“Another world is possible. We demand better. Together we can rise!” That was the heart of the message from UNISON’s Northern regional secretary Clare Williams at the TUC’s We Demand Better rally in Westminster, yesterday.
Standing in for general secretary Christina McAnea, she noted it was seven years to the day when “the trade union movement was gathered here to lobby MPs on the pernicious Trade Union Bill.
“The government then was trying to smash us – but we’re still here, stronger than ever”.
The evening rally, together with the lobby of MPs earlier in the day, were sending a message to the government about the “unprecedented crisis” that the country is facing, Ms Williams said.
“It’s a pay crisis where workers are struggling to get by, struggling to make ends meet, and public services are on the brink of collapse.
“We have a government that crashed the economy and now they’ve got the audacity to tell us there are difficult decisions and difficult choices to be made. What they mean by that, is that workers have got to pay the price for their mistakes.”
To loud cheers, she said that the labour movement needed to unite to tell the government “it would not accept that”.
Ms Williams said that billions had been slashed from funding services, leading to job losses. The NHS was in a recruitment and retention crisis, with over 133,000 vacancies. There were also crises in social care and education. And 12 years of Conservative ideological austerity had resulted in the North East, where she is based, having 40% of children living in poverty.
“Can you see the theme?” she asked, condemning “insulting” comments from politicians asserting that public service employees aren’t working hard enough and that there’s plenty of fat that can be trimmed from services.
The rally roared its solidary when Ms Williams said that UNISON is balloting 350,000 NHS staff, “because they’ve been awarded a paltry 72 pence an hour.
“This government has no democratic mandate for their policies. We need a general election now. We need a government that will invest in public services and we need a government that will support people through the cost of living crisis.
“Another world is possible. We demand better. Together we can rise!”
The rally heard from a number of other trade union leaders, including outgoing TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, who declared: “This is what solidarity looks like … we stand together!”
It also heard from lay members, including UNISON’s own Julie Lawton, who works in the health service.