MU members and staff marched from Portland Place to Parliament Square led by samba percussion squad Rhythms of the City. Image credit: Joanna Dudderidge.
The MU marched with trade unions and community groups across the UK at the Demand Better march and rally in London on Saturday 18 June. MU members and staff marched from Portland Place to Parliament Square led by samba percussion squad Rhythms of the City.
MU General Secretary Naomi Pohl was also there, leading the march with female general secretaries from across the movement.
The march and rally was covered prominently in BBC News bulletins for the rest of the day, and was also covered by BBC News Online, Sky News, Guardian, The Mirror, ITV and others.
“Together we will stand proud, and we will win”
Speaking at the rally on Saturday, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“It is fantastic to see workers from all over the UK, every walk of life, being proud. Workers are united, and we’ve got a message for every tight-fisted boss and every Tory minister: enough is enough.
“We want decent jobs, an end to zero hours contracts, a new deal, we want to stop fire and rehire, and - I make no apologies for this - every single worker deserves a pay rise”.
Talking directly to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, O’Grady said:
“This cost of living crisis is Tory made. Don’t you dare shift the blame for inflation on to working people. Don’t you dare. Not after over a decade of austerity, privatisation and pay cut.
"Don’t you dare tell working families we have to put up with more pain…. It is time to raise taxes on wealth, not workers.”
Watch the rally in full on the TUC’s Facebook Page.
Solidarity with RMT members on strike
The march and rally came days before RMT members started a programme of strike action in defence of pay, conditions and thousands of jobs in England, Scotland and Wales.
The MU expresses its full solidarity with the RMT and stands with RMT members in their demand for better.
While the media has focused on train drivers, who are in fact mostly represented by a different union, RMT members taking strike action include workers in customer hosting, gateline assistance, fleet maintenance, train dispatch, ticket offices, train conductors, technicians, controllers, signalling and many more.
The media has also given a lot of airtime to train driver salaries; while the median salary of RMT rail members is £31,000, the union is clear that many of those taking strike action are on significantly less.
Strike action is scheduled to take place on 21, 23 and 25 June.
Find out more about why RMT members are taking action and share a message of solidarity on Twitter.