Re-photo

Outide Topshop in the Strand as the protesters leave

The United Voices of the World may be a small union, but it is getting a pretty big reputation for taking on some of the best known names for their poor employment practices. Their planned protest at Harrods tomorrow against the company paying low wages and stealing tips from those who work in the restuarants in the store has made the papers and even the BBC, who usually turn a blind eye to protests. Other big names they have taken on include the Barbican Arts Centre, John Lewis and Topshop, as well as some leading companies in the City of London.

Outide Topshop Oxford St after police have assaulted protesters Class War brought out Crime Scene tape

When the cleaners who work inside Topshop protested peacefully to be paid the London Living Wage, cleaning contractor Britannia reacted by suspending (and later sacking) two of them – the ‘Topshop 2‘. The UVW accuse Brittania of systematically victimising, bullying and threatening cleaners and Topshop  of refusing to intervene although they are working in their shops.

Susanna, one of the ‘Topshop 2’ speaks in the Strand

The UVW, a grass roots union run by the workers, have gained the support of other groups involved in similar struggles to get a living wage for London’s low paid workers, many of whom are migrants. London only runs because of the essential work carried out by these and other low paid workers, many of whom have English as a second or third language and have qualifications which are not recognised in this country. As well as taking action to protect their members and improve pay and conditions, unions such as the UVW, CAIWU and IWGB also run English and other classes for their members.

As the pictures show, a large force of police had come to protect the shops, at first in the Strand and later they moved with the protesters to the Oxford Street Topshop, though the protesters were keen to point out that they should instead by arresting Philip Green,  the chairman of Arcadia Group which includes Topshop (along with Topman, Wallis, Evans, Burton, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, and Outfit) for his activities in disposing of BHS, and certainly  not protecting a business that avoids paying the taxes which pay for the police.

One of the groups supporting the UVW at the protest was Class War, and there where other anarchists and left groups present, but the protest was peaceful and orderly, with just a little friction as police tried to move the protesters away from the shop entrance – which they then proceeded to block themselves.

After the protest had continued for some time, the protesters marched away and up to the Oxford St branch, close to Oxford Circus, with the police following. Outside there, the police got rather more physical, and I was pushed back with excessive force while taking pictures, and protesters – some of whom were pushing police, but others who, like me were simply standing close – started to get thrown bodily away, some of them hitting me as I now stood a few feet further back.

It was then that Class War got out their ‘Crime Scene Do Not Enter‘ tape and stretched it out in front of the line of police who had been assaulting the protesters.

Later, when the protesters moved along first to briefly block Oxford Circus and then to protest against John Lewis, a police officer threw Susana, one of the Topshop 2, to the ground. Fortunately she was not injured, but the protesters were incensed, and finally after an angry confrontation with UVW’s General Secretary Petros Elia, the officer concerned was forced by the senior officer to apologise to her for his inappropriate use of force. It was something I’ve never seen happen before, and surely a sign that the police recognised they had gone too far.

UVW Topshop 2 protest – Strand
UVW Topshop & John Lewis Protest
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As I collapse into bed I often think of those unfortunates who have nowhere to sleep at night. I certainly would not last long on the streets, and would soon be either dead or in hospital, or perhaps under arrest and in jail if I became desperate enough to steal food or break into premises.

Like many others, I appease my feelings of guilt by the occasional charity donation and also try to publicise the terrible injustices that lead people to become homeless and protests aimed at improving things. We live in a wealthy society where no one should go homeless or lack food, and I would be much happier if more of the tax I pay went towards making sure these things didn’t happen rather than being wasted on vanity projects such as Trident replacement.

The basic reason why people freeze and starve is simple. Greed. In particular the greed of the rich and wealthy. It’s greed that leads to tax evasion and tax avoidance. Greed that drives legislation such as the Housing Act, which will result in thousands more without homes. Greed that leads to the privatisation of publicly owned services such as the NHS, and so on.

We have become a nation ruled by the greedy and in which many see greed as positive, particularly among the greedy. We have a cabinet of millionaires if not billionaires, and while enterprise is a positive attribute, enterprise simply to pile up riches is simply greed.

Inequalities in society are greater than ever, with company bosses often being paid more than a hundred times the average worker – and several hundred times that of the lowest paid. This income gap is higher in the UK than most developed countries and is growing fast – despite research which indicates that CEOs actually contribute relatively little to their companies success. They get more many because they can get more money and they are driven by greed.

While many in work still need the support of food banks – the real growth success of the Tory government – it is those out of work and on benefits that have suffered most from the greed of our leaders. Of course it isn’t just Tories who suffer from rampant greed, though theirs is spiced with a liberal amount of class prejudice and Iain Duncan Smith idiocy. Labour councils still run many boroughs and many are cosying up with developers to sell off social housing for redevelopment, with some councillors lining up lucrative jobs for themselves – but at the expense of the people they are meant to serve.

Of course there are many who go into political parties with the best of motives – even Tories. But they go into organisations with an institutional bias and few have the ability to withstand becoming corrupted by it – and the very few who stand up against it risk being marginalised or expelled. The Labour Party is in a mess at the moment because those controlling the party expected Jeremy Corbyn to be humiliated in the leadership election but the membership overwhelmingly backed him. But they continue to plot his removal and to frustrate attempts to bring in the policies which won him the leadership vote.

Groups like Streets Kitchen, who organised this protest, do a great job of feeding the homeless – at a time when various councils – Tory and Labour – around the country have been trying to make it an offence to give people food or to be homeless, rather than offer the kind of support people need, or change policies to stop them being forced onto the streets. But Streets Kitchen also realise the need to protest with the homeless for the kind of political changes that are needed. They offer, as the banners say ‘Solidarity Not Charity‘. And they need donations.

Unfortunately we do need Food Banks which have truly kept many alive, giving out millions of food parcels to those without the money to buy food, referred to them by government agencies and charities. Mostly they need food because the DWP has stopped their benefits (often for trivial reasons as staff struggle to meet their targets for handing out sanctions) or because the DWP has made mistakes or is taking weeks or months to process their claims. But while food banks offer respite, their failure to adress the politics that make them needed actually defuses the crisis, lets the government off the hook.

Filmmaker Paul Sng, co-director of Sleaford Mods: Invisible Britain, recently tweeted:

Paul Sng @sng_paul
More than 8000 slept rough on London streets during 2015/16, a figure that’s nearly tripled over the last decade. How is this a golden age?

As a nation we should be hanging our heads in shame – and be on the streets demanding political change.

More pictures at Streets Kitchen March with Homeless