On Thursday 26th March 2015 representatives from approximately 20 households in Grenfell Tower meet to form “Grenfell Community Unite” and to put an end to the TMO/Rydon hated policy of “divide and rule”. After years of being denied a “collective voice” tenants, leaseholders and renters have now asserted our rights to “commune” and we intend to make our views known to our landlord (KCTMO) and the Grenfell Tower Improvement Works building contractor (Rydon) who have treated us with complete contempt.
The first decision taken by “Grenfell Community Unite” will be to call on the TMO and Rydon to meet with our members as a matter of some urgency, to acknowledge that their consultation has been well below acceptable standards and to apologise to us for treating us with such a lack of respect. We have agreed to draft a series of questions for Rydon (based on information obtained from the minutes of Grenfell Tower Emergency Meeting on 17/03/15 and feedback from meeting on 26/03/15) and we have a list of specific outcomes that we wish Rydon to guarantee for us.
Furthermore, “Grenfell Community Unite” are demanding that the TMO/Rydon recognise us as a community/resident group and that they respect our right to speak with a “collective voice”. The “Grenfell Community Unite” meeting also demonstrated strong support for the role played at our last meeting by Pilgrim Tucker and suggested that we may wish to pursue and strengthen our links with Unite Community Membership:
There may be many good reasons for us joining with Unite Community Membership but none may be more pressing than the strong rumours circulating around Grenfell Tower that the TMO/Rydon are using threatening and intimidatory tactics to scare residents into allowing them access into our homes. We despise these underhand and bullying tactics from the TMO/Rydon who have been telling residents that if they do not co-operate that they will have no heating from sometime around May 2015 and that they will lose their tenancies unless access is granted so that Rydon can come in and simply butcher our homes. It is ridiculous that the TMO can even be thinking of threatening us with legal action when all that we have requested is that they don’t enter our properties without first giving us a guarantee that the work will undertaken in a professional manner and to a high standard.
These strong-arm tactics being perpetrated against our community by TMO/Rydon are leaving residents, tenants and renters scared to put up posters requesting that their homes are not accessed by Rydon. However, we are requesting that residents “hold their nerve”, remain strong and deny the contractor access until we gained the legitimate assurances that we are seeking.
We will be writting on behalf of residents in Grenfell Tower to the TMO/Rydon to request a public meeting and we invite all tenants, leaseholders and renters to join Grenfell Community Unite and ensure we put an end to TMO bullying.
Grenfell Action Group 