“On a day-to-day basis, everybody’s already tightened their belts after the pay freezes,” says Jo from Birmingham Women’s Hospital.
“But it means less treats for the kids … You have to think if you can afford to send her on school trips. It changes your everyday life, because you have to watch every penny.”
Jo has never been on strike before, but enough is enough: married, with a daughter of nine, she points out that she’s not the only parent facing such decisions.
But she says taking action is empowering – together with the support she’s received from friends who work in the private sector and face similar financial challenges.
“But then they’ve had a balanced view,” she explains. “They’ve not just had what they’ve read in the papers, but they’ve listened to me too, and then made up their minds.”
After early-morning picket duty, Jo joined fellow UNISON members in marching through Birmingham city centre.
The council had hiked the fees for closing roads to £10,000 – yet only recently had allowed the EDL to meet in the city for free.
But trade unionists from across the public services united to march in their thousands anyway. And among them was a now-familiar sea of purple and green, as UNISON members like Jo stood up and said: enough is enough.