Listen to this interesting Colourful Radio interview with Henry Bonsu and Chris Ford, one of the organisers of last Friday’s Justice for UBS Cleaners international demonstration for sacked Unite shop steward Alberto Durango, and also to defend the living wage at UBS London offices.
According to reports there were between 100 and 150 people outside UBS Capital on Friday, and below are one of the many videos covering the demonstration.
A common theme of the speakers at this demo was the need for trade unions to back their members as Unite officials have not backed up their members in this and previous struggles of the cleaners and for the unity of workers regardless of their place of origin.
This is an extremely important struggle, which involves some of the most exploited sections of the working class in London. Some of the activists involved in the efforts to organise the cleaners come from Latin American countries, bringing with them a tradition of class struggle and militant trade unionism which needs to percolate through the British trade union movement as a whole.