Picketing against

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A LABOUR CND @ DEMONSTRATION SUPPORT LABOUR'S POLICIES INDA CT2ND LIFE is certainly full of surprises for Wandsworth Council tenants - you don't know from one week to the next who'll be emptying your bins, cutting the grass, or sweeping the streets... or if it will be done at all.

The latest one to be sprung on us is the privatisation of the housing department.

The council invited in Grand Metropolitan — who are already making a dog's breakfast of the dust - to do a feasibility study on the merits of privatising housing management. Roehampton district was chosen as the guinea-pig.

In typical Wandsworth Tory fashion, this was done without any consultation with tenants or their representatives.

Rumours were rife, but nothing was known for definite until last week when workers in the Housing Office were, informed that Grandmet were coming in the following week.

Because of looming threats to their jobs — the caretakers have been given three months' notice of redundancy - the housing workers have built links with the tenants' associations.

A joint tenants/district housing office working party has been set up to look at ways of improving the service to tenants by the existing council workforce.

So last Wednesday, August 31, a demonstration of over 50 tenants from the estates in Roehampton was there to meet Grandmet's representative.

Housing District workers walked out to join them. A secret ballot organised by NALGO throughout the Housing Department had voted overwhelmingly - ten to one - for non-cooperation with Grandmet.

In the event the Grandmet man did manage to slip in after the demonstration had dispersed. From then on, the tenants decided to keep up the picket while the office was open.

On Thursday, when the Grandmet rep arrived, escorted hu Nictrint Hancince Offinat Mr Stickles, there was no way he was going to be let in.

That same day, Mr Shepherd, Director of Housing, came down to address - i.e. intimidate -the workforce.

Wandsworth has a long record of summary sackings, stopping wages for work-to-rules, and other arbitrary ways of dealing with industrial action.

So, while the workers are still supporting the protest, it has fallen on the tenants to keep Grandmet out.

We have kept up the picket AREINO DEFENCE C for a week and no further sign has been seen of Grandmet. Leaflets are going out to every tenant in the District, and a petitinn adainet nrivaticatinn has абашо purawsanun ias attracted lots of support from local people who come across us while shopping and paying their rent.

The council is obviously concerned about our continuing presence. At every meeting with tenants' representatives they try to wheedle them into calling it off with flimsy offers of 'guarantees' As far as we're concerned, the picket stays until we have assurances in writing that the study and the proposed privatisation are scrapped.

3P0L 72SM.

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