Those of us who were redeployed to Lambeth in 1988 felt like we had landed on an even worst battlefield it was like being told to parachute jump near the cliffs of Dover. We had experienced instability and turmoil in the last 6 months of LSPU and we initially thought that Lambeth would be a safe haven but we were of course wrong!
It was 1988 a period following the Ted Knight era with Linda Bellos, the first openly Lesbian Black politician, taking control of the leadership of the Council. I worked with Linda before and I knew that she was a capable, principled figure who was, never the less, criticised for sometimes being harsh but the opposite was the case she was simply assertive and the establishment did not like a Black Lesbian coming to power. That was my view anyway.
So whilst the Labour group were fighting each other we were floating from one reorganisation to another. I got a job in DMS (Directorate of Management Services) that employed around 400 staff. This was a division that existed to police other Directorates, John Mawle was the Director. Other Directors did not, of course, like the idea that another division existed to keep an eye on what they did and resnted having someone in the centre telling them what to do.
It came as no surprise to me that 2 months after my arrival the division was to be abolished and we were all facing redundancy and whilst I had promised myself not to get involved with the union again my reputation preceded me and colleagues who knew where I came from (I was a rep with LSPU) urged me to take up the role and help them, so of course I did but I made it clear that my involvement would be temporary as I wanted to concentrate on developing my career, I was 28 and wanted to make sure that I got qualified as an accountant. But of course this wish of mine never came to anything and my role with the union did not end until 30 March 2010 (well it still continues but in a different way) so it was not a brief intervention at all.
I would imagine that the most striking impression I got after arriving in Lambeth was how divided people were and how left out Black members felt within the union. This was a shock to me as I specifically asked to move to Lambeth thinking that the reverse was the case and I rejected an offer to work in Islington (Andrew Berry would be happy! loll) because I thought that Lambeth would be more sorted out. But I was very wrong and soon realised that Lambeth NALGO was divided. I got involved to change that and worked closely with Tony Jules who was the first Black Assistant Branch Secretary to change that, so the challenge and the struggle had just started!
It was 1988 a period following the Ted Knight era with Linda Bellos, the first openly Lesbian Black politician, taking control of the leadership of the Council. I worked with Linda before and I knew that she was a capable, principled figure who was, never the less, criticised for sometimes being harsh but the opposite was the case she was simply assertive and the establishment did not like a Black Lesbian coming to power. That was my view anyway.
So whilst the Labour group were fighting each other we were floating from one reorganisation to another. I got a job in DMS (Directorate of Management Services) that employed around 400 staff. This was a division that existed to police other Directorates, John Mawle was the Director. Other Directors did not, of course, like the idea that another division existed to keep an eye on what they did and resnted having someone in the centre telling them what to do.
It came as no surprise to me that 2 months after my arrival the division was to be abolished and we were all facing redundancy and whilst I had promised myself not to get involved with the union again my reputation preceded me and colleagues who knew where I came from (I was a rep with LSPU) urged me to take up the role and help them, so of course I did but I made it clear that my involvement would be temporary as I wanted to concentrate on developing my career, I was 28 and wanted to make sure that I got qualified as an accountant. But of course this wish of mine never came to anything and my role with the union did not end until 30 March 2010 (well it still continues but in a different way) so it was not a brief intervention at all.
I would imagine that the most striking impression I got after arriving in Lambeth was how divided people were and how left out Black members felt within the union. This was a shock to me as I specifically asked to move to Lambeth thinking that the reverse was the case and I rejected an offer to work in Islington (Andrew Berry would be happy! loll) because I thought that Lambeth would be more sorted out. But I was very wrong and soon realised that Lambeth NALGO was divided. I got involved to change that and worked closely with Tony Jules who was the first Black Assistant Branch Secretary to change that, so the challenge and the struggle had just started!
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