses Forte at the Randolph Hotel in It raises the question òf the involvement of the so-called National Association For Freedom.

The main factor in the loss of the strike is as always the lack of support from union officials.

Very important was the lack of lead given by Tilston to the strikers as he was never available and "very busy" attending meetings all over London.

The other very important point was lack of finance.

No strike pay The union never gave the strikers any strike pay during the two weeks of the strike.

The union bureaucrats should have organised a levy on the 12,000 memhers in London to ensure that the strikers did not suffer any hardship.

Sympathy strike action in the Savoy Hotel group should have heen organised straight away and then extended to This is the only action which would have brought this employer in this situation to concede trade union recognition and reinstatement.

Confident

The strikers are now back at work without their shop steward who is going to an industrial tribunal and is confident of getting his job back. He obviously will never work at Claridge's again.

The final terms for going back to work are not clear at all.

The only thing that is clear is the fact that the scabs are being rewarded by the company for being "good workers"

John Beck, the deputy shop steward had this to say after going back to work:

"The union lost but we did not. We and the GMWU were fighting for different reasons.

"The union wanted recognition. We wanted treatment.

"If we had stayed out a bit longer we would probably have got all we asked for but BINNERS Claridge's pickets we were demoralised at not getting the support from other unions that we were promised"

Fred Cooper, the National Industrial Officer of the GMWU believes that we will look back at 1977 and 1978 as the year of the unionisation of the catering industry.

We will look back at 1977 and 1978 and remember the role of the GMWU bureaucrats in betraying the strike for a £50 minimum wage at the Metropole and the strike for trade union recognition at Claridge's.

The union officials have shown once again that they are not capable of defending the basic rights of their members and that every time a section of workers enter a struggle it is as much against the union bureaucrats as the boss.

The only way we will ensure that these people fight for their members' interests would be if they were subject to election and recall by the membership and paid the average wage of the members they represent.

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NEVER KNEW PHOTO: Andrew Wiard, Report THE FEUDAL UNTIL I CAME MORNINS INION CLARIDGES

SYSTEM EXISTEN PFEAR AND ISRAGIRAL WE WANT ELVIDGE RAL.