Industrial disputes

Correspondence; reports; statements; press cuttings and flyers relating to trade union activities and industrial disputes at various businesses in the West Midlands and London during the 1980s and early 1990s. The vast majority of these strikes took place at businesses that mainly employed Asian workers, and the Indian Workers Association was involved in campaigning in support of the strikers.

Papers are arranged by dispute in roughly chronological order, with miscellaneous material at the end of the sequence, and consist of:

/1 annotated typescript report on the Sandhar and Kang industrial dispute [in 1982]. Sandhar and Kang was a cash and carry warehouse with premises in Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton where workers were sacked for joining the Transport and General Workers Union [TGWU]. The report includes details of the strikers demands, and sets out the role played by trade unions in working to improve pay and conditions for workers and ensuring fair treatment

/2-/5 correspondence and flyers concerning the Air India strike in the autumn of 1982, including a copy letter from Avtar Jouhl to the Transport and General Workers Union [TGWU] General Secretary extending the solidarity of the Indian Workers Association Central Executive Committee and requesting other TGWU members at Heathrow airport to take solidarity action, 25 September 1982; handwritten slogans for an Air India strike picket; letter from TGWU branch secretary to Avtar Jouhl asking for assistance in organising solidarity pickets in Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds; flyers for a picket at India House in support of Air India strike, issued by the Air India Strike Committee, TGWU Southall, 18 October [1982]

/6-/9 correspondence and associated papers concerning the industrial dispute at Raindi Textiles and Supreme Quilting in 1982 and early 1983, including copies of letters sent by Andrew Faulds, Labour MP for Smethwick, to the President of the Federation of Indian Organisations and to the secretary of Michael Foot, leader of the Labour Party discussing the background to the dispute and explaining his views about the importance of unionising the factory; statement of accounts with details about the expenditure of the strike fund; newspaper article published in 'Birmingham Evening Mail' 23 January 1985 reporting on the good working conditions at Raindi Textiles, including a mention of the 1982 strike over union recognition

/10 statement issued by the Indian Workers Association urging people to support the 'official dispute' at Joseph Fray, Smethwick. Workers were striking on the issue of wage increases and were supported by the Indian Workers Association, Shaheed Udham Singh Welfare Centre, Women's Section of the Indian Workers Association Birmingham branch and other Asian and African Caribbean organisations. The statement gives details about ways in which people can support the strikers on the picket line, January 1987

/11-/21 correspondence; flyers and newspaper cuttings concerning the strike at Burnsall Ltd electro plating company in Smethwick in 1992 and early 1993. Asian and white workers took strike action in protest against including letters from Jo Quigley, GMB regional organiser, to Avtar Jouhl concerning donations to the strike fund by the Indian Workers Association and a commemorative meeting to mark six months of the strike in December 1992, and to the Birmingham Burnsall Strikers Support Group containing a detailed account of tensions between the GMB union and the support group; leaflet issued by the GMB Burnsall strike fund containing information about violent attacks on strikers and union officials by Burnsall management, and instances of ill treatment of workers at the company; flyer issued by GMB listing the strikers demands and asking for donations of support; photocopy of a newspaper photograph printed in the 'Wolverhampton Express and Star' featuring a young Asian boy, Jaspal Johal, holding a Burnsall strike placard; flyer issued by Socialist Outlook on the withdrawal of support for the strike by the GMB union; newspaper article published in 'Workers Power' September 1993 on the decision by GMB to call off the Burnsall strike in June 1993; and an article published in an unidentified newspaper providing an overview of the strike. Workers demanded recognition of the GMB union, equal pay for women, an end to excessive overtime, and compliance with health and safety obligations

Other material consists of:

/22 letter from Harpal Brar for the Central Executive Committee of the Indian Workers Association to the Executive Committee, National Union of Mineworkers, expressing support and praise for the miners who went on strike between 1984 and 1985, 26 March 1985

/23 photocopy of an article published in an unidentified newspaper on the reading of the Corporate Safety and Environmental Information Bill which would require companies to disclose information about their environmental and safety record

/24 typescript foreword by Avtar Jouhl to an unidentified report by R. Ashan on exploitation in the clothing industry

/25 article published in an unidentified newspaper reporting on a fire at a small clothing factory in East London in which five Asian women workers died, undated

/26 flyer issued by the Gardners Support Committee in Birmingham in support of workers at Gardners engine factory in Manchester taking industrial action against redundancies. The flyer gives details about a public meeting at Digbeth Civic Hall to mobilise support for a demonstration against unemployment, to be held in Liverpool, undated

/27 information leaflet written in Punjabi and issued by the Indian Workers Association to the workers of Modi Warehouse warning them about the anti-union propaganda of their employers and appealing to all employees to join a trade union