Today marked the start of the TUC’s fair pay fortnight and the public service union UNISON were out in force outside Taunton’s County Hall. Since the introduction of the minimum wage in 1999, the wages of the lowest-paid public sector workers have fallen by 18% in real terms. It is in outrage that dedicated workers should be discriminated against in this way.
The Taunton Deane Labour Party were represented in the shape of Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Neil Guild and Samuel Fawcett, contributor to Somerset Labour’s website. As a worker in public service and UNISON activist himself, Neil was keen to show solidarity with UNISON and the wider trade union movement in calling for fair pay for all of Britain’s workers, who are long overdue a pay rise in the face of this government’s harsh and needless austerity cuts.
Current Taunton MP Jeremy Browne has consistently supported public sector pay freezes and low wage rises … whether he will support any significant rise in public sector pay in the future is yet to be seen, but I certainly wouldn’t bet the farm on it …