Standing in solidarity with workers in dispute
The worker’s united will never be defeated!
Over the past 13 years the Government have been waging a war on working class people across the country. Ripping up working standards, making it easier for bad bosses to casualise their workforce, driving down wages in real-terms and now they threaten the right of workers to withdraw their labour and go on strike.
We are in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in 50 years. The prices of food, fuel and energy are sky-rocketing. Mortgage rates and rent hikes are through the roof- thanks to a certain Prime Minister last Autumn. 4.2 million children living in poverty. Levels of in work-poverty higher than ever. Public Services crumbling. Living standards are rapidly declining. All whilst, the greedy corporations and billionaire bosses get richer and richer on the backs of their workers.
That is why there has never been a more important time to join a trade union and have the protection at work that trade unions provide. It’s time for the working class to fight back.
In the two years following the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen workers in almost every sector ballot and take part in industrial action to secure better pay, terms and conditions. From rail workers to postal workers, to barristers, university lecturers, junior doctors, teachers, paramedics and nurses- workers with the support of their trade unions have taken the fight to the Government to say enough is enough and demand better.
I have been proud to join workers on picket lines, to show them that they have my support and stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with them. It is never an easy decision to go out on strike and no worker does this lightly. But when faced with significant real-terms pay cuts, poor and overwhelming working conditions and threats to the future of your industry- you can see clearly why so many workers have had to take this decision to fight for their future.
I first joined the Civil Service Union when I entered the working world after leaving school. It was just as important to me then, as it is now, to encourage all workers to join a union. Being in a union changed my life, affording me the ability to improve my workplace, create more opportunities to learn and develop and the same goes for those I later represented as a shop steward at UNISON.
In a working environment where bosses are demanding more, but offering less, not only in relation to pay, but poor employment terms often zero-hour contracts, limits on sick, maternity and paternity pay. The power of collective bargaining and being able to demand better for each other is vital. These are the rights every worker should be entitled to, but after a decade of Conservative Governments with an ideological fixation to diminish the power of trade unions and limit their ability to secure better terms for their members- workers in this country have some of the weakest workplace benefits in comparison to our European counter parts.
Lower statutory sick pay than Germany, Sweden, Portugal and Finland. Fewer bank holidays and less paid leave than comparable countries in the EU. And now the Government are attempting to take away the fundamental freedom of the right to strike through the Minimum Services Levels Act.
The Government’s agenda will not win. They are seeking to divide and rule- pitting workers against one another- cowering at the very idea that we will fight them and win.
I am elated that Labour have confirmed in Government we will repeal these anti-strike laws, as well as going further to provide a new deal for working people to protect them in the workplace within the first 100 days.
As a proud trade unionist, the Labour Party has always been my natural home. After all our party was founded from the trade union movement with the core principle: to represent ordinary working-class people in Parliament. That principle is something I have and will continue to uphold. It is why I will always support workers in dispute and stand in solidarity with them on picket lines.