Why did we start the workers co-op?

A message from Jim Blewitt, founding member and Chair of the Co-op.

Custom House was once home to the largest inland docks in the world, The Royal Docks.The docks and their associated industries were the major employers for the people of Custom House.

We have all heard the jokes and stories of lazy Dockers and how they earned fortunes, the truth of the matter is that very few earned loads of money and if they did it was for a very short time.

Dockers up until 1967 never had a contract of employment, they would have to stand at the dock gates every morning waiting to get the “Call on” to work. If they were lucky they got a full day sometimes only half a day. This meant men and their families could never plan for the future, they had no job security, they lived from day to day never knowing if they could pay the rent or have enough money to feed their families. They were in a constant poverty trap often at the mercy of unscrupulous loan sharks. The Dockers organised successfully through trade unions to get themselves better wages and more stable work.

Does any of this seem vaguely familiar?

If we leap forward to the present day instead of standing at the dock gates begging for work, we stand in the Job Centre or ring our Employer every day waiting for work, because of  Zero Hour contracts. And instead of Loansharks we have Payday Loan companies.

So in the space of 47 years the whole employment world has turned full circle and the people of Custom House are once again living in a world of poverty and without hope. At PEACH we aim to change that with the evolution of a workers cooperative for Custom House.

By creating a Workers Cooperative we aim to create secure, sustainable work and training with wages at least equal to the Living Wage of £9.15 per hour. Initally the workers co-operative will be a commercial cleaning business.

By taking people off of benefits and out of Zero hour contracts the members gain a wage that enables them to live rather than to exist, they become owners in their own business and start to take control over their lives instead of being controlled by the system.