Tgwu Ignores

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HOSTEL STRIKERS 'I take home £36 a week' one of the pickets outside the Mount Pleasant hotel last Saturday told me. 'That's for 60 hours' What about overtime? 'That's including overtime, at time and a third. I work as a night porter - five 12 hour shifts' It was a mass picket, about 100 strong, " in support of 42 TGWU strikers at Arlington House hostel in Camden. The owners of Arlington House Rowton Hotels - also run two other hostels and three hotels in London, and the strikers are regularly picketing the hotels.

By pickets, and blacking supplies, they aim to hit Rowtons business at the hotels the Mount Pleasant (Calthorpe Street) the Grand in Southampton Row, and the London Park at the Elephant and Castle.

"This show of solidarity is a first move in stepping up the dispute' , convenor Jack Jenkinson told me. 'HopeTHE industrial action at the Oxford and Birmingham DHSS offices over staffing levels nearly came to an abrupt end last week.

For seven weeks, Erdington office has been on fully we'll be spreading action further.' On the Monday, the picket line at Arlington House was joined by Ken Cameron (general secretary FBU), George Guy (general secretary of the sheet metal workers), Tim Webb (national officer of ASTMS) Ken Livingstone (GLG Labour leader and formerly a Labour councillor in Camden), Harriet Harman (newly elected Labour MP for Peckham), and many others.

The strikers had called on all general secretaries to join the picket because they themselves were i court fighting attempts by Rowtons to evict them from Rod Bacon (vice-chair, CPSA DHSS section, in personal capacity) reports on why DHSS strikers in Birmingham and Oxford rejected a deal proposed by their left-wing union president, their rooms in the hostel the court case is expected to last some weeks).

Moss Evans, - general secretary of the strikers' own union, was not there. But that's part of a long The strike is over wages - and jobs, now that Rowtons have sacked the strikers. The average take-home pay at Arlingtor maker working 58 hours, £35 for a doorman working 60 hours, £32 for a cook doing 50 hours, and £33 for canteen staff on a 60 hour week. A toilet man get only £27 take-home for 50 hours.

Arlington House - where recognition for the TGWU was won by a strike this April - is the only part of Rowtons that is unionised, apart from some women workers in the hostel in Lambeth.

Blacking is vital to win the dispute. At Mount Pleasant, the strikers have managed to get blacking for most beer supplies and, most important, of oil -which is used for heating there.

But no thanks to the TGWU. "The help we've had is non-existent' ', said Jack Jenkinson. "They took five weeks to make the strike official, and that was only after we had a sit-in at the regional office.

"They've given no ronnaste thio maoo nickot support l uls mass purner apart from the distric official, Phil Pearson, wh has been pretty good. I fact, the IGWU tried t block the strike. They sal we were tearing up th agreement.

'All the blacking we'v had to organise ourselves though it would have bee much easier for the TGWI officials to do it.

'We need support fror the labour movement -finance, bodies on th picket lines, and resoli tions through TGWI branches.' At Arlington House, Jac Jenkinson told me, "Th kitchens are shut complet Thomas reports ely. But they're using contract cleaners - paid £24 day - and uniformed security guards, who we believe cost £30 an hour!

'One person was found dead in his room recently, and he'd been dead for three days. Rowtons say that's due to the strike, but I'd say the security guards are not doing their job. There have been fires at Arlington House during the LAG TA dispute, and the strikers have always been the first on the scene to put them out. The security guards have been nowhere.

'Camden Council said they would provide meals on wheels, and we agreed to allow them through the picket line. But we found that one day 40 or 50 meals had been left over. The management re-heated these meals, sold by the council at 24p, and sold them for £1.10.

'But we've had fantastic support from the residents. Rowtons fill all the jobs by advertising internally. They've been advertising for four weeks now, and not a single resident out of 600 or 700 has taken a job.

'Recently they've organised themselves into a residents' association, and a couple of them are on the picket line with us today. Some are aiso organising to refuse to pay rent.' All Rowton hotels are making a loss, and are subsidised by the hostels. Arlington House made £281,000 profit last year, 61% of Rowtons' total profits.

Yet Rowtons want to get rid of the 'hostels and concentrate on the hotels. Jack Jenkinson said, I think the reason is pressure from the council to modernise. They reckon they'll be forced to carry out improvements at Arlington House which will cost £1.5 to $2 million and reduce the capacity from 1066 to 500.

*But I can't fully understand it. Unlike Camden, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets councils are putting no pressure Rowtons, and even in Camden it could be two or three years before they get through all the legal procedures' The accommodation at Arlington House - which is part of the 'wages' for all the workers - is almost all 7 foot by 5 foot cubicles. 'You can easily touch both sides of the room by stretching your arms' said Jack Jenkinson. 'There is very poor ventilation and lighting, and the heating in winter is often non-existent. And the food they buy is usually very poor quality' Camden council has decided to take over Arlington House. Jack Jenkinson told me how things stand.

'Rowtons are asking

million. They say it's a business. Camden says it shouldn't be, and I think they're right. I don't agree with Camden paying £3M but if it comes to it, they should. It's people, not money' However, the purchase is sure to take months.

In the meantime, the dispute must be won. Blacking and support on the picket lines are what's needed to do that.

• Pickets from 7am every day at Arlington House, Arlington Road, Camden, and at the hotels.

Donations c/o Camden Labour Centre, 8 Camden Road, London NW1.

(485 1100).

AT STANFORDS Ma Shop , in London manage ment have agreed to reir state all the sacked strikel (including their shop sten ard Paul Hobbs, whom the had previously refused 1 reinstate), and recognis their union.

There is still a disput over new work contra which management wal

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House, a hostel for single men, was £28 for a bed-