‘CUT our pay – no way!’, ‘Two per cent is rubbish, so is Gordon Brown!’ and ‘Come on, come on Gordon Brown – raise our pay or we’ll bring you down!’ were among the slogans shouted by more than 5,000 striking local government workers, as they marched through central London yesterday.
800,000 members of UNISON and Unite working for local councils throughout England, Wales and the north of Ireland began a 48-hour strike yesterday morning against a below-inflation pay award of 2.45 per cent.
Striking council staff from Thurrock in Essex were among the first to assemble for the London demonstration, which began at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Unite (TGWU) member Brian Read, working in the street cleaning department, told News Line: ‘My money is only £850 per month, that’s all I take home, and I’m just about barely living.’
Cliffe Obaseki, from Islington UNISON, said: ‘I think definitely the strike action has to be spread.’
Teachers and civil servants joined the march which ended with a rally in Friends Meeting House, where chairwoman Gloria Hanson said the strike had closed schools, libraries, refuse depots and other council departments.
UNISON Deputy General Secretary Keith Sonnet was interrupted with chants of ‘Break the link, break the link!’, when he spoke of the anger amongst UNISON members that the Labour government expected them ‘to take pay cuts to reduce inflation’.
Sonnet called on the employers to use reserves of ‘over £3 billion’ to resolve the dispute, before adding: ‘We will continue this fight until we get an improved pay offer that is acceptable to our members.’
TGWU Deputy General Secretary Jack Dromey commented: ‘What kind of society is it that one individual earns more than 20,000 local government workers.’
Over 50 public sector workers descended upon Enfield Civic Centre yesterday morning for a lively picket.
Paul Bishop, UNISON branch secretary at Enfield council, said: ‘Just 2,800 staff have been asked to take strike action across Enfield, closing schools, recycling teams, day centres, the main library in Enfield, Thomas Hardy House, is closed and all the central services and social workers are out.’
On the picket line outside Haringey School for Girls, north London, UNISON member Carmen Szpytko said that ‘losing two day’s pay is worth it’, adding that ‘everyone should be out, there should be joint action.’
All the pickets were united in calling for joint action by all the public sector unions in order to make an impact.
At Montem Primary School, in Hornsey, UNISON rep Tony Soteriades said: ‘This is the fifth year running that they’re offering a pay cut. We can’t have separate factions, we have to unite collectively and have collective action and stand firm for the duration.’
There were picket lines at Hounslow Civic Centre in west London as well as at the Direct Works Department.
Iain Raymond, Hounslow joint UNISON branch secretary, said: ‘We are going to have to force this through prolonged industrial action.
‘We’ve got to step it up. Our low-paid members can’t afford any more pay cuts.’
Fellow joint secretary, Harj Dhaliwal, said: ‘We’ve got more than 2,000 members and are very pleased with the turnout.
‘People can’t accept this three-year pay cut on the back of ten years of below-inflation pay rises.’
‘Not one vehicle has left this depot this morning,’ said Unite member Richard Chute on the picket line at Bagley’s Lane depot in Fulham, south west London.
Unite Branch Secretary Ian Burgess told News Line: ‘The pay offer of 2.45% is unacceptable, especially when the executives in our borough are awarding themselves 8% rises.’
Tony, a Production Controller, on the Cambridge Council Yard picket line said: ‘All we want is fair wages, we haven’t agreed to the three-year pay deal.’
Simon Cole, Branch Chair Crawley Unison, told News Line: ‘We have been offered 2.45% which is absolutely ludicrous; it is laughable and is a pay cut.’
He warned: ‘If they don’t come back with an increased offer then we will come out again and have longer strikes. Our branch will support that.’