As the Red Weekly went to press, negotiations between the TGWU and the management at Imperial Typewriters were still dragging on.
The management have apparently climbed down on their original threat never to 're-hire' 20 to 25 unnamed strikers.
According to reports the bosses have agreed all the strikers shall be re-instated. The management have been insisting however, that not all the strikers can return to their original jobs—a move obviously designed to isolate the 'troublemakers' and put leading militants into jobs which pay badly, thereby hoping that they will leave the factory.
After weeks of evasion and claims by TGWU convenor Reg Weaver, that there was no dispute, as all the workers had been sacked, Mathers the regional organiser stepped in and announced negotiations would take place on Tuesday 16 July.
The TGWU leaders had not suddenly discovered Imperial. The persistence and rock-solid determination of the 500 Asian strikers had forced the union bureaucrats to move. The situation at Imperial had become so hot for the TGWU leaders that they had to act.
Everybody had tried their hand at strike breaking. District Secretary of the union, Bromley, had muttered about a 'white back lash' if the strikers' demands were met. Local MP, Tom Bradley, president of the TSSA—white-collar railway workers' union—urged the workers to go back to work.
The Race Relations Board stuck its 'white nose' in and was rejected by the strikers. The Runnymede Trust had the effrontery to suggest Michael Foot as a mediator. The strikers' reply to this was not polite—but it was to the point. Mr. Foot was not invited.
The TGWU set up an Inquiry. They leaked to the strikers 'you have won, give us time to find a formula'. The formula included such small things as keeping quiet on the elected leaders of the strike getting their jobs back and dumping Bennie Bunsee—the outside 'subversive' who had been helping the strikers, at their request.
The strikers rejected this cajolery. No, they said, 'we do not go back without our leaders and we will work with anyone who serves the interest of our strike.' They insisted: give our strike official backing and publish the results of the Inquiry.
But still Transport House equivocated. No action was taken. The strike did not get official recognition.
The management encouraged by the union's lack of action tried their own stroke. They flew in from California their head of personnel, Doug Peters. Mr. Peters brought with him a chosen aide. This was a tame black American ex-baseball star who at the wave of a salary cheque dutifully recites the company's policies on equal employment opportunity.
But Mr. Peters and Mr. Iron did not wash. The strikers said no.
Finally the union moved. They could see the strikers were not going to be bullied, starved out, or even driven back by the union's indifference. Mathers announced that the union would be negotiating with the management on the day set for the national picket.
What will determine the outcome of these negotiations will be the continuing militancy of the strikers. Any retreat by them to let the union bureaucrats take over will result in Mathers making concessions to the management. Their continuing struggle has forced the union to act at last. It is the only way to get the settlement the strikers are demanding.