Pentonville Five hero dies
Tuesday 01 January 2013
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EmailTributes were paid today to "fearless working-class hero" Vic Turner, one of the Pentonville Five, who died in a London hospital on Sunday.
The Pentonville Five were shop stewards from the T&G Union who were jailed in July 1972 by the National Industrial Relations Court for refusing to obey a court order to stop picketing a container depot in east London during the 1972 miners' strike.
Dock workers at the Chobham Farm container depot at Temple Mills, Newham, were unofficially striking and picketing the site.
Mr Turner, along with Con Clancy, Tony Merrick, Bernie Steer and Derek Watkins, was named as one of the ringleaders of the picketing.
Transport union RMT leader Bob Crow said that Mr Turner put the "meaning of trade unionism" into place every day of his working life.
"Vic will go down in history as a working-class hero who was fearless," he said.
"It was a pleasure working with and knowing him."
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