IT’S a shame that the All in a Day’s Work book of interviews, recording lives and the struggles of west London workers from 1945-1995, did not reach the heroic and victorious, five-year Hillingdon Hospital Strike.
This began on October 1st, 1995 when 56 domestic and catering workers were sacked by private contractor Pall Mall for refusing to accept a £40 per week wage cut and continued until 1999.
On October 30, 2000, Unison shop steward Malkiat Bilku led her members back to work on their original terms and conditions with no victimisations, having also won maximum compensation for unfair dismissal, after a five year struggle.
In May 1995, Pall Mall announced that they were bringing in multi-skilling, intended to cut wages by what amounted to £40 a week, and change working conditions. The membership had voted for action, but the union officials did not call a strike, so the strike started off as an ‘unofficial’ action on October 1st, 1995.
The strikers had to battle with the trade union leaders for nine weeks to force them to make it official. Unison organised a national demonstration over low pay on October 21, 1995 and Hillingdon strikers went along.
They fought to place themselves at the front of the march, as they were leading the fight in the NHS against the privateers, defying the stewards, who tried to physically remove them. At the rally in Kennington, the demonstration demanded that strike leader Malkiat Bilku be allowed to address them, which she did.
There were many demonstrations and marches that the strikers participated in.
They organised two lobbies of the Unison headquarters to demand their strike be made official. At one, where the NEC was meeting, the strikers occupied the building until the then General Secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe came down to speak to them.
Finally on November 17 1995 the Unison Industrial Action Committee was forced to make the strike official. At the 1996 National Delegate Conference, a resolution was carried unanimously which said that the Hillingdon strike would be supported by the union until the remaining 53 strikers won their jobs back on their old terms and conditions.
But the trade union leaders resisted all calls for national action to win the Hillingdon struggle, while boasting that the strike had stopped Pall Mall cutting wages in their other NHS contracts.
The strike remained official until January 16, 1997 when Unison declared that the strike was over and told the strikers to accept the Pall Mall offer of £6,000 compensation as this was the best they would get and further, that they would not win their Industrial Tribunal. As far as they were concerned, the strike was over!
Everything was being rushed through as a general election was coming in May, and they wanted the struggle out of the way so as not to ‘embarrass’ Labour. However, the strikers rejected the offer, insisting that they would continue until they got their jobs back and the Industrial Tribunal must proceed as well.
On January 16, the strikers lobbied the Unison head office again where they found two rows of police armed with batons guarding the door of the head office. At a strike meeting the following Sunday morning they resolved to fight back, continue their strike, and defy the Unison leadership. They would not return until they had won back their jobs, on the old terms and conditions.
The strikers continued unofficially; they toured the country tirelessly for the next 18 months, winning huge support everywhere and raising enough money to pay £100 weekly strike pay to all the strikers. They attended every demonstration and challenged Bickerstaffe and TUC General Secretary John Monks if they were there.
Just one month later, the Annual General Meeting of the London Region of Unison voted to give £10,000 to the Hillingdon Strikers’ Support Campaign – which was stopped by the Unison leadership. They also tried to stop other branches and districts making donations.
Meanwhile, Pall Mall pulled out of Hillingdon Hospital and media giant Granada took over the contract. A High Court injunction was brought by the hospital against the strikers picketting outside the hospital, and refusing them entry. The strikers were forced to move from the hospital entrance but picketing continued.
On the second anniversary of their strike, on October 1st, 1997, 3,000 workers and youth marched through Uxbridge, to a rally, on a working day, with a number of trade union leaders and MPs speaking at the rally. In January 1998, the strikers won their appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal which meant that their claims for unfair dismissal by Pall Mall would now be heard.
Then at the Unison national conference in Bournemouth in 1998, in the last five minutes of the Conference, overcoming all the objections of Standing Orders and the attempt by the union’s bureaucracy to delay the resolution, the vast majority of the Conference voted for the emergency resolution which called to make the Hillingdon strike official again and restore their full membership.
The strike was once more back to being official, with national negotiations by the union to ‘ensure reinstatement’. Then at their Employment Tribunal, Pall Mall admitted that they had wrongfully dismissed the hospital workers. Granada was left to meet the unfair dismissal claims.
The Tribunal ruled that the maximum compensation must be paid to all the strikers and that the employers should restore them back into their jobs at the hospital. Although this was carried, Granada did nothing. There were pickets of the Granada HQ to demand they take the workers back.
But Granada challenged the ruling and organised an appeal against this decision. Once again at the Employment Tribunal, Granada was defeated and the decision upheld. The strikers were paid maximum compensation and they also won the right to their jobs back at the hospital.
Every cynic said this would never happen but on October 30th 2000, Malkiat Bilku walked back into the hospital, accompanied by Alan Keen MP, to the first day back at her job after five years. She was subsequently elected as Unison shop steward.
In 2004, she stood for the leadership of Unison challenging for the position of General Secretary and from the huge respect won by the Hillingdon strike, she received 30,000 votes from all sections of the union.
The Hillingdon strike was a resounding victory for the whole working class and a major defeat for the privateers. The Hillingdon experience shows that these trade union leaders can be beaten and the working class can win their struggles but it needs a revolutionary leadership.
