PCS: Tomorrow’s march must be ‘springboard to united action’
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s (26 Mar) March for the Alternative in London, Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Mark Serwotka said it must provide a “springboard to united action”.
“The march in London is going to be big, we know that. In just a few short months this coalition government has sought to blame and punish public sector workers, the low paid, the sick, pensioners, children, for an economic crisis caused by City speculators and spivs.
“Even Mervyn King agrees with us that this is wrong and says he is surprised people are not more angry. Well, let him march with us and he’ll soon find out how angry we are.
“Let’s not forget the Tories did not win the election. They are propped up by Lib Dems who, right up to polling day, opposed most of what is now being planned, and they have no mandate for these cuts.
“We are marching for the alternative of investment in jobs and our public services to help our economy to get back on track. But we are also marching to show the tide of popular opinion is with us – we represent the millions, while the cabinet just represents the millionaires.
“It is essential that after the march we get together urgently in our anti-cuts groups, in our towns and cities, in our workplaces, union branches, community halls, and through the TUC, to discuss building on what we will have achieved.
“We must use the march as a springboard to united action. We will continue to meet together and march together, but we must also be prepared to strike together to defend jobs, pensions and pay. And to show we refuse to allow generations of social progress for the benefit of the many to be torn down in the interests of privilege and the greedy few.
“There is an alternative but it will not be handed to us, we must be prepared to make it happen for ourselves.”
– Mark Serwotka and other union spokespeople will be available for interview throughout the day
– PCS is expecting around 25,000 of its members to attend the demonstration. Around 6,000 of these will be travelling on 90 specially booked coaches and 21 trains
– One PCS rep, Richard Evans, set off last Saturday (19) to walk 160 miles from Cardiff to join the march www.pcs.org.uk
– The main PCS delegation will gather from 11am at assembly point 6 near Waterloo Bridge on Victoria Embankment
– PCS marchers will be underneath a giant inflatable bearing the PCS logo, waving 25 giant flags and 5,000 hand flags, carrying 1,800 placards, banging 5,000 thunder sticks, drinking 4,860 cartons of juice and consuming 4,052 snacks
– By the time the march begins the union will have given out more than 250,000 flyers advertising the demo and displayed more than 80,000 posters
– PCS will be tweeting updates from the demo using the hashtag #pcs26 and live-blogging at www.pcs.org.uk
ENDS
Notes
– For information and interview requests contact PCS national press officer Richard Simcox on 020 7801 2747 or 07833 978216
– The Public and Commercial Services union represents civil and public servants in central government. It has more than 300,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies, and in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK’s sixth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president is Janice Godrich – on Twitter @janicegodrich
– Follow PCS on Twitter @pcs_union
-01.png){kind=spacer}