The hawks will now start to circle, regurgitating the bile to undermine the democratic right of all workers to withdraw their labour.
Notable arguments will be to undermine the legal basis for the strike (already the subject of hyperbole in Personnel Today) and to question the mandate for action based on turnout – despite many Tory, and for that matter Labour and Lib Dem Councils, operating on a far less significant representative vote than that which UNISON secured. And of course the legitimacy of our cause.
The last minute offers from the Treasury were merely a cynical plot to attempt to wrong foot the unions – making us look unreasonable and the Government magnanimous, but we should not be cowed. There is nothing new of significance on the table. We will still pay more, get less, and work longer.
Our members have put faith in their union to deliver. It is not easy when workers face daily hardship to make ends meet, to pay ridiculously high energy bills, rents and mortgages, food bills and bus and train fares, to vote so decisively to lose a day’s pay. It is a tough and heart wrenching decision and for the vast majority of UNISON members the loss of a day’s pay will create real hardship.
And that is why the outcome of the strike vote is so extraordinary. For workers to vote so overwhelmingly for strike action, knowing the hardships that they will face, is the real story behind the ballot results, but it is one unlikely to cut through the tabloid tosh that the British public are fed on a daily basis.
Anna Rose
