Cowardly Treasury minister Yvette Cooper ducked out of a photo-opportunity rather than face the anger of local government strikers in Plymouth. Cooper, deputy to Chancellor, Alistair Darling, was due to attend the Tamar Science Park with Plymouth City Council's chief executive on the second day of the pay strike.
But the visit was hurriedly cancelled when strikers converged on the venue to form a welcoming committee for her.
Plymouth UNISON officer, Jeremy Guise, told the strikers: "This shows the Labour Party daren't face us. They know they have no answers to our questions and when they find out we're waiting for them, they bottle it."
Throughout Plymouth on the two strike days, lively pickets at most of the council workplaces gave a determined signal that workers will no longer settle for crumbs at a time of obscene wealth and rising prices.
At the Ballard House social services centre, union members stayed out but there were disappointingly high numbers of GMB members and non-union workers who went through the picket lines.
We were buoyed up by freshly cooked scones, a gesture from Helen, a 60-year-old worker in her final year who was gutted at having to come to work to preserve her pension. There were also solidarity doughnuts from local CWU members and plenty of support from passing drivers.
Before the next set of strikes there is clearly a lot of work to be done persuading colleagues to join us.
Report by Rob Rooney from Plymouth Socialist Party
No comments:
Post a Comment