London sparks break media black out

02 November London electricians took their fight against pay cuts and deskilling to the Gratts-run site at 110 Cannon Street this Wednesday morning. Sparks had vowed to return last week after a site manager boasted he would pay all constriction workers £1 an hour if it were up to him.

As the protest assembled at 6:30 AM it appeared Gratts had taken the hint and shut the site down as the only souls to be seen were City of London police guarding the site entrance. Fresh from making a nuisance of themselves at the nearby St. Pauls occupation their commanding officer declared the day’s gathering outside the site an illegal demonstration and threatened to arrest anyone engaging in blockades or occupations.

This was the final action in the run up to the all important national demonstration of construction workers on November 9^th. Electricians marched from the Gratts site and invaded Cannon Street tube station in order to hold a brief rally. Speaking at the rally Rob Williams from the NSSN emphasised the importance of Unite delivering on their promise of a ballot. Mick Dooley from UCAAT, recently excluded from the General Secretary election pledged to fight on to transform the union.

Leaving the station electricians then marched passed St. Pauls cathedral. A camera crew from ITV were spotted filming. Despite a number of visible activities over the last three months by electricians, including site invasions and a blockade of Oxford Street, there has been a virtual media black out of the protests. Electricians seized the chance to get some media coverage and surged up to the camera crew, about to go live on breakfast time program GMTV and demanded that the station cover their protest, which after a bit of a wait (perhaps while T.V. producers in the studio debated whether to show the protest or not?) was aired on the program as well as the radio. The breaking of the media black out was a big morale boost for sparks allowing the days action to end on a high note.