Public sector pay cuts are having a devastating impact on the lives of UNISON members and their families, assistant general secretary Cliff Williams, told UNISON’s Labour Link forum in Cardiff today.
He said that demands on UNISON welfare charity There for You, “are growing daily” as members are increasingly unable to provide the basics for their families.
In addition he told of “working members now relying on food banks.” Once associated with workless poverty, food banks are now needed by public service workers on low pay.
But he said that there was hope, noting that “since 2010 there have been 33 headline u turns by this government.”
And he listed local authoritis such as Southampton, Plymouth and Birmingham where Labour councils had been newly elected leading to renewed and improved industrial relations and moves towards a living wage.