Legal 500 victory shows that hard-hitting action gets results

Publishing bosses buckled after 13 days of action

Legal 500 workers on Fleet Street, in London, have won their pay demands after two and a half weeks of strikes.

Workers who research, produce and edit the Legal 500—a directory of law firms known as the “industry bible”—began a two week strike on 14 September. The Unite union members voted to extend the strike twice, to a total of four weeks. In each vote, the majority in favour of action increased.

Workers have won a £2,000 a year increase, an increase in sick leave from five to eight days and a decrease in the number of days in the office to two a week.

A member of the strike committee told Socialist Worker, “We were not just confident we would win—we knew we would win. The question was whether it would take three weeks, six weeks, or six months.”

They were striking over low pay while Legalease publishing bosses took in £40 million in profit over the last year.

Strikers rejected an initial 3.4 percent pay increase. “Almost everyone understood that an offer that matched inflation did not make up for years of poor pay,” one strike told Socialist Worker.

They demanded a flat £2,000 for everyone to ensure that the lowest-paid workers got a meaningful boost.

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Halfway through their third week, bosses conceded and agreed to the pay increase, Union reps announced to the strikers on the picket line this week.

Some workers were initially hesitant to strike but the determination of their co-workers changed people’s minds.

For the 13 days they were on strike, the picket line on Fleet Street got more and more energetic.

The strike committee member said, “Over each day, we deliberately increased our energy and intensity on the picket, ratcheting up our tools available—we eventually introduced a megaphone. More people came out on the picket and we got a much louder sound system.

“In the final minutes before we learned we had won while on the picket, we were handing out flyers, engaging in conversations with passersby, using the megaphone and requesting honks from cars in support.

“That bore little similarity to us on the first day of the picket. And throughout it all, we had a great time.

“We also knew from the onset how important we were to the functioning of the company,” they added. “If we were to withdraw our labour, this would have significant, far-reaching consequences.

“The only people in the company that apparently did not know how important we were was senior management.”

The win at Legal 500 follows a recent victory at the Institute of Cancer Research, where Unite members were on indefinite strike.

They show that hard-hitting action gets results.