The government has been slammed today by the UK’s largest trade union who launched a scathing attack saying they are “out of touch” and “corrupt” and has told union officials to get “strike ready.”
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, said government Ministers are not dealing with the pressures facing workers such as the cost of living crisis.
Speaking at the union’s annual conference in Brighton McAnea told delegates the government “don’t understand us because they are not like us,” she then cited reports of Downing Street wallpaper which cost a staggering £840 a roll.
“For that kind of money, I’d expect it to walk in and apply itself to the wall,” she added that the current crisis affecting the UK and workers is down to “political choices.”
She blasted Boris Johnson’s government of, “Instead of making political choices that help the less well-off, this Government is happy to let those who unashamedly profiteered from the pandemic off the hook.”
McAnea said that billions of pounds was “wasted” on personal protective equipment (PPE) which could not be used and that would have given the public sector workers a decent pay increase this year.
She added, “Instead, we see the very people whose courage and dedication got the country through the pandemic, now having to rely on charity.
“We are witnessing the dying days of a corrupt and out of touch Government.
“A Government that’s hanging onto power, but out of ideas.”
She told delegates that she had asked Unison officials to get “strike ready,” and “If we have to, we will strike, to protect public service workers and the public services we all depend on.
“Are we going to sit back and let the liars, cheats and fraudsters in Westminster get away with saying they won’t give us a proper pay rise?
“Are we going to let them get away with saying we need to practice pay restraint?
“Just the other day, Boris Johnson said, the union barons will once again protest.
“Well, conference, he got that right – we will protest.
“We already know we need to work with other unions across the UK if we’re going to take a stand.”
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