I write this on Monday 14 February, as I want to remember this as a new dawn. It is the first day of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union six week national consultative ballot of over 150,000 public sector members to take action on pay, pensions and the cost of living crisis. This is the first national ballot since 2019, and PCS is determined to ensure as many members participate as possible.
Today is also the start of the second wave of University and College Union (UCU) strikes in the higher education sector on pensions cuts, and it was a rare lunchtime treat to go to the city centre to an outdoor strike rally. What was amazing about the rally was the presence of not just university staff but a large cohort of their students came along to express solidarity with their educators withdrawing their labour over cuts to their pensions . Matt Crilly, president of the National Union of Students in Scotland articulated this to the gathered crowd as a message of love on Valentines Day.
Over the last fortnight, UCU speakers have addressed almost all of the PCS region and nation rallies to build for our ballot by sharing their experiences of balloting a diverse membership on complex and overlapping matters. Their message to us was an organising one – as locally as possible, get all union activists to contact their members to vote. And that is exactly what we are doing.
Meanwhile last weekend, in many cities around the nations of the UK, the People’s Assembly coordinated protests against the cost of living crisis in which thousands of people came together.
I do not believe these are three isolated moments. UCU, PCS and Peoples Assembly action are representative of a turning tide of ordinary worker anger that they are being asked to pay for the crisis. Key workers were applauded during the pandemic, and now are treated with contempt by a morally bankrupt prime minister, leading an uncaring Tory government that expects its own workers to suffer effective pay cuts, underpayment in pensions against rising fuel, transport and food bills.
Only by coming together and sticking together can we bring about change. This is not a drill. Get involved!
We are all Rosa's daughters... 