Settlement ends Raindi strike
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-01-06Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 14 →
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Total victory could have been gained by spreading the strike cipal left grouping in the NUT. However, it was also attended by two leading members of the NUT THE strike by 200 Asians at P.S. Raindi in Smethwick is over. At a packed meeting at Smethwick Sikh Temple the strikers accepted a union recognition agreement and elected a shop stewards committee, over half of whom are Asian women.
The agreement also covers the Raindi subsidiary. Supreme Quilting.
The meeting was opened by the singing of the latest version of a Punjabi ballad about the strike composed by West Bromwich bus driver Prakesh. Inspired by this example, the treasurer of the strike committee sang his report in verse as well!
The settlement is not a good one. A phased return to work is involved, although an undertaking to reinstate all the strikers has been obtained.
But the exception to this is the three union members at Supreme Quilting, whose dismissal started the strike.
They volunteered …to accept the sack to make a settlement possible wher TAINLA support for the strike SuPPORT Your seemed to be flagging Christmas.
The new committee will be responsible for negotiating piece rates. Basic rates will be the garment workers agreed national minimum rate. They will also have to hold the workforce together during the period of the phased return to work. s The agreement inciudes a secio, on the release of shop stewards for training. No doubt Raindi will soon be looking for experienced toremen.
One major item for discussion at the meeting was the reflection of the strike inside the Asian community and particularly inside Sandwell Labour Party.
The IWA spokesman stressed the need for the businessmen on the right of the Party to be expelled, but this required a much greater participation of Asians in the local Labour Party. Hopefully, this may be one good result of the strike.
Raindi's was a dispute where total victory was possible, but could only have been achieved by extending the strike to the other Asian sweatshops in Sandwell. I| the new shop stewards committee is able to consolidate the union, it can still seris it" a beacon for workers in ure local clothing industry.