Public sector workers to "speak up" to MPs in June

Teachers, health workers, probation officers, social workers, civil servants, childcare workers and firefighters will be among public service workers representing the six million public sector workers in the UK coming to London in June to lobby MPs over the future of public services and to call for fair pay, the TUC announced today (Wednesday).
The Speak up for Public Services representative lobby and rally takes place in Westminster on Monday 9 June 2008. The event starts with a rally in Methodist Central Hall at 1pm and concludes with public sector employees lobbying MPs late into the afternoon.
Speakers at the rally will include general secretaries and senior officials from the 26 TUC-affiliated unions with members in the public sector, as well employees from across the health service, local government, central government and the prison service.
When individual public sector employees head over to Parliament in the afternoon to lobby their local MPs, they will say that public servants make a huge contribution to UK society and the economy. This hard work, they will say, should be fairly rewarded, properly valued and there must be fair pay for all public sector staff.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Across the country, public sector employees are feeling increasingly undervalued and demoralised. Their pay is being held below the cost of living and they feel that public service reform is something done to them, not with them. They believe that all their hard work frequently goes unnoticed by politicians and that their contribution to improving public services is often overlooked.
'Last year, the way that pay settlements were handled caused widespread dissatisfaction and dismay amongst public servants. The UK's six million public sector employees are hoping for a better deal this year, and that's why a representative segment of the workforce will be in Westminster in June calling for fair pay for everyone in the public sector and for MPs to stand up for public services.'