“When history is written, they will write about 30 November”. That was the message from UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis today, as he addressed a press conference ahead of Wednesday’s day of action.
History would be made not simply because it would be the largest strike since 1926, he said, but because this was a woman’s strike – a strike when those who are being hit hardest by the coalition’s actions say: ‘enough is enough’.
Stressing that there was now “no chance of a deal” before the day of action, he took the opportunity to rebut a variety of claims.
Mr Prentis told the packed conference that no offer had been received from the employers to put before the members – and there had been “no meeting since 2 November.” The government had “not sought to call us in”.
“We want to negotiate,” he added. “We’ll talk any time, any where and any place”.
He pointed out that this would be the first national action in the NHS for 30 years, adding: “We’re a union that seeks agreement” and ridiculing the claims of education secretary Michael Gove that the unions were “spoiling for a fight” and wanted to damage the economy.
Of government suggestions that the strike would harm the economy, he observed: “The economy didn’t collapse as a result of the royal wedding and it won’t collapse because of this.”
Taking up the theme, assistant general secretary Karen Jennings noted that ‘itching for a fight’ was not the language of “lollipop ladies, dinner ladies and carers.”
Mr Prentis said that polls showing rising sympathy for the unions were one part of a story that was seeing “women desert the coalition”.
He said that there was also a 126% increase in recruitment over the corresponding time last year – with 81% of those new members being women. On one day last week, more than 1,200 new members joined through the union’s website.
And the general secretary also emphasised the damage to the economy of forcing workers into years of pay freezes – and for some pay cuts – and then demanding they pay a further tax to the Treasury in the guise of increased pension contributions.
The pensions schemes – which are sustainable – would suffer as people found themselves unable to maintain contributions, and that would also damage one of the best sources of investment that the government has, he explained.
He also stressed that, with bankers’ bonuses set to be unveiled on the same day, and expected to reach a new high of £4.2bn, it was quite clear that “we are not all in this together”.