Black Flag 212 index
POLES APART
THE MAGNET DISPUTE DRAGS ON
350 workers at Magnet Kitchens' factory in Darlington were sacked 3rd
September last year. They had rejected the company's proposal on wages -
£35 a week cut on average, after 3 years of a pay freeze!
Last year Magnet made profits of £27 million, and gave fat cat director
Marion Anonini a pay rise of £750,000. The workers response was almost
unanimous industrial action, to which Magnet responded by sacking 350
workers, nearly the entire workforce. Strikers have been threatened and
scabs have been hired at even lower wages and on short term contracts.
As the dispute drags on, and it is obviously hurting Magnet, it is clear
that it is mainly anarchists who are actively supporting the workers
there, much to the shame of the left. Aside from anarchist publications
covering the dispute, there were various snide comments in the stalinist
Trade Union Review about a "loose collective" of supporters occupying a
Magnet branch in the North East.
There are four unions involved, and their only response so far has been
to call for a boycott. This is fair enough, but if, like me, you've
spent a few hours picketing Magnet showrooms, you'll notice that not a
lot of trade goes on. In fact, it's quite clear that the sort of
consumer boycott that hits normal retail outlets won't work here.
Instead what's needed is solidarity of the real kind, such as getting
construction unions in Magnet's large customers (local authorities,
hotel and catering businesses) to refuse to fit Magnet kitchens. This
is an awful lot harder, and the biggest step is actually to talk to the
workers in these places. It begs the question as to why the locked-out
Magnet workers' own unions haven't done it, as it would be much easier
for them to impose an industry wide boycott.