Yorkshire unions join up to fight Tory cuts

The Northern Towns Against Cuts group is to stage a march and rally in Halifax in West Yorkshire on Saturday February 3.

The group formed by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and GMB two years ago staged a successful protest in Halifax in February 2011, drawing delegations from Northern towns including Liverpool, Wigan, Barnsley and Sheffield.

But savage government cuts have seen the group grow to 12 unions and the demonstration has the support of Yorkshire and Humber regional TUC.

NUT divisional secretary Sue McMahon said: "The demonstration is about the price that northern towns are paying for austerity."

The group uses the "Pacman" computer game character to symbolise how the cuts are now biting into areas including benefits to the disabled, services for the vulnerable, youth services, services to the elderly, nursery provision, police, fire service, NHS and social care.

Under the slogan "austerity will get worse" the group lists closed shops, fewer facilities, increased food prices, higher utility bills, increased tuition fees and inflation as hitting northern communities.

Ms McMahon said: "For the past two years in education I have been involved in so many cutbacks and redundancies it has been unreal.

"We have had services absolutely decimated.

"We are seeing wide-ranging cuts. We are facing closures of fire stations, loss of appliances. In Calderdale we are facing the closure of six children's centres.

"We feel it is northern towns that are taking the brunt of the cuts."

The 12 unions involved in the group include Unison, Unite, University and College Union (UCU), Public and Commercial Services (PCS), NUT, National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), GMB, Community and Youth Workers in Unite, Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP), and educational professionals' group Voice.

Speakers at the February event include Halifax Labour MP Linda Riordan and regional TUC chairman Tim Roache, who is also Yorkshire regional secretary of the GMB.

The march assembles at 10.15am at Halifax Town Hall.