The TUC (Trades Union Congress) has called a summit at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool on Wednesday, June 15. ‘to bring together union leaders and workers who are affected by the cost-of-living crisis.’
The summit is being held three days ahead of the TUC’s march on parliament which takes place on Saturday June 18th.
The meeting will include a speech by TUC Deputy General Secretary Paul Nowak, CWU General Secretary Dave Ward and the NEU General Secretary Kevin Courtney.
The meeting is one of several events taking place across the country ahead of the TUC’s national We Demand Better demonstration in London on 18 June.
The TUC is calling on workers to join the movement in its national demonstration to demand more for working people.
They are urging a ‘real pay rise for every worker’ , a ‘real living wage for all’, respect and security for all workers with a ban on zero hours contracts, fire and rehire, and a call for a decent rate of sick pay.
TUC North West Regional Secretary Jay Mckenna said: ‘Working people in Blackpool are facing the biggest fall in living standards in generations. Everything is going up but wages.’
‘We’re bringing unions and local workers together to say enough is enough. The government must do more to help working people keep their heads above water.
‘Now is the time for workers to come together to demand better.’
On the TUC’s We Demand Better demonstration on June 18, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “People shouldn’t be struggling to cover the basics.
‘But millions of families have been pushed to breaking point by spiralling bills.
‘Even with the Chancellor’s recently announced cost-of-living support package, families will still struggle to keep their heads above water.
‘Years of attacks on wages and universal credit have left many households on the brink.
‘We demand better. It’s time for a new deal for working people.”
Dave Wiltshire, National Secretary of the All Trades Unions Alliance, said: ‘This meeting is being held at a very important time and it is time for action.
‘There is no point in calling upon the Tories to have better policies. The Tories are acting to defend the interests of British capitalism.
‘The Blackpool meeting is being held three days before the rally in London.
‘The working class is the most powerful force in society and at this Blackpool summit the TUC must announce a general strike to begin from Saturday 18th June.
‘The only way forward for working people is for a general strike to bring down the Tory government and bring in a workers’ government that will expropriate the bosses and the bankers and bring in a socialist, nationalised and planned economy.
Already millions of workers are are living on one meal a day.
‘The TUC must call a general strike to bring down the Tory government and bring in a workers’ government.’
