The Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice is hosting an online public meeting to discuss the current wave of strikes on Monday 27 February featuring Steve Battlemuch, head of campaigns at the Public & Commercial Services Union.
The industrial action, started by the RMT and CWU last summer, has turned into a new winter of discontent, and looks set to roll into spring, say the organisers. What have we learned from the unions’ campaigns? What is the employers’ and government’s role, and how is this playing out in the court of public opinion?
“We will look at the state of the movement,” says the CSSGJ. “Is it getting stronger and if so how can it turn its strength into putting money in members’ pockets?
“Are victories possible? Does the private sector have more leverage? Can the government sit it out and offer jam tomorrow? Do wage rises fuel inflation or is that a convenient slogan for a government on the rocks?”
The speaker, Steve Battlemuch, has been an active trade unionist since starting work in 1980. As a lay rep in PCS (and its predecessor CPSA) he was involved in various local and national strikes. Since 2011 he has worked for PCS, initially as an organiser and since 2017 in a campaigns role. He is also an elected Labour Councillor in Nottingham City.
Register for the meeting via Eventbrite.
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More about the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice is here.