Southwark social workers expose police raid
Socialist Action1980sPaul LawsonTranscribed or corrected by hand from the printed page.
ON 27 OCTOBER last year the Southwark Labour council organised a police raid on The Hollies children's home, evicting the children and staff and vandalising the buildings. This extraordinary event which happened at the height of the residential social workers strike, was exposed last week in a special report produced by Southwark NALGO. Sixty workers from The Hollies complex are still being given no work by the council.
The incidents at The Hollies occurred against the background of increasing bitterness in last year's residential social workers strike. Between September and December 25,000 social workers were in dispute with local authority employers, demanding the settlement of a five-year dispute for higher pay and 'unsocial hours' payments.
They faced an intransigent employers association and vicious attacks from local councils, including many Labour councils. But they also faced the problem of lack of coordination and leadership from their union NALGO, which left many workers on strike and others working normally.
NALGO also failed to mobilise the might of its 800,000-strong membership, with the inevitable result of defeat, victimisation and eventual demoralisation.
The military-style raid on The Hollies complex occurred when Southwark social workers decided to work only their statutory 35-hour week, thus leaving some evenings and weekends not covered by social workers. The children were given instructions about where to find social workers on site if needed (many of the children were in fact in their teens).
By Paul Lawson
On the morning of 27 October the Southwark Labour group met and decided to close the homes, where over 60 children lived.
Having failed to persuade many of the children to leave the council called in the Instant Response Unit (SPG) who at 10pm attacked the premises, dragging children away, smashing down doors, removing social workers from the site. A 15-year old girl was assaulted by up to a dozen council officials during the fracas, while many children fled from the site.
At 4am the next morning council vans arrived and began removing carpets and other effects from the site and ripping out fire alarms. During the whole operation many personal belongings were damaged or lost. The homes were made uninhabitable.
The children at The Hollies were all orphans or from 'broken' homes. Many of them had lived at the complex together for more than eight years. Now they have been dispersed. When one child asked a policeman what right he had to throw her out of her home, he replied 'because you are Southwark property'.
It is clear that the raid on The Hollies was planned well in advance. The Labour council took advantage of the dispute to carry out their long term plans to close down The Hollies, using gestapo-style tactics.
Few Labour councils come out of the residential social workers strike with any credit. Most of them acted like any other employer, faced with an insubordinate workforce. Even in 'left' Labour councils, the social workers' claim was denounced as excessive and unreasonable.
Faced with rate-capping and the all-out offensive of the Tories against local government, only a fight back in alliance with council workers' unions is going to win.
Unfortunately only too many council workers face Labour councils as 'tough' employers, not allies. The whole labour movement needs an answer from Southwark Labour council about its inhuman and anti-working class actions.