{"id":1945,"date":"2014-10-20T15:27:31","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T14:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1945"},"modified":"2014-10-21T15:20:35","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T14:20:35","slug":"time-timid-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1945","title":{"rendered":"Time for timid is past"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

A resounding 150,000 people turned out for the TUC march and rally, Britain needs a pay rise,<\/em> on Saturday (October 18), including a multitude of Unite members from around the country and across different sectors to demand fair pay from their employers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Marchers additionally called for an end to government austerity that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ruthlessly driven down living standards for the majority of working people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The march commenced to great fanfare at Embankment and culminated in Hyde Park, where trade union leaders, including Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Len McCluskey inspired the gathering crowds with rousing speeches.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need more than anger\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In his speech, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey denounced the coalition government for attempting to destroy every gain working people have made since 1945.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015b[This government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s] mission is to dismantle the NHS \u00e2\u20ac\u201c slicing it up bit by bit and handing it on a silver platter to their friends in the private health companies,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey seek to destroy the welfare state \u00e2\u20ac\u201c characterising anyone who uses the benefit system in their time of need as a scrounger,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd they have devastated local government to a point where care of the elderly is now defined by spreadsheet economics separated into 10 minute blocks, irrespective of the individual\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s needs.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCluskey urged the crowds at Hyde Park to take their battle beyond the confines of Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s march.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need more than anger,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need to organise. We need to mobilise.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBritain needs more than a pay rise,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt needs a government that fights for working people like the Tories fight for the rich.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCluskey called on the Labour party to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstop being afraid of its own shadow\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and outlined policies that would provide real alternatives to the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 starvation regime, including tackling tax dodgers, building more homes, boosting the minimum wage immediately, and bringing banks under real public control.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He insisted the \u00e2\u20ac\u015btime for being timid is past\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and galvanised the cheering crowds to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bkeep the faith,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 arguing that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bpeople power can change the country for the better,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 noting that history has repeatedly shown that strong working class movements can make a difference.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The tide that raises all boats<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Harry Smith, author, RAF veteran and son of a Barnsley miner, who at 91, has lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War, has seen the success of such movements with his own eyes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Smith gave one of the day\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closing speeches, inspiring marchers with a paean to his generation, which created the welfare state and enshrined the rights of trade unions to protect workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay and conditions, after having experienced the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bscourge of hunger and want\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 first-hand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut the crash of 2009 has changed everything,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday, Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s government has robbed the vulnerable of their benefits to enrich the mighty, and they have snatched from the workers of this country the right to a dignified wage.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Still, Smith insisted workers can \u00e2\u20ac\u015breturn the country to its rightful owners \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the people.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 He argued that above all, workers must continue fighting and demanding higher wages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou can be the tide that raises all boats,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bas long as you stay strong and loyal to the one beneath.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s members speak<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite members echoed many of the concerns McCluskey and Smith addressed in their speeches, all of whom cited solidarity for workers everywhere\u00c2\u00a0 as their reason for coming out to the march.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jim Kelly, a London taxi driver, said he was marching against the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s austerity measures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI think austerity affects everybody \u00e2\u20ac\u201c self-employed people, unemployed people and people in work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs a cab driver driving around in London, you can see the pockets of poverty all around, and they seem to be sitting right next to very wealthy areas. Our society is becoming more and more polarised, and a lot of that comes down to the austerity measures of this government.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Steve Sargent, a skills rep at BMW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s MINI plant in Oxford, said that even though they had gained a decent pay rise last year, he was attending the march in solidarity with everyone else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a rotten deal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just about BMW workers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is about British working people in general. There are people in the NHS and other public services who have been stifled over the past 10 years. We need to fight to get them a pay rise as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite members from a range of different sectors identified problems that were specific to their industry or workplace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFarmworkers need a pay rise,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Steve Leniec, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chair for the agricultural sector.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWith the abolition of the agricultural wages board<\/a>, that certainly ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happening. So we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re here to get the message across.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karis McCormack, cabin crew member for British Airways, said that four years after the airline\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very public strike, cabin crew are still suffering injustices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re about to be replaced by mixed fleet, who are on an hourly rate,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople who have worked for the company for 20 or 30 years are about to be trodden on and their jobs taken away.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fred Gibbons pointed to the particularly \u00e2\u20ac\u015braw deal\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that bus drivers get<\/a>, even though they help transport millions of people around the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cities each day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn London, tube drivers get double the wages of bus drivers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t earn a living wage, but we have to take on lots of responsibility. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re carrying 70-odd people on the bus at any given time, and if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an accident, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re b****red.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click here for the full video of Len McCluskey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech<\/a> at the TUC rally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A resounding 150,000 people turned out for the TUC march and rally, Britain needs a pay rise, on Saturday (October 18), including a multitude of Unite members from around the country and across different sectors to demand fair pay from their employers.   Marchers additionally called for an end to government austerity that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ruthlessly driven […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[136,129],"wps_subtitle":" TUC march a resounding success as the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workers turn out in droves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1945"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1949,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945\/revisions\/1949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}