Put People First
From the collection of
The Labour Party and LGBT Rights
- Coventry
- 1986-12-04
Put People First
"Privatisation - what they mean is exploitation!" One of the biggest trade unions hits back at the Thatcher Government.
This video, produced jointly by the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop and the Trade Union Resource Centre in Birmingham, was part of a national campaign by the public sector trade union NALGO against the tide of privatisation that swept across the nation in the early 1980s. The Conservative Government led by Margaret Thatcher was keen to sell-off services they saw as a burden to taxpayers, with NALGO fearing declining standards for the public and reduced wages for their members.
The video provides a voice for workers, including cleaners from a school in Dudley who have had their hours and wages cut (remember this is before the introduction of a national minimum wage). It's a familiar tale with modern parallels, none more so than when we hear campaigners lament a NHS in crisis, with increased waiting lists and a worrying decline in social care for the elderly.
NALGO campaign, highlighting Government cuts to public services.
Tags
People Power: Voices of Protest and Dissent in the Midlands
Getting the message heard, from the placard and megaphone to the campaign video.
These films celebrate the right to protest, with a look at how the campaigners of the 1980s reacted when they were met head on with a radical government sustained by strong electoral majorities. This collection also showcases campaigns that embraced the new medium of video, taking their battles to the next level with tapes of their own, free from television's editorial controls.
The material in this collection comes from two sources: television and an independent video production company. On television we find a more genteel approach to activism, where studio discussions take centre stage. Away from television we look to the work of the Trade Union Resource Centre in Birmingham, which helped groups to get their messages across in their own way.
So join us as we look back at life in the 1980s, in some ways a depressingly familiar place - with families struggling to survive on meagre incomes, the NHS in crisis, and the most vulnerable in society unprotected.
8 videos in this collection
1
The Labour Party and LGBT Rights
2
Máire O'Shea is Innocent
3
Put People First
4
Our Jobs are Not for Sale
5
Whatever Happened to Student Protest?
6
Protest by Deaf Television Viewers
7
Muhammad Must Stay
8