The strike has the potential to challenge Restore Britain on their own home ground—but for the strike to win workers will need to take on the bosses’ attempts to blame migrants
“Like a lot of other seaside towns, we feel like we’ve been left behind.” That’s what Dave told Socialist Worker about Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast.
On the seafront, the Winter Gardens stands in as a fitting symbol for the town. The Victorian glasshouse has spent years in a state of disrepair and is closed to visitors while it undergoes renovation.
Walking through the town centre on an afternoon in August, it’s hard not to be struck by the number of closed down businesses.
The working class has suffered the most from this decline. Some 50 percent of the area’s children are in poverty and premature mortality is 22 percent higher than the national average.
An estimated 17 percent of people in some areas have depression.
Along with that feeling of despair, comes a sense of anger and frustration. And it’s one that some are trying to exploit.
Great Yarmouth contains the headquarters of Restore Britain—a far right party with links to neo-Nazis. Rupert Lowe, Restore’s leader, is the local MP.
Lowe and Restore have blamed migrants and refugees for the town’s woes—and it’s paid off.
Great Yarmouth First (GYF)—the local Restore affiliate—won all nine of the town’s seats on Norfolk County Council in May’s local elections. And it props up the Tory party’s control of Great Yarmouth Borough Council. It’s no surprise that along the seafront there are Union Jacks flying from every street light.
And, this week, the dangers of far right rhetoric were clearly on display in Norfolk. In Thetford, 80 kilometres away on the other side of Norwich from Great Yarmouth up to 200 racist thugs have run riot for the last three nights.
They’ve tried to storm the homes of people they suspect to be asylum seekers, shouting, “We want them out!”
But Scott Hussey, a councillor for Reform UK on Norfolk County Council, described the riots as a “peaceful protest” that was “spirited,” with “some skirmishes”.
There’s clearly a battle being waged. And the events in Thetford call for arguments that address the effects of austerity and the cost of living crisis, along with combatting the divisive influence of racism.
A council workers strike in Great Yarmouth is challenging the far right’s narratives.
On Thursday, for the first time ever, some of the lowest paid workers in the town walked out on strike.
Asked about Restore Britain, whether that’s Jon Wedon, leader of GYF, or Lowe, some of the strikers weren’t at all surprised at what they’ve done since being sworn in.
“They’re business people, aren’t they? So of course, they’re going to try and pay us as little as possible, to make as much money for themselves and their friends as they can,” striking worker Dave said.
“In that sense, there’s not much difference between them and the Tories. As long as they’re looked after, they don’t really care about the rest of us,” Jim, another striker, added.
“I’ve not got any opinions of Lowe myself, having never met the man.
“But I thought he might’ve been down here today, this being his backyard.”
Some of the strikers, however, balked at calling Lowe and Restore Britain far right. “Wanting to look after people in this country first, is that racist? I wouldn’t say so.
“I’m all for welcoming people who need help, but I don’t think all of the people coming in on the boats do.
“And it’s not only them. It’s people on benefits as well. Some of them, I’m sure, need help. But some aren’t willing to work,” one striker told Socialist Worker.
However, the reality of the strikes show that the bosses are the real enemy.
“The council’s got the money. It’s a question of who gets it. We’ve got way too many managers for a start.
“When I started for the council, I had three managers, now I’ve got six,” another striker said.
Around 100 members of the Unite union—bin and street cleaners, along with grave diggers and landscape gardeners—walked out in a dispute over pay and conditions.
The workers are responsible for the day to day upkeep of the town. But the bosses don’t value the work they do.
“We do some of the dirtiest work you can think of,” Dave, one of the strikers, said.
“We work in all weather, hot and cold. And what we’re dealing with now, in the middle of this heatwave when we’re emptying bins, is maggots and rats. It’s disgusting,” he added.
Great Yarmouth relies heavily on the tourist trade. And that’s why workers have decided to strike now, at the height of summer.
They’re employed by Great Yarmouth Services, a subsidiary of Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
Asked what they made of the politicians in control of the council, it’s clear there’s no love lost for the Tories.
After an early morning picket, the workers marched to the Town Hall for a demo. On their way, they ran into the leader of the council, the Tory Carl Smith.
