Workers united against pay freeze

AROUND 30 people attended a meeting organised by Cambridge TUC entitled 'Together we can beat Brown's pay freeze'. The speakers were Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the NUT and PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka. Both spoke of the strike action taken on 24 April and pledged support for the action to be taken by Unison on 16-17 July.

Mark Serwotka was clear that the government blaming public-sector pay for rising inflation is a political attack - every leading economist has dismissed these claims, and has concluded that public-sector pay does not cause inflation.

He explained that in a TUC meeting of union general secretaries and government ministers, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis told treasury secretary Yvette Cooper she had "angered six million public-sector workers".

Many in the audience felt that Prentis had also angered millions of public sector workers over the agreement of a three-year pay deal which will leave many health workers facing four years of effective pay cuts!

Socialist Party members spoke in the debate on the need for political representation for the working class and the need for trade unions to break with New Labour.

Cambridge TUC sent delegates to the National Shop Stewards Network annual conference and agreed to keep fighting against Brown's pay freeze and push for united action. Cambridge Socialist Party will be involved in this struggle and have organised a Campaign for a New Workers' Party meeting for September.

Steve Sweeney

National Shop Stewards Network

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