“This is not public service workers against the users of public services. This is public service workers alongside users,” UNISON’s head of local government Heather Wakefield told a packed rally in Nottingham.
Ms Wakefield praised protesters on their day of action but warned of a long and hard struggle ahead.
She told the crowd at the city’s Albert Hall: “Mrs Thatcher had the miners and Mr Cameron is after the public sector trade unions, alongside your pensions.”
Ms Wakefield said it was critical that union members kept up the pressure against government ministers.
“This is a fantastic day for us, for public service trade unions but it is a day that should not have had to happen…
“This attack on your pensions is nothing more than an ideological attack from a government hell bent on destroying our public services.”
She warned: “We have to be very careful… this government, people, is coming for more.”
She called on union members to carry on the fight and said it was vital for the unions to get stronger and bigger, with every member of every public service union lobbying MPs and councillors.
Speaking to both the crowd in the hall and to supporters watching outside on a giant screen, Ms Wakefield pledged UNISON’s support for strikers: “UNISON is determined to stick to the fight with all the other public service unions. It may be more strikes but what it does have to mean is we need to get out there and do some of the basics of campaigning.”
She warned that the female workforce in communities, who cared for children and the sick, were particularly under attack. But there was still reason for hope: “This is a strike and this is a struggle we can win. We have come a long way.”
Ms Wakefield stated that there is enough money in the pension pot to go round. And she pointed out that some pension issues with government ministers had already been won.
To cheers from the crowd, she said they had taken part in the biggest strike the UK had seen since 1926, with support action going on all over Europe, including Portugal, France and Greece.