Strike Message from the Joint Branch Secretary and Branch Chair
22nd Feb 2011Being on strike is never an easy decision at the best of times and in today's financial climate with everyone already struggling to make ends meet then even for the most ardent amongst us that decision might be a little bit harder. However having said that unfortunately we are left with no alternative.
To put it bluntly its either strike today or watch on as 1000’s of jobs and our local services disappear or are privatised.
Local members of UNISON have voted to take action and stand up against the County Council and say NO to the sheer scale of the devastation they are intending to inflict upon our local communities through the cuts to services and the massive cuts to jobs providing those services.
It doesn’t matter what the council may say but no one has a mandate to destroy the public services that are fundamental to our local communities. They are prepared to spend £60 million making 3,500 staff redundant over the next 3 years with 1000 compulsory redundancies and another 400 voluntary this year alone.
Being on strike and being on the picket line on Thursday is a chance to look people in the eye and tell them that this union and its members have put there money where their mouth is and we are standing up to the proposed decimation of our services and saying enough is enough.
We can stop this disgraceful attack on our jobs and services by being united and having faith in our collective strength as workers and union members.
We are not alone or isolated in the defence of our services, things are now gathering pace across the country and other UNISON branches are now looking for strike action to protect their local services, we must remember that we are part of the wider picture. And if we need any further reminders we need only read yesterdays Guardian which reports on David Camerons speech about Public Services – basically everything is up for privatisation.
We cannot simply stand by and let profiteers exploit the local communities and services that are the backbone of any society.Martin Sleath Mark Howard
Joint Branch Secretary Branch Chair
Guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/21/nhs-turmoil-tory-ideology-run-wild