A century of Black self-organisation in unions Black workers have a long and proud history of fighting for rights in the movement by Maurice Mcleod mowords The_TUC BlackWorkersConference
ABLE: Merchant seamen in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
No group of workers are more vulnerable than Black workers and so it should come as no surprise that many pivotal struggles in British history were led by Black workers and workers of colour. In 1919, after the First World War, there was a vibrant community of Black workers in Britain, particularly around the ports like Liverpool, where 5,000 Black merchant seamen, largely from the Caribbean lived.Sporadic race attacks spiralled into full scale rioting which was so vicious that gunboats were sent down the Mersey to suppress the violence.
The desire for Black self-organisation within the union movement grew and the Coloured Film Artistes’ Association became Britain’s first independent Black trade union when it launched at Elstree to improve the terms and working conditions for Black actors. Although the women only won a partial victory, their campaign sparked an ‘equal pay demonstration’ in Trafalgar Square the next year and was a major reason for the passing of the 1970 Equal Pay Act.In 1976, workers at Grunwick, a north London film processing company, went on strike over the treatment of workers.
One of the largest disputes, the Wapping print dispute, saw a large workforce of 6,000 printers and newspaper workers go on strike over the introduction of new technology, and discrimination in the workplace.These workers had long faced discrimination in the workplace and saw the introduction of new technology as a further threat to their livelihoods.
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