On Saturday, I marched through the streets of London alongside tens of thousands of UNISON members and other workers calling for fair pay. The sea of purple was brilliant – and I want to send my personal thanks to all of you who made the marches in London, Glasgow and Belfast such a success.
The atmosphere was one of solidarity and determination and our members’ strength of feeling was plain for all to see.
And I was proud to lead our Care UK strikers onto the stage at the rally in Hyde Park.
Marching under the banner of “Britain Needs a Pay Rise”, we sent a powerful message to the government.
Our members didn’t cause the recession. They didn’t cause the banks to fail. And it is completely unfair that public service workers have been forced to bear the brunt of austerity.
The march and rally in Hyde Park followed industrial action by our members in local government, health and meat hygiene.
Our members in the NHS took strike action nationally over pay last Monday for the first time in 32 years, followed by four days of staff taking their breaks.
Seven other health unions voted for industrial action. Some for the first time in their history.
This co-ordinated industrial action and the enormous turnout on Saturday shows just how important the issue of pay is, with people working longer hours for less money.
Wages have fallen in real terms every year since this government came to power in 2010. And if George Osborne has his way, this nightmare will continue well into the next Parliament if the Tories win next year’s election.
I told the rally that the best thing the government could do is to recognise the value of the people who have suffered and give them a pay rise.
But come next May, the best thing that we can all do is make sure that the Tories don’t get the chance to continue the nightmare of poverty pay.
We must make sure that this is a bad dream that we can wake up from.
