Grunwick Strike: TUC Model Resolution

Model resolution for labour movement
Grunwick40 – commemorating the Grunwick strike
We note:
* August 2016 is the 40th anniversary of the start of the 2 year strike at Grunwick film processing in North West London. This strike, mainly of Asian women, received unprecedented levels of support from the wider movement, in contrast to the attitude of the movement to previous strikes by black and immigrant workers. This solidarity was faced with considerable police violence against pickets, with the highest number of arrests (over 500) in the course of an industrial dispute since the General Strike of 1926. The law was used both to undermine the fight for union recognition and against postal workers who refused to handle crucial Grunwick mail.
* Local activists around the Willesden Green Town Team, together with Brent Trades Union Council, are planning to erect murals in commemoration of the strike close to the focal point of the strike in Dollis Hill.
* In conjunction with this, it is planned to organise a day event later in the year which will both commemorate the strike with activists from the time, and relate it to issues facing the movement today, such as organising the unorganised, migration, trade union law, etc.
We therefore:
Agree to give support to these events, both practically and financially by:
* Encouraging members to follow the planning of these events through the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/Grunwick40/info/?tab=page_info  and signing up for the email group for news of events;
* Make a donation of £….. towards the costs of the mural and day event;
* Invite a speaker from Grunwick40 to a future meeting, possibly linking this to a showing of one of the films about the strike;
* Forward this to other parts of the movement.