“I said good morning to him, but he looked the other way as he walked by,” said Jim.
“That about sums it up.”
A member of the local Green Party who was there to support the strikers slammed Lowe and Restore Britain.
“This ‘man of the people’ thing, it’s nothing more than that, an act. He’s a multimillionaire. He’s got much more money than most people in this town will ever have.
“So, we know we’ve got nothing in common with him. He knows that too. And that’s why he’s always trying to point the blame at someone else,” he said.
A Norfolk resident said she feels her community is under threat too.
“Where I live, Reform UK runs the council. And they’ve refused to fly the Pride flag. They’re putting the St George’s Cross up in its place. But it’s about more than flags. They’ve created a hostile climate and we’re starting to see the consequences of that now.
“It feels like we’re going back in time, to the days when you couldn’t walk down the street holding your partner’s hand for fear of being attacked.
“And now they’re trying to divide us further with transphobia, telling us who can and can’t use which toilets,” she said.
Katherine, a local anti-racist activist, has been part of a campaign to take flags in the area down.
“It’s been difficult. When we tried to take some down the other day, we were met with such a hostile response.
“Straight away, we had people pushing and shoving us.
“But a lot of the people who were involved in taking down the flags feel emboldened. They feel like they need to be doing something,” she said.
But for Katherine what’s crucial is linking up the frustrations that people feel around austerity and the cost of living crisis with anti-racist arguments.
“We need to make the argument that anti-austerity and anti-racism are part of the same struggle. We can’t afford to let people like Nigel Farage and Lowe divide us.”
There’s clearly anger on the picket line.
“All of our bosses are on big salaries. And that’s not even to mention people like the director of our service, Natasha Hayes, who’s on £85,000 a year, plus expenses,” Jim added.
“So, when she tells us to make do with what we get, because things aren’t that pricey in Great Yarmouth, that’s just galling,” Dave said.
“It’s not like rent here is cheap. And we’re dealing with the price of food and petrol going through the roof, same as people in every other part of the country,” he added.
“If we don’t work, this town won’t either. I think we’ve genuinely got the bosses worried. At first they were surprised that we were threatening to strike. But now, they’re worried.
“The dispute is about more than pay. It’s also about how bosses treat the workers.
“They’ve been hostile from the start. They basically said they weren’t willing to negotiate. And they’ve refused to work with the union.
“We feel like we’re being bullied and intimidated,” Jim added.
“They wouldn’t let some of our reps in the yard, so we’ve had to hold meetings outside of the gates. Some of the lads I work with, they say they dread coming in for the start of a shift.
“But this morning, when we walked out, everyone’s mood was lifted,” Dave explained.
As the workers stood outside the front of the Town Hall, there was support from passing motorists, with people honking their car horns.
“It’s a good start, but it’s been a bit of a mixed bag. I’ve had people say to me, ‘You lot are paid enough as it is, get back to work.’ And that’s before we even walked out!” Dave said.
So far, the bosses are refusing to negotiate. And they’re delaying.
“It’s disappointing, to say the least. They’ve said no one in the council’s available to speak with us until 18 August,” Andreas, a Unite regional officer, told Socialist Worker.
Conveniently, that’s after the strike dates so far announced.
“It’s a tactic. They think they can wait these workers out and that they’ll go back in next week,” Andreas added.
The workers are set to strike again—10-12 August.
And when they’re out next, they’ll be joined by workers from the Unison union, who’ve also voted to walk out.
This strike has the potential to challenge Restore Britain on their own home ground—for the strike to win workers will need to take on the bosses’ attempts to blame migrants.
Steve, a trade unionist from nearby Lowestoft, came to stand with the strikers. He said the dispute was a chance not only to hit back at the bosses, but to get on the front foot against the far right as well.
“Reform UK and Restore Britain are always saying how they stand up for working people in this country. Well, now that these workers have come together to do something about it, we’ll see whose side they’re on.
“Of course, we know that they’re not on our side. They’ve demonstrated that pretty clearly already, with the contempt they’ve shown to these workers.
“But they’ll use racism to try to distract and divide. This dispute, though, is a chance to expose them for who they really are.”
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