Public sector: why we have to strike

Pickets in Hackney on the 10 July public sector strike, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)

Brian Debus, Chair, Hackney Unison (personal capacity)

The October week of action is not before time: we have all suffered under a massive onslaught of job cuts and pay cuts since this Con-Dem government of the rich for the rich came to power.

This is not to let Labour off the hook: it also presided over cuts to living standards when it was in power. It has also promised to stick to Tory spending plans.

Local government employers have just blinked with a measly increase on their original 1% pay offer.

This indicates a fear that workers will start to realise their potential power through this current wave of strike action for decent pay.

It is estimated that ordinary people - the working class - are on average Ł40 a week worse off than they were five years ago.

Contrast this to chief executives' pay: 45 times the average wage in 1998 and now 185 times.

In 2014 the richest 1,000 individuals combined wealth rose by 15.4%. So much for all being in this together.

This is a weak and divided government. While they squabble lets stand together united for a Ł1 an hour pay rise.

Talk to your workmates, if they have not yet joined the union get them to do so and make our strike that much stronger.

Better still join the picket line at your workplace and publicise this strike to the world.

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