There will be a National Day of Action on Budget Day, Wednesday 15th March, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak announced yesterday, as hundreds of thousands of teachers, lecturers, civil servants, railway and bus workers took strike action across the country.
There were demonstrations in towns and cities around the country, with over 40,000 teachers and other trade unionists marching and rallying in central London on a demonstration which started outside the BBC in Portland Place and ended at Parliament Square.
There were huge delegations with banners and balloons from the five national unions taking strike action yesterday – the NEU, PCS, UCU, Aslef and RMT.
Teachers shouted: ‘Teachers say, Fair pay’ and ‘Fund our Schools!’ A huge roar went up as the march passed the hundreds of PCS civil service workers picketing outside the Cabinet offices near 10 Downing St.
Addressing the rally in Whitehall opposite Downing Street, NEU Joint General Secretary Mary Bousted said: ‘We are here today united in solidarity against a government that is interested only in its own internal psychodrama. Ministers are fighting like rats in a sack as an actual oblivion awaits them. A government that has imposed decades of austerity for the working people which has made their daily lives a misery, a government that has no answers for the problems that the country faces.
‘Ministers attempt to paint us like we’re the enemy but we’re here to tell them that won’t work. We are fighting for what is right. We’re standing up for fairness. We are fighting for well-funded public services that working families depend on.’
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Welcome to Westminster, the house of fools and the corrupt. Remember Grant Shapps, he’s still around, lurking around running the government and telling Rishi Sunak what to do and ban the working class.
‘We are back, we are here and we’re demanding change. We refuse to be poor. And we are going to win for our people on our terms.’
Paul Nowak TUC General Secretary said: ‘We’re going to fight to protect the right to strike. Even if a union wins the ballot for strike action, the employer can force workers to work and can sack those who refuse. Not on our watch! We will fight for the right to strike.’
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