March Against Cuts In Southampton
20 January 2011, 09:30 | Updated: 20 January 2011, 09:47
Hundreds of Council workers and health workers will be demonstrating in the centre of Southampton this lunchtime (Thursday, 20th January).
At 12:30 members of the UNISON and Unite trade unions are meeting at Above Bar Church to discuss the Conservative controlled Council's proposals to scrap 250 jobs and introduce a 5% pay cut.
The majority of Council workers are either members of UNISON or Unite. At 13:00 a demonstration will start from Ogle Road (side of Above Bar Church) and end at the Civic Centre (by the Central Library). Council workers will be joined by 150 striking cleaners from the General Hospital. The cleaners, who are UNISON members, are employed by Medirest, and taking the days of strike action (19, 20 and 21 January) over the failure to pay them NHS conditions.
Council workers are angry over the Conservative controlled Council's proposals to introduce a package of measures which will amount to a 20% pay cut over 4 years.
The proposals are:
- A three year pay freeze
- A pay cut of between 3% and 4% each year
- Five days unpaid leave per year
These proposals apply to School Support Staff as well as all Council workers but they do not apply to teaching staff.
UNISON Branch Secretary, Mike Tucker, commented:
"Council workers are angry that their jobs, pay and the services they provide are being hit by the budget being introduced by the Conservatives at both a national and local level. They do not accept that the only solutions are redundancies and pay cuts. The Conservatives are targeting the poor and the vulnerable in order to bail out the bankers who caused the economic crisis. Council workers will not pay for the bankers greed".
Rally 1230 to 1300 Above Bar Church.
Demonstration 1300 Ogle Road - then Above Bar Street to Guildhall Square then to the Civic Centre.