{"id":42743,"date":"2024-04-09T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redpepper.org.uk\/?p=42743"},"modified":"2024-06-06T13:07:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T12:07:14","slug":"unofficial-unionising-an-interview-with-wilf-sullivan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redpepper.org.uk\/economics-unions-work\/work-trade-unions\/unofficial-unionising-an-interview-with-wilf-sullivan\/","title":{"rendered":"Unofficial unionising: an interview with Wilf Sullivan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I was 18 or 19, working in a factory in Kent, I joined the Transport and General Workers\u2019 Union<\/a>.<\/strong> I was always a bit \u2018bolshy\u2019. My supervisor didn\u2019t like me and didn\u2019t let me go to the toilet. I used to do things to sabotage the production line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I moved to London and got involved in anti-racism struggles,<\/strong> joining the central committee of Rock Against Racism<\/a>. As convener of the social services department in Islington, I organised a children\u2019s home workers\u2019 strike <\/strong>demanding better staffing ratios, making myself unpopular with the council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late \u201970s, I started working for NALGO<\/strong> (National and Local Government Officers Association) in Haringey, which had an active black members\u2019 group. There were no official black members\u2019 groups in unions then. We organised unofficially, both locally and nationally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We campaigned around how the union structured its pay claims,<\/strong> which disadvantaged low-paid workers, especially black \u2013 including Caribbean, African, Asian, Cypriot and Chinese \u2013 workers. We got the union to have a flat rate element to their claims and negotiated with employers that there should be open recruitment. I became secretary of the NALGO Haringey branch, which had about 4,000 members in those days. Bernie Grant<\/a> was the council leader \u2013 we argued all the time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Thatcher was terrible, <\/strong>we got more done because we were organised. I think over the neoliberal period race got depoliticised. Language changed from \u2018antidiscrimination\u2019 to \u2018equal opportunities\u2019<\/a>. Divide and rule took place through funding the more conservative elements in communities and playing them off against one another, making it difficult to get people in the same bloody room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you talk about work, if people haven\u2019t got a place to live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in a time when nobody distinguished between union and community organising.<\/strong> Union reps were running local library campaigns; unions campaigned for childcare<\/a>, not just in the workplace but within the community, and around housing<\/a>. How can you talk about work, if people haven\u2019t got a place to live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I became a black members\u2019 officer for Unison <\/strong>before moving to the TUC in 2004. People say we\u2019re always talking about the same issues \u2013 lack of access to work, lack of promotion, bullying in the workplace, lack of access to training. And I say, that\u2019s because it\u2019s structural. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grunwick<\/a> was the first black workers\u2019 dispute<\/strong> that had the full backing of trade unions. There had been lots before but they weren\u2019t officially supported \u2013 in some cases, the official union was downright hostile. People on the left sometimes think \u2018it\u2019s all about class, scrap this cultural politics \u2013 after the revolution, racism will disappear\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managerialism is the curse of the modern world.<\/strong> Whenever there\u2019s a problem, everybody says we need a process \u2013 but processes are extremely good at individualising things. I used to criticise my colleagues in relation to policy also. The world runs on people, not policies. Where are ordinary people involved in discussions about improving their lives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot of debate in unions about the role of organisations like the IWGB<\/strong> (Independent Workers\u2019 Union of Great Britain). Like any institutions, unions feel threatened when organisations outside their ecosystem start popping up. If mainstream unions cannot meet the needs of the most vulnerable workers, it\u2019s inevitable that people will do it themselves. But that\u2019s what trade unionism should be about anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilf Sullivan was speaking to Ananya Wilson-Bhattacharya<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article first appeared in Issue #241,\u00a0Pan-Africanism<\/em>. Subscribe<\/a> today to get your copy hot off the press!<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former Trades Union Congress race equality officer reflects on decades of black workers’ organising within unions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":43319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1977,244,2302,3],"tags":[2873],"class_list":["post-42743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-race-racism","category-the-spark","category-work-trade-unions","tag-wilf-sullivan"],"yoast_head":"\nUnofficial unionising: an interview with Wilf Sullivan - Red Pepper<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.redpepper.org.uk\/economics-unions-work\/work-trade-unions\/unofficial-unionising-an-interview-with-wilf-sullivan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unofficial unionising: an interview with Wilf Sullivan - 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