[BITList] Willesden walk out

[John Davison]

AT THE END OF THE DAY , SHE DID NOT HAVE TO COME  TO BRITAIN SHE COULD HAVE 
STAYED IN INDIA . WHILE  DURING WORK PROBLEMS IN BRITAIN SHE WOULD HAVE GOT 
NHS AND OTHER STATE HELP NOT AVAILABLE IN INDIA .

PERHAPS SHE WAS ANTI BRITISH , AND LIKE SO MANY OF HER ILK IN EAST AFRICA 
WHO WERE ANTI BRITISH , THEY CHOOSE TO GO TO BRITAIN , WHEN THESE COUNTRIES 
BECAME INDEPENDENT , THEY WENT TO BRITAIN , WHY NOT GO BACK TO THEIR HOME 
COUNTRY INDIA ?

QUESTION  ? WONDER HOW MANY OF THESE PEOPLE ,WILL ALWAYS  HATE BRITAIN AND 
THE BRITISH WAY OF LIFE , AND PERHAPS CAUSE UNENDING TROUBLES ?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Feltham" <wantok at me.com>
To: <Undisclosed recipients:>
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2014 8:09 PM
Subject: [BITList] Willesden walk out





To read this Life of the Day complete with a picture of the subject,
visit http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/lotw/2014-03-14



Desai  [née Patel],  Jayaben Suryakant  (1933-2010), factory worker, trade 
unionist, and teacher, was born in Dharmaj, Gujarat, India, on 2 April 1933, 
into an affluent landowning family, the only daughter and second of three 
children of Gordhanbhai Govindbhai Patel and his wife, Kamlaben Patel. She 
was strongly influenced by her mother, from whom she imbibed a concern for 
justice. As a schoolchild, she supported the Indian movement for 
independence from British rule. After the death of her younger brother, the 
family moved to Bombay, where Jayaben enrolled in a tailoring college. On 24 
June 1955 she married Suryakant Desai, the manager of a tyre factory in 
Tanganyika. She stayed on in Bombay to complete her course, and joined 
Suryakant in Dar-es-Salaam in 1957. They had two sons, Sunil (later 
Shivkumar) and Rajiv. Following the independence of Tanganyika and the 
introduction of 'Africanization' policies, the Desai family, who held 
British passports, returned to Nadiad in Gujarat in 1964. After four years 
in India, Suryakant headed for London in March 1968, where Jayaben and the 
children joined him in October 1968.

Suryakant Desai found a menial job, while Jayaben worked in a laundrette. 
She then worked as a sewing machinist in a sweatshop before she went on to 
work at Grunwick, a film processing plant in Willesden, north London, in 
1974. The family, who had a comfortable lifestyle in Tanzania and India, 
experienced a profound dislocation in their class position and social 
status. Jayaben Desai refused to accept the treatment meted out to low-paid 
migrant workers in the factories of the day, particularly the managerial 
control and compulsory overtime at short notice that was imposed at 
Grunwick.

On 20 August 1976, a male worker at Grunwick was sacked for working slowly. 
That same afternoon, when Desai was confronted with a demand for overtime, 
she responded, 'What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo. 
There are many types of animals in a zoo. Some are monkeys who dance to your 
tune, others are lions who can bite your head off. We are those lions, Mr 
Manager. I have had enough-I want my freedom!'  (interview, 11 Oct 2007). 
Desai and other workers who walked out that day joined the Association of 
Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX), and began 
picketing Grunwick. Soon they were joined by over 100 workers. Their demands 
came to be centred on the right to union recognition and collective 
bargaining, and their cause was taken up by the wider trade union movement. 
The Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service attempted mediation, and 
on 10 March 1977 recommended union recognition, which was rejected by George 
Ward, the owner of Grunwick.

Desai began travelling across the country seeking solidarity from trade 
unionists and workers. Her eloquence won many supporters for the cause and 
the profile of the Grunwick dispute increased during that spring. In June 
1977 the Grunwick strike committee, supported by the Trades Union Congress 
(TUC) and APEX, called for mass pickets. Over the next two months thousands 
of workers from across the country, including the Yorkshire miners led by 
Arthur Scargill, assembled in the narrow streets near Grunwick. In a huge 
policing operation, the Special Patrol Group, which was to play a major role 
during the miners' strike of 1984-5, was deployed in an industrial dispute 
for the first time. As clashes between the police and the demonstrators 
escalated the Grunwick dispute received wide, and largely negative, media 
coverage. Desai became a familiar figure on television screens. This 
publicity led the Labour government to appoint a committee of inquiry led by 
Lord Scarman to gather evidence and make recommendations on the dispute.

When in mid-June 1977 the Union of Postal Workers voted to boycott post from 
Grunwick, a powerful weapon against the mail-order firm, victory seemed 
within the grasp of the strikers. However, the newly created National 
Association for Freedom organized the delivery of Grunwick's processed films 
across the country, in what was known as 'Operation Pony Express'. On 25 
August the Scarman report recommended union recognition and the 
reinstatement of the sacked workers. But the report was rejected by Ward. 
Desai wanted to resume mass picketing, but the TUC and APEX withdrew their 
support. She, along with three other strikers, mounted a hunger strike 
outside the TUC headquarters in November 1977. Disillusioned with the trade 
union, the strike committee announced the end of the dispute on 14 July 
1978. As Desai commented afterwards, 'Trade union support is like honey on 
the elbow; you can see it, you can smell it, but you can never taste it!' 
(interview, 11 Oct 2007).

Desai went on to teach at Brent Indian Association and pioneered an Asian 
dressmaking course at Harrow College. The GMB union (successor of APEX) 
recognized her contribution with a gold badge of honour at their national 
conference in June 2007. She died of pneumonia at Middlesex Manor Nursing 
Centre, Wembley, on 23 December 2010 and was survived by her husband and 
their son Shivkumar, Rajiv having predeceased her. A memorial service was 
held at Golders Green crematorium. Some of her ashes were scattered on the 
Thames at Bermondsey. By the time of her death she was celebrated for her 
leadership of the Grunwick dispute, which was one of the biggest 
mobilizations of trade union members and ordinary workers in support of 
ethnic minority women workers. Her contribution also provided the imperative 
for the trade unions of the day to take up the cause of migrant workers.

Sundari Anitha

Sources  J. Rogaly, Grunwick (1977) + J. Dromey and G. Taylor, Grunwick: the 
workers' story (1978) + T. Durkin, Grunwick: bravery and betrayal (1978) + 
The Guardian (28 Dec 2010); (29 Dec 2010); (30 Dec 2010); (31 Dec 2010) + 
Statesman [India] (28 Dec 2010) + The Times (3 Jan 2011) + The Herald 
[Glasgow] (5 Jan 2011) + Daily Mirror (7 Jan 2011) + Morning Star (7 Jan 
2011) + The Independent (21 Feb 2011) + private information (2014) + 
personal knowledge (2014) [Suryakant Desai, husband] + d. cert.
Likenesses  G. Wood, photograph, 1977, Getty Images [see illus.] · 
photograph, 1977, Rex Features, London · H. Sykes, photographs, priv. coll.; 
repro. in homersykes.photoshelter.com/,  accessed on 16 Aug 2013 · obituary 
photographs
Wealth at death  under £16,000: probate, 14 Nov 2011, CGPLA Eng. & Wales



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