Yvonne Weaver (Unite)

Branch secretary, Barking & Dagenham borough council

“I’M passionate about my members getting a decent offer. 

We’ve lost so much over the last few years that 1 per cent is not a pay rise at all. 

Unite will be picketing Frizland’s Lane recycling depot and Barking Town Hall. 

Our members are cleaners, street cleansing and parking enforcement, but this strike is for everyone. 

Our demand is for an extra £1 an hour that will help the lowest-paid workers. They wanted to give us 1 per cent, but we said, ‘No that’s insulting.’ 

The government will be paying themselves a lot more than that.

I’ll be on that picket line to get my members what they deserve. 

Hopefully a lot of members will be on the march as well. We’ve got Unite, Unison, GMB and NUT. It’s everyone together. 

The managers here are asking people if they are striking. 

They’ve got no right to ask that question — they’re trying to intimidate them into not striking. 

We’ve got to stand together and be strong and show this government we are worth more.

Our members are all saying there should be a general strike. We can’t understand why the TUC is not organising that yet — either that or a whole week strike. Shut the country down completely. 

Nick Purnell (Unite)

Senior shop steward at 

Manchester City Council 

“PEOPLE ask me why am I willing to lose a day’s pay to go on strike. Ultimately I’m really proud that we are drawing a line in the sand over pay. 

You have to explain to people, especially younger people, the reasons we are striking. 

Basically, if you don’t stand up for your pay now they will come back for more. We’ve seen it with pensions. 

It’s also about instilling in a new generation the values of trade unionism and explaining how the benefits we have today were fought for by previous generations. 

The attitude among the staff is very different this week than last week, so I’m hopeful we’ll get a good turnout. 

We need to turn the tide against this government. I’m really angry about this new law they are proposing on minimum turnouts for strike ballots. By the same standards, most of them would not have been elected. 

Catherine Craig (PCS)

Land Registry Information Systems in Plymouth 

“WE have been fighting against Con-Dem plans to privatise the Land Registry for the past year, culminating in a fantastic two-day national strike in May, and it looks like we’ve forced them to back down, proving, once again, that solid industrial action works.

I’ll be striking on July 10 because I can’t afford not to. After two years of pay freezes, followed by two years of 1 per cent rises we can’t afford to live. 

My partner is a healthcare assistant in the NHS — sadly they won’t be on strike — and we struggle to survive each month, living on credit cards. 

Food, energy and water bills have gone through the roof and we can’t freeze or restrict our daughter’s growth to 1 per cent. 

We need a proper pay rise now. If we’re all in it together, how come the rich keep getting richer while workers struggle?

November 30 2011 when over three million struck over pensions showed us the potential of joint union action. I’m determined to rebuild the unity locally and, this time, strike to win.

Sharon Waldron (GMB)

Council worker in Newham

“I AM the seconded trade union branch chair for the local authority of Newham. I’m still on the same salary as when I was a youth justice officer. 

Like everyone else I’ve suffered from having no pay rise for the last four years, except last year when we had a 1 per cent rise, but I didn’t really notice it.

I haven’t had a holiday for years. I just pay the bills, but I can’t afford any luxuries or nice things. 

The only thing that’s saved me is that mortgage rates haven’t gone up, but they are due to rise so that’s why it’s important to strike now.

The vast majority of people we have spoken to are willing to give up a day’s pay to join the strike. 

Those people on low wages are in support of the strike, but they are worried about losing a day’s wages. 

They can ill afford it because their wages have been frozen for so long, they can hardly pay their bills now and they will get further into debt.

We’ll have a picket at the town hall at Newham Dockside and we’ll be taking a coach to join the main rally in Trafalgar Square.

My greatest concern is that one day’s strike is not enough. The local authorities are quite happy not to pay a day’s wages and they can handle disruption for a day, but if it goes further it could prove difficult for them. 

So I would favour further action to get central government to listen to us and to get round the table. 

We don’t like to disrupt services but we need them to listen to us.

Donald McEwan (NUT)

Primary school teacher in Oxford

“MY main reason for striking is the fact that the pension contributions are up so high — a £90 a month increase. 

This is despite the fact that since the scheme was set up in 1923 over £40 billion more in contributions have been paid into the scheme than has been paid out in pensions. 

This is during a pay freeze, with teachers having to teach until 68 to get the full pension. This is what motivates me to strike. 

I think the government knows that very few teachers will be on top of the job aged 64 or older and will leave early or be forced out and therefore never be entitled to the full pension they have dutifully paid into for 40-plus years.

The other reason I will be striking is performance-related pay and pay portability. If you change jobs, the pay scale you are on will no longer be transferred to your new school. 

We know that it will be extremely rare for teachers to progress faster as there is no new money for schools to pay ‘excellent’ teachers more. 

It will be a race to the bottom with a new lower rate for the vast majority of experienced teachers.

No-one expects to get rich in teaching, but pay progression at least means we can be reasonably confident to plan ahead financially. 

The scale progression has pretty much been in place for 80 years, serving schools and society well. 

Teaching is so complex, arbitrary performance management or inconsistent observation gradings affecting pay will be divisive among colleagues and not create a motivated and collegiate workforce. 

If education budgets are squeezed so will teachers’ salaries be as more and more private companies make a profit out of our children.

I, like many teachers, find it hard taking strike action again this year — we’ve been on strike this year more than in the last 10 years put together. 

However for the future of my own children and the children I teach, I will be disadvantaging my own family to campaign for a good, locally democratic, state education system.

Jim McDonald

Office secretary for PCS in HMRC in St Austell, Cornwall

“I HAVE a family and a home to provide for and like all other ordinary people in Britain today, I’m affected by continual rising prices. 

From gas and electricity bills, food bills and — importantly, for those like my family living in a rural areas who are dependent on our own transport to get about — the rising cost of car ownership. 

As you can see from the information on the PCS leaflet We All Need A Pay Rise, average bills have grown by a vastly greater amount than that available to the average worker like myself.

The average bill for gas has risen by 57 per cent, electricity by 22 per cent, food by 16 per cent. 

I need a pay rise to let me continue to meet the bills, provide for my family and maintain a roof over our heads. 

These are basic things you are supposed to be able to do through working. 

With pay either frozen or rising by less than 1 per cent, the ability to provide is constantly reducing as costs outstrip my earnings and ability to pay my way. 

I want to work, provide for my family and live with dignity. I need a pay rise now. I can’t afford not to let this government know what it means to me and my family. That’s why I’ll be on strike.