All in a Day’s Work: Working Lives and Trade Unions in West London 1945-1995
Edited by Dave Welsh
(Britain at Work London Project, £10)

ANY book which is endorsed by our brilliant new shadow chancellor of the Exchequer has to be worth a read and that’s certainly the case with All in a Day’s Work, the first in a series of books by the Britain at Work oral history project.

Its focus is on west London — an area stretching from Paddington to the outer west and north-west London suburbs — where editor Dave Welsh worked, so he says, to finance his “lifelong QPR habit.”

Profusely illustrated, the book draws on more than 100 interviews with workers in the public and private sectors, where they discuss industrial relations, union activity or simply what their job entailed. As John McDonnell points out in his foreword, these memories recall what a solid industrial base there was in west London, with well-organised trade unions and high employment.

They recall their active involvement in trade unions and the hard-fought campaigns to win better pay, rights and conditions, many of which have been eroded in the modern era. And the post-war immigrant experience is recounted in personal testimonies which highlight the initial suspicion, prejudice and outright hostility that newcomers frequently encountered as they struggled to gain acceptance.

The book’s narrative is cleverly interwoven among these accounts, not only to detail the various companies and the scale of their operations but to explain everyday terms used by workers such as industrial action, piecework, trade union branch, trades council, closed shop or shop steward.

It’s a terrible indictment of how, in just a few decades, the Tories have rolled back workers’ rights — terms such as these have now to be explained to the younger generation.

Just to read about the industrial history of this small area of the country is to appreciate how our manufacturing sector has been allowed to disintegrate. Among the once iconic names to be found here were Kodak, Optrex, Lyons, Gillette, Guinness and Heinz.

Little wonder that one of Jeremy Corbyn’s central themes is to rejuvenate this sector, along with the necessary skills base so vital in servicing it.

The editor makes excellent use of photographs from the period of the workplaces, picket lines, leaflets and newspapers.

Some of the starker pictures are of industrial disputes and a small section is given over to the Grunwick dispute, where a largely migrant workforce stood up against an appallingly reactionary employer and received great support from the wider trade union movement.

Those who were there will never forget the wonderful sight of mainly Asian women welcoming Arthur Scargill and coachloads of Yorkshire miners on their picket line at Grunwick.

It is another reminder of how things could, and should, be with workers’ solidarity. While it may not always end well, at least those in struggle will know they are not alone and that’s why this book is an invaluable source of inspiration.

All in a Day’s Work will appeal to anyone with an interest in the often remarkable stories of the so-called ordinary people who were, and remain, the backbone of our country.

• The book can be purchased by PayPal at: [email protected] or by sending a cheque for £10 + £2.80 p&p made payable to Britain at Work London Project to: Britain At Work, 15 Wellington Road, Norwich, NR2 3HT.