Marching against single status pay cuts

Waltham Forest council trade unions are marching against the effects of the single status deal on 28 February. Ten years ago our Unison branch campaigned inside the union for a rejection of the deal.

A Waltham Forest Unison member

We want equal pay and we have got that for some workers but we don't want it at the expense of anybody else. The activists have campaigned hard to get the best for our low-paid workers. We knew the deal stunk but we held our noses and fought for the low paid; now we must fight so that nobody loses out.

This government has presided over an economic boom. 1,000 people in the city of London took £7 billion in Christmas bonuses last year. The government will bail out Northern Rock to the tune of £56 billion, our money, and yet they won't honour the deal for equal pay for people who work in the public sector.

Nobody should lose pay to honour this deal. The 300 proposed redundancies will affect all parts of the council. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that if you make a cut the whole service will suffer.

A few weeks ago, refuse workers protested outside the town hall, shocked the council and made the powers that be listen to them. We will fight this attempt to rob Paul to pay Pauline.