This column is usually a reflection of my political opinions and I rarely allow personal circumstances to influence what I write. Today I want to crave your indulgence. Jack Amos, my partner of more than 30 years, died at the end of January after being diagnosed with terminal cancer three months ago. His funeral will be held next week.
Jack was an intensely political person who was committed to the trade union movement. Over the decades, he stood shoulder to shoulder with his comrades in solidarity on picket lines, protests and demonstrations.
Having been brought up in Bermuda in the 1950s, where he witnessed at first-hand racial segregation, a sense of injustice stayed with him throughout his adult life. As a teenager, his first political act was to go to London’s Trafalgar Square in order to protest against the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the elected Prime Minister of Congo. From then on, despite his desire to avoid aggression and confrontation, he was present in Grosvenor Square demonstrating against the war in Vietnam; he was present on the mass picket against anti-union boss George Ward at Grunwick, the north London photo processing plant. He was present week in week out at Wapping, when Rupert Murdoch sought to break the unions.
Jack learned the power of collective union action as a shop steward of media union NATTKE in the early 1970s. Following the rumoured sale of the Soho sound centre in which he worked to non-film industry interests, and with redundancies in the offing, Jack, together with members of the ACTT (both unions now merged to form BECTU), occupied the building. This resulted in the management being forced to climb down and abandon the sale. Jobs were saved and De Lane Lea sound centre still operates today. Jack recognised that industrial tactics used by workers in the shipyards were tactics that could be adopted even in the film and music business.
A disciplined person, whose analysis of conflict revolved around the simple question: “In whose interest is it?”, he had little patience with the question: “What’s the point?” As in: “What’s the point in submitting motions if no one takes any notice?” When the struggle got tough, the defeatists would ask: “What’s the point in being in the union?”
For Jack, the answer to such pessimism was easy. It was submitting motions that led directly to BECTU freelancers acting collectively to overturn the Government’s interpretation of the statutory holiday clause of the Working Time Directive in the European courts.
The point is that only organised labour can defend workers’ rights. When circumstances meant that Jack became a freelance worker, he never let up on his union activities.
On the issue that has defined the failure of “new” Labour – the war in Iraq – Jack had no time for the despairing who complained that two million people marching in London did not stop the invasion of Iraq so what was the point.
The point is that those two million people have helped to stop further bellicose aggression against Iran. After all, we have seen Tony Blair again advocate such intervention when he gave evidence to the Chilcot inquiry. Indeed, Chilcot itself is a consequence of the tactics of mass protest. If not for those two million people who saw the point of taking to the streets, Iraq could have become another forgotten colonial conflict.
Now, as the Conservatives’ policies begin to unravel, the general election is increasingly up for grabs. But we know that we are again going to have fight to defend principles that we hold dear.
Jack’s cancer was very aggressive. He was not in pain and had actually had a negative result from the home screening test that any man over 60 should take. It was only rapid weight loss that first led him to go to his local doctor. It is worth saying that, at a time when GPs often get the blame for not recognising symptoms, Jack’s GP was terrific. He referred him to hospital immediately and then continued to follow his progress.
When Jack was diagnosed, he was told that his cancer was inoperable, incurable and untreatable. He said he wanted to spend his final days at home – he hated hospitals, even while loving the National Health Service. It was during this time that Jack qualified for universal benefits such as the taxi card, disability allowance and palliative care at home. None of this is means tested. At a time of such finality, the universality of these benefits cannot be underestimated.
The principle of universality is a unifying concept that could easily be singled out and fragmented. How many times have we heard people say that the Freedom Pass, which allows free travel for the over 60s, should not be given to those over a certain income? That completely misses the point: those who have more should pay more in taxes and then everyone can benefit. If the Freedom Pass and benefits such as those which Jack received are only for the poor, very soon we could run the risk that no one will defend them and then no one will enjoy them.
I am going to miss Jack tremendously. Even in the dark days, he made me laugh as no one else could. The labour movement has lost someone with unwavering political principles who knew the right side of the argument and always got the point.
