‘We want to strike’ say Unison union conference delegates

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Around 360,000 local government workers in Unison are balloting for strikes

Delegates at the Unison union conference stand for a minute of silence in memory of the Grenfell tragedy (Picture: Westminster Unison/Twitter)

A determination to resist the Tories’ assault on working class people ran through the Unison union’s national conference, which kicked off on Tuesday in Liverpool. Debates over the next four days will include increasing industrial action, defending the right to strike and redistributing union money to help facilitate strikes.

On Tuesday motions included increasing participation of lower paid women in the union, stress among public sector workers and life expectancy gaps. And crucially on organising workplace action.

Delegate Jon from Portsmouth told the conference, “We have to deliver on strikes—it’s great we now have strike pay up to £50 a day. It’s a statement of intent. Our union has to be serious about strikes. Excess branch resources shouldn’t be gathering dust waiting for a rainy day—they need to be used to fund organised fightback and strikes.” 

Jon also spoke about the importance of fighting the Tories—especially their anti-union bill that would impose minimum service levels. “They don’t care about the NHS, social care or schools any other day of the year. Frontline workers are on their knees. But the laws don’t apply to the bosses,” he told the conference.

“We can’t rely on a future Labour government to fight for us. I don’t trust Keir Starmer will undo the Tories’ laws. We need more protests and more strikes—that’s the way we fight these laws.”

Liz, a Unison national executive committee (NEC) member from Camden in north London, said, “The Tories are only interested in minimal service levels when there’s a strike. We can’t stand for that hypocrisy.” 

She also referenced Carla Foster, who has been jailed for 28 months for accessing abortion pills to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. “The right to control our own bodies is also under attack,” she said. “Our side has organised and risen up and changed society. That’s a part of our history that we have to remember, and organise to make sure it’s part of our future too.”

Health worker Janet sent solidarity to workers in Soas university in central London who were on two of five days of strikes. And she spoke about the St Mungo’s charity workers who voted on Monday to escalate to all-out action

“It gives us confidence when we visit other picket lines. The cost of living crisis is caused by our rulers, but they don’t suffer,” Janet said. “Our comrades in the NHS have been part of some fantastic action. There’s young people in the RCN nurses’ union pickets and the junior doctors will be striking.

“We want to recruit new and young activists to build and give us confidence—and see some victories soon. Good luck to local government workers in their pay ballot.”

Julie from York City branch said, “I work as a teaching assistant in an early years unit. In May we were all fired and rehired. We lost our battle despite a huge campaign because we were unable to strike. We missed the threshold by one vote. The Tory anti-union laws were part of the problem. 

“But having to wait four months after an initial 100 percent consultative ballot meant that staff had left to secure 52 week contracts elsewhere. Others were despondent.”

Julie added schools need to be properly funded—“but the only way we will win real change and equality is by striking together to win.”

During a discussion on the fight to include low paid women in union activity, delegates spoke about the double burden of the home and work. They also spoke about the impact of the gender pay gap, harassment, zero-hour contracts and juggling multiple jobs, and the added difficulties for black and trans women. 

Lola from the national black members’ committee said, “Low paid women are already feeling undervalued and as if they don’t belong. We need to build the confidence of low paid women, and make sure our workplaces are better for everybody.”

Delegate Maria from Portsmouth said she’s spent her whole life working on minimum wage. “I was a single parent and needed to work more than one job at a time,” she said. “Minimum wage wasn’t enough to live on as a family and it needed to be topped up with benefits.

“Employers think they can treat low paid women any way they want—it’s not good enough. Trade union movement the way forward to change the status quo.” 

Delegates also detailed the stress on public service workers, particularly effect the pandemic has had on mental health, leading to PTSD and high suicide rates. And that life expectancy for people in more deprived areas is drastically shorter than those in rich areas.

Jane from the Worcester local government branch said, “Our main employer doesn’t pay staff for three days of sick leave. We have more than 400 employers in our branch and 700 workplaces to cover.

“We’re struggling to recruit health and safety officers. I’m standing down as branch secretary because I’m burnt out—we need to tackle stress everywhere.”

Helen from the outgoing NEC slammed the stress level put on workers by employers as “unacceptable”. “They identify workers as what needs to change rather than the workplace. A&E is described as a war zone—it’s class war. What do we do about it? 

“Kirklees council workers are fighting back over caseloads—branches have to think about doing the same. Strikes in the public sector highlighting that pay is crucial to recruit and retain staff.”