Respect For the Unemployed & Benefit Claimants stand shoulder to shoulder'. Real wages not workfare, real hours not Zero Hours.
Nearly Two Million public sector workers are striking for fair pay. Local government workers across the country will be on strike tomorrow - July 10.
Show your support & find out what's happening near you. Unite the unite has provided a comprehensive list of demo's & rallies taking place across Britain tomorrow - show your support.
Now is the time to get behind this campaign as they challenge 10 downing street’s low pay agenda. Working with other unions to take joint action on 10 July will only be the beginning, there will be targeted action and more strike action, as well as a mass TUC-organised protest on 18 October.
Why STRIKE ? Front-line workers explain:
Moya O'Neill, 53, community support worker, Leeds city council
We're
on strike because they seem to think we're not worth anything. I've
been a support worker for 16 years. I'm still on £8.30 an hour, and we
haven't had a pay increase for about four years. I can't afford to do
what I used to do, like go out with friends, and go swimming. I only eat
meat once a fortnight. Once I had to go to a foodbank. It was very
embarrassing – I'm in work, and I should be able to live a decent life.
I
look after the elderly and people with learning disabilities and
challenging behaviour. I help with personal care, getting dressed,
meals, housekeeping, shopping and staying safe. I love my job – the way
people hold your hand and thank you when you leave, when you're the only
person they have. But there's only so much we can do. They've asked us
to start working more flexibly. I used to do normal hours, but now I
have do the morning and evening shifts till 10.30pm on the same day. We
bend over backwards for them, and a miserly 1% pay rise is how they're
going to repay us.
I'm worth more than that for the work I do. We
just want what's rightfully ours. We're downtrodden, and it's time to
say enough's enough.
Richard Herrmann, 39 Firefighter, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service
No
one ever really wants to strike, but now we're left with no option. I
earn £28,000 a year, and pay more than £4,000 a year into the pension
scheme. Currently I can retire at 55 and withdraw my pension at 60. But
if the changes go ahead, I'd have to stay in the service until I'm 60,
and withdraw it at 67. Not only will we have to work longer, we'll also
have to pay more for the privilege and get less.
Firefighting is
arduous and when I'm in my late 50s, I may not pass the fitness tests.
If forced to retire, I'd be penalised under the new deal. I could lose
half my pension. I probably couldn't afford to stay in the new scheme.
I've already had to take on an extra day's work as a safety trainer, on
top of my 48-hour week.
I'm not asking for a pay rise, just for
the pension I signed up for to be left well alone. I'm not a big union
man – some of the pensions changes I actually agree with. There are some
hardliners who always want to strike, but there aren't many of them
left. The majority of us are realistic.
Mo Lumb, 53, PCS rep and administrative officer, HMRC, Newcastle
I'm
striking over pay. I've been working at HM Revenue & Customs for 10
years. I'm one of the horrible people who has to send you letters about
your tax self-assessments. I'm on £18,000 a year – and it's gone up by
less than £1,000 in a decade.
The cost of living wasn't that bad
when I first started, but now it's astronomical. We've gone from
shopping at Sainsbury's to shopping at Lidl. I don't buy as much food as
I used to, or as many clothes. I can't remember the last time we had a
holiday abroad, either. Our car's on its last legs, and we'll be saving a
long time for another one.
People who think it's much better in
the public sector should come and have a look at my wage slip and my
pensions forecast — I think they'd be quite shocked. My wages would need
to rise to more than £21,000 a year to keep pace with inflation.
But
instead this year I got £180. Overall I'm worse off than I was last
year, because they're taking off more in pension contributions. So we've
effectively had a pay cut. We'd like private industry to pay their fair
share in taxes – companies such as Amazon, Starbucks and Google. We'd
like politicians to take cuts as well. We're certainly not "all in it
together".
* You can get regular updates from PCS on their live blog.
There are picket lines and rallies across
the UK as colleagues from Unite, Unison, FBU, GMB,
NUT, Nipsa and some RMT members in taking action against attacks on
their pay.
Jo Beill, 41, employment solicitor, London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
I
have worked in local government since 2008. I earn just over £40,000 a
year. I am striking because we have had no pay rise for years. The cost
of living keeps rising every year but we have less and less to pay our
bills. We are being asked to provide more services with less people.
I
used to work in a team of four but now I am the only full-time
employment solicitor. And I am now managed by a contract lawyer so I am
no longer managed by anyone with employment law experience.
We
have to do much of our own administration because quite a lot of our
secretarial staff were made redundant last month. I don't like to think
about my pension. I am just hoping there will be something there for me
when I retire.
Kris Ross-Osborne, 34, administrator, children's services, Somerset county council
We're
on the minimum wage, with a 1% pay increase, which we had to fight for.
It's ridiculous. They're the people we elected, yet they pay us
peanuts. We are some of the lowest-paid council workers.
It's not
just about striking, it's about having enough money to live without
worrying what I'll have left. As a single mum, I'm struggling to make my
pay count until the end of the month. I have to drive to work – a
24-mile round trip, five days a week. I can't use public transport
because the service is not very good (I am in a rural area) and the fare
is £7.50 a day which is unaffordable. With the cost of petrol, and the
rising costs of bills and then my groceries, and all the rest, I've gone
from having savings to struggling to cover everyday costs. Some months I
barely make it. I'm not going to use payday loans for extra cash
because I've been stung by them before.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady - a mass TUC-organised protest on 18 October.
“Hard-pressed families across the UK must be beginning to wonder when the tough times they are experiencing will ever end. They keep hearing that the economy is growing and learning of yet another bonus extravaganza in the city, yet their own wages never seem to go far enough.
 |
| Pictured: TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady |
“Worries about money are a big deal for ordinary people. While their
household budgets can just about stretch to cover everyday essentials,
they are likely to have to load up their credit cards to meet the cost
of any unexpected items.
“During the dark days of recession, workers accepted that their pay
might have to be frozen or even cut to save jobs, but now the economy is
picking up – and many employers can afford to pay their staff more –
the time has come for Britain to get a pay rise.”
Show your support & find out what's happening near you. Unite the unite has provided a comprehensive list of demo's & rallies taking place across Britain tomorrow. Join us & show support on TWITTER by using #hashtag #J10 and #WeAllNeedAPayrise
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