UNISON joined unions from across sectors for the TUC’s Demand Better rally and march, which saw tens of thousands hit London’s streets on Saturday.
The strong sea of purple and green, led by general secretary Christina McAnea, gathered at Portland Place before proudly and loudly setting off on the march to Parliament Square.
Tens of thousands gathered in the square for a rally which saw a raft of speakers, including three from UNISON.
‘Forwards ever, backwards never.’
Gloria Mills, UNISON’s national secretary for equalities and chair of the TUC race relations committee, was the first of the UNISON speakers.
She opened her speech telling the packed Parliament Square: “We’re here to resist. We need to stand up now and demand that the government protect the public purse. It is not a piggy bank for corporations and for Tory cronies.
“But we also need to send solidarity to all the workers in the UK who have been fighting to end privatisation and get their jobs back in-house, and send our congratulations to all of them who have already won the insourcing of their jobs.”
Using Amazon as an example of new frontlines in trade unionism, she said: “We are demanding an end to racial segregation of the labour market.
“We have seen how pernicious it is in this country and in America. And one of the biggest wins for the Amazon labour union is an end to the racial segregation in their company, where black people are stuck to the floor and the ceiling is so low that you cannot rise at any level in that organisation.”
She continued: “We are standing up and demanding an end to the gender pay gap and we are demanding an end to the disability pay gap.
“And we are supporting our LGBT+ workers to have full equality, dignity and respect in the workplace. And we are demanding no more precarious employment, no zero-hour contracts. We want access to good jobs and pensions.”
Ms Mills finished her speech saying: “And I want to say comrades, let us continue this fight. Together we will win, we will speak up, we will stand up and we will be counted, and you will hear us louder. Enough is enough.
“Forwards ever, backwards never.”
Photos: Main photo by Marcus Rose. Other photos by Andrea Knowles.
