Striking Changes for Leicester

Driving around for a parking place, you could sense that today was going to be different. There were picket lines everywhere!

Changes are afoot in Leicester. Two ex Labour councillors, Wayne Naylor and Barbara Potter have joined TUSC and pledged to fight all cuts.

In contrast to Labour mayor Pete Soulsby who is slashing services whilst indulging in vanity projects and expenses-paid foreign trips.

A couple of weeks ago Soulsby had refused to back the council workers’ pay claim in the council chamber when rebel councillor Wayne Naylor asked the question. Yet Pete Soulsby spoke at the strike rally today in support of workers. Labour councillors who had voted for cuts were on picket lines.

Why the change of heart? You can’t help wondering if Soulsby’s late conversion to apparently supporting the strike had something to do with the pressure from these TUSC councillors and the council unions being made aware of his evasion in the council chamber.

In any case Soulsby was heckled and booed by some of the council workers for the hypocrisy of appearing on the platform at the same time as cutting jobs and services.

Wayne and Barbara also spoke just after Soulsby and, in contrast, got cheers for pledging to fight the cuts.

One teacher who was being made redundant was striking even though she would lose some of her redundancy money. “If it wasn’t for unions, I wouldn’t be getting any redundancy money and when I was off sick, I got sick pay, thanks to the struggles of trade unionists in the past”, she said.

Catherine Gathercole from the voluntary sector said she supported the strike because the voluntary sector relies on public services and what happens to them affects all of us.

Gary Sanders, a Labour councillor and PCS member was angry about the pay offer and working people having to claim benefits because their wages haven’t risen as much as prices. “People are being driven further into poverty and the sooner we have a 24-hour general strike the better”, he said.