The video clip was produced by Union News, the main national news sources of the UK trade union movement.. The editor, Tim Lezzard, appears in the video clip and he drew my attention to it because when he was researching the story he came across Goan Voice UK coverage of the dispute. We spoke yesterday about some of the aspects to the confrontation. It is indeed heartening that there has been official sympathy for the Goan strikers.
The manager at the centre of the allegations has "resigned". Another trade union, the powerful RMT, has backed the Goans. There have been many video and audio clips as well as hundreds of photographs and accounts in the national and regional press. Parallels are being drawn with the UK Grunwick dispute of the late 1970's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunwick_dispute when Asian women at a photo processing lab went on strike. One of the moving bullying allegations of the strikers is that they are not allowed to speak in Konkani in their break times. This is probably the first time outside India that Goan workers have taken industrial action as a group and there are photos and video clips as well as many press reports of their action, including the London demo. However, the support is not all one sided. The Swindon Advertiser has carried scores of comments from their readers, almost all condemning the Goans - Check out the comments to the links at http://bit.ly/wjgVyD Eddie Fernandes www.goanvoice.org.uk -----Original Message----- From: Frederick FN Noronha Hats off to a section of British society for supporting the rights of immigrants (Goans, in this case) living and working in their society: Video: We will win against racist bullies - Goan hospital strike http://union-news.co.uk/2012/02/video-we-will-win-against-racist-bullies-goa n-hospital-strike/ A couple of questions: (i) If we had a similar situation in Goa, involving migrant workers ("non-Goan", in our case), what would be our stand? (ii) Could we expect any section in Goa to speak out for the underdogs? FN --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------