Film Number

7461

Title

THE STRUGGLE OF BLACK WORKERS, FARIDA MAYAT [PART TWO]

Producer

WFA

Date

1982

Gauge

U-matic LB

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Running Time

29 mins 22 secs

Description

Second part of meeting with Farida Mayat, a political exile from South Africa for 16 years, now working in London Law Centre, with contributions from the floor. Discussion about Asian and Afro-Caribbean women workers from the Chair, who has worked in the NHS but never joined a union because she found it so racist - didn't see the point. Asks are there any unions addressing racism. Kath Locke gives a summary of efforts by the General & Municipal Workers Union (GMWU) and National Union for Public Employees (NUPE) to tackle the problem through the Fact Pack promoted by Bernie Grant at an earlier meeting. Further sharing of experiences including a cultural embargo to prevent black workers getting training and Kath Locke gave an example of attempt to establish a black union, the Coloured Seaman's Union, because of racism in the Seaman's Union.

[Catalogued as part of 'Revitalising the Regions' a Screen Heritage UK project, 2011]