I attended the rally in Blackpool today which was a really good turn out despite the pouring rain. It also seemed that less people turned up for work. Yesterday though there was an incident with a picket when she was clipped by a car and the police had to be called. Today a contractor going into the council told us to get a proper job and then when we shouted back at him that we have, he rang the union to complain! You can imagine what was said to him. We got his number as he effed and jeffed at us. The local NUT, UNISON Health Branch came out to support us and as the buses went by, they tooted their support. All in all, the general public were in support but some of the comments in the local paper just show that some people do not have any understanding of the structures of local government.
Views from Blackpool Picket Line
Showing posts with label Fair Pay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fair Pay. Show all posts
17 Jul 2008
16 Jul 2008
Strike On!
As we enter the second day of strike action, the first day seems to have gone well with massive disruption if media coverage and local reports from our members is anything to go by. My local council was completely closed to the public. I work in Blackpool as a homelessness prevention officer and we had a fair share of members and non-members not coming into work. We are holding a rally outside the town hall tomorrow at 11am and hopefully this will attract members from other local councils.
One of the real salient reasons for me as well as my own financial situation is that of my members and the fact that I am aware of members having to access my service as a service user because of the risk of homelessness as they cannot afford to keep up with their rising mortgage payments, heating costs, food bills and inflation. How can we be positively public when we are worried about how we are surviving on a day to day basis.
And the other thing, most local government employees also pay council tax so already contribute at least £1000 towards their own salaries a year. I know obviously some of it goes on services they receive in the district they live, but they are contibuting to the service they and their colleagues deliver!
With the reserves that the employers have got and the average councillors allowances increasing by 15%, 2.45% is not enough. We need to sustain this action for as long as possible.
Watch here
Local Government All Out for Fair Pay
As co-chairs of UNISON's LGBT committee, myself and Craig Nelson, expressed the committee's support and solidarity to all members in local government taking part in the industrial action. We said 'Our members cannot be expected to continue to accept pay cuts with rising inflation and living costs. We urge our LGBT members within local government to be "all out" on the 16th and 17th July and to demonstrate our collective determination to act to improve our pay and conditions - Stronger Together!'.For information on why UNISON members are on strike and rolling news of the action, go to http://www.unison.org.uk/paymatters/whystrike.asp
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