University protest and campaigning

On Friday I joined campaigners from the UNISON branch at London University and other political activists, including my Green Left comrade and parliamentary candidate for Greenwich, Andy Hewett, and went to protest about the sacking of Juan Carlos Piedra, at UCL. Juan Carlos is a migrant Latin American cleaner and union activist who was sacked by UCL for trying to organise a union there. Supported by students from the university, we demanded to see Professor Grant, who was too cowardly to come down from his office and address the demonstration. We were stopped from entering the university doors by security staff and then found our way in another door, much to the consternationa of the security staff who were running around the campus after us. Then we discovered that an international conference on migration of all things was taking place in the college. We attempted to enter the conference and tell the delegates what was happening in UCL with migrant workers. We gave leaflets to some of the delegates we met but were unable to enter the conference itself. However, we addressed the conference by megaphone from outside. Finally, we went down to the kitchens and the refrectory and addressed both the workers and the students in both and called on them to support Juan Carlos and the other migrant workers. This was met with applause by many students. The struggle for migrant workers' rights continues. Here is footage of another protest the week before which Green Left participated in about migrant workers rights at the UBS bank.




Yesterday I was back in the relatively peaceful surroundings of Lambeth canvassing with our local election candidates there, several of whom I hope will be elected to Lambeth Council on May 6th.