This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers including teachers, council workers and firefighters are holding a one-day long strike action on Thursday over pay, pensions and jobs, in one of the biggest protests opposing government cuts since the coalition came to power in 2010.
Union members from leisure centres, libraries and other council-run premises will raise the issue of a pay offer which they claim is worth only 1%.
Unite Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly has said: “Our members don’t do glamorous jobs, they’re the ones lifting your bins from outside your door.
“It’s a job that has to be done, but they have to be paid decent wages.”
Unison, Nipsa, Unite, Siptu, the GMB and the PCS are among the unions taking part in strike on Thursday and are determined to continue the industrial action till next general elction.
Fire Brigades Union leader, Matt Wrack has said: “What we see today is an inkling of the power that rests in the hands of working people.
“We have a government destroying our public services and wrecking the lives of public servants. This is our 15th strike, and we are not giving up. There is no mood to surrender, but there is a mood to continue the fight.”
National Union of Teachers (NUT) general secretary Christine Blower has also told about “getting messages” of people being now “more determined” to take part in strikes as compared to the past.
However, the Department for Education has said there is “no justification” for holding any further strikes in future.
The Prime Minister David Cameron and other senior politicians attacked the strike actions, arguing that they are carried out on the basis of ballots conducted some years ago which saw low turnout from union members.
The Conservatives are also devising manifesto plans to tighten up the strike laws by introducing a threshold to ensure strikes cannot proceed without the backing of a set percentage of union members, possibly half, rather than just those who vote. The proposal will also include a limit on how long a ballot mandate can last before members have to vote again.
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