Tower Hamlets Housing Strike – UNISON the Enema

The beginning of this month was the 10th anniversary of the ending of this strike. A classic compromise was eventually hammered out.

I seem to remember a bottle of Gordon’s gin played a part in forming the union proposal which became the basis of the eventual agreement.

The strike achieved a reduction in the number of local housing offices closures from a proposed 8 to 16 and an agreement which meant effectively that there will be no compulsory redundancies (crucial).

I have posted previously on this month long all out strike here and here.

As well as picketing buildings we also had had a march with resident groups on the Town Hall (which opened my eyes to certain things) and a public rally in York Hall where the strike committee members had to rescue the (admittedly provoked) Council leader of the time after he told a tenant to go “forth and multiply”.

During the final negotiations to end the strike the Tower Hamlets Chief Executive announced that a friend had recently returned from holiday in Thailand. This friend had been aware of the “difficulties” being caused to her by the strike and had noticed that in Thailand the leading medical brand for constipation was called UNISON and had brought her back a bottle which the CEO put on the negotiating table (see centre picture) for our amusement.