Issue 77: May 2018
Tesco Dagenham strike
the bulletin of
theActivist
SOLIDARITY WITH THE TESCO
DAGENHAM PAY STRIKERS!
Scott Jones
Usdaw East London retail C026 chair
(personal capacity)
W
orkers at Tesco Dagenham distribu-
tion site are striking over pay from
10pm on Thursday 17 May. Following
over a year of negotiations between Tesco
and the retail and distribution workers’ union
Usdaw, bosses have refused to improve their
initial offer which was worth less than 3%.
Simon Vincent, an Usdaw rep at the site, says:
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members in
“Our members work in temperatures one de-
gree above freezing with difficult performance
targets. Many are agency workers and 53 of
them left in April alone as they simply cannot
live on the wages offered. They feel exploited,
underpaid and overworked.”
Tesco announced in April that pre-tax prof-
its for the year ending 24 February were a
huge £1.3 billion - up from £145 million the
previous year. As Simon points out this is “not
about Tesco’s ability to pay, it’s about their
refusal to pay. Another Tesco depot just five
miles up the road pays its staff £1.30 an hour
more than in Dagenham.”
The money is clearly there. Yet Tesco has
slashed terms and conditions, premiums and
jobs in stores and call centres in recent years.
Striking back against these attacks and for
better pay is absolutely correct and neces-
sary and the new Usdaw president, Socialist
Party member Amy Murphy, was elected with
support for industrial action one of her main
policies.
Picket lines are 10pm on 17 May and then
6am and 2pm on 18 May. Simon says: “We
would love to see retail, distribution and the
wider trade union movement come to our
picket line and support our members and
show solidarity.”
The Socialist Party sends solidarity to the
workers and urges everyone who can to at-
tend picket lines and show support on social
media.
JJ Belgium Lidl strike win!
A week long series of strikes by Lidl
workers across Belgium has led to
increased staff at stores across the
country. A strike broke out at one
store in Oostkamp over the dismissal
of a sales manager, which also raised
the issue of workloads.
After a failed set of negotiations,
where the company wanted to push
for longer opening hours, including
Sunday, a number of stores went on
strike immediately, but soon began
being joined by other less organised
stores. By Friday 27th April, 147 out of
302 stores in Belgium were reported
as closed by the company,
The strikes forced management to
conceded an extra 42 staffing hours
per store for six months, but this
was rejected by the SETCa / BBTK
unions and the strike continued for a
further two days until this was made
permanent. Key in winning this was
the picketing of the 5 distribution
depots in the country, effectively
shutting the company down.
Understaffing is a problem across
the whole of the retail sector. The Lidl
strike in Belgium shows once again
that shop workers do not have to take
the attacks of management lying down.
Iain Dalton, Usdaw Broad Left chair
 theActivist
Usdaw ADM 2018 backs zero-hour ban,
leaders oppose rank-and-file coordination
Delegates walkout of conference
to protest to standing orders
The left is making steps forward while the
right-wing bureaucracy continues trying to
hold back struggle at Usdaw’s annual delegate
meeting (ADM). The 22-25 April national
conference of the retail and distribution union
is still underway at the time of writing.
The union leadership opposed affiliation to the
National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) - a
rank-and-file body established by transport union
RMT and supported by nine national unions.
Every contribution to the debate supported the
motion. The leadership admitted its opposition
was because Socialist Party members play a
leading role in the NSSN.
The vote was clearly 50/50 on a show of
hands. But outgoing president Jeff Broome
12 May
TUC demo
On 12 May, Usdaw members from around the
country mobilised to attend the TUC rally for ‘A
better deal for working people’. The battle that
Usdaw members have waged to ensure central
office provides funds to enable members to
attend demonstrations like this, meant that
Usdaw’s proportionate weight in the demo was
larger than union, a far better reflection of the
union being the 5th largest in the country.
However, the vagueness of the TUCs main
slogan for the march, combined with the lack
of organised transport and but crucially the
fact that many of the unions have abandoned
a fight on pay beyond the crumbs off the table
the government is prepared to give meant the
overall turnout was quite disappointing.
This didn’t deter from members making the
Usdaw contingent one of the liveliest, with
Usdaw’s new socialist president, Amy Murphy,
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the bulletin of
refused a card vote - despite numerous calls
and general uproar. About 50 delegates
walked out to complain about blatant breaking
of the rules.
The protests made to standing orders forced
a re-run of the vote. The final result was
declared as 42% for, 58% against - a close
defeat at the hands of a hostile and cavalier
leadership, and clearly justifying the card vote.
The ADM did pass an emergency motion
calling on the union’s executive council
to support workers at Shop Direct. Three
distribution sites in Greater Manchester face
relocation to an automated site - which could
result in the loss of over 2,000 jobs.
The members are preparing for industrial
action and were emboldened by the level of
support. Socialist Party members called for no
relocation, and a shorter working week with no
loss of pay.
Usdaw has committed to a campaign to ban
zero-hour contracts in favour of minimum
16-hour contracts, except for those who
specifically request less. Socialist Party
members pressed the importance of not just
committing in words but seriously preparing a
leading the way, literally at the front of the
contingent megaphone in hand.
But members should question why, unlike
other unions, we didn’t have a banner
highlighting current campaigns leading
members in
campaign.
I spoke in support of reintroducing the original,
socialist ‘Clause IV’ into Labour’s constitution,
which the leadership opposed and defeated.
But the ADM did pass a maximum income
policy, on a card vote, after the leadership
opposed it.
It’s apparent Socialist Party member Amy
Murphy’s election as next Usdaw president
has emboldened the left in the union. Iain
Dalton of the Socialist Party has also been
elected chair of Usdaw’s Broad Left, which
continues to grow.
We sold over 100 copies of the Socialist. It’s
clear support for socialist ideas is rising in
Britain’s fifth-largest union.
Ryan Aldred, Usdaw conference delegate
NSSN conference 2018
The annual National Shop
Stewards Network (NSSN)
conference will be on Saturday 7
July 2018 from 11am to 4.30pm
in Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square,
London WC1R 4RL. New Usdaw President
Amy Murphy is among the speakers. See
shopstewards.net for more.
our contingent - which could of perhaps
highlighted the Tesco Dagenham dispute?
Or why there was no Usdaw speaker on the main
platform - perhaps this was due to the most
senior elected union figure at the demo being
Amy Murphy - perhaps Hannett was worried that
Amy may say something positive of Corbyn or
critical of his friends in Progress who attempted
to sabotage the recent election campaign with
smears.
When strikers from TGI Fridays, McDonalds
and others were allowed on the main stage,
we have to question why there was nobody
speaking about the Dagenham dispute -
whether our new President or a lay member
themselves? Instead this issue was only raised
from the platform provided before the demo
set off by the National Shop Stewards Network
with Usdaw Broad Left Chair Iain Dalton calling
on those at the demo to show their support
and solidarity.
The demo marks an improvement in Usdaw’s
presence on such demos, but there is more
work to be done to make sure Usdaw punch its
weight and not below it.