Open letter supporting the right to strike and the 1st Feb strikes and the march and rally in Cambridge:

Over half a million workers are due to be on strike on the 1st of February, including teachers in the National Education Union on the first of seven days of action. Schools, the NHS and other public services are haemorrhaging staff as a result of falling pay. The staff shortages are adding to an increased workload and this vicious circle is continuing to drive our key public services into a deeper crisis. 

The increasing frequency of strike action is an unsurprising response to over 12 years of austerity, crumbling infrastructure and rising inequality. Millions of Britons cannot afford basic goods and millions more have seen their standard of living and access to services dismantled.

Strikes are disruptive, that is the point, but it is not strikes that are causing the day-to-day difficulties: in accessing a doctor; finding a qualified teacher to teach a class;  travelling on a reliable bus route; or an affordable train.? These things are a result of the way our economy is run and of spiralling inequality.

The UK already has among the most draconian laws on the right to strike in Europe and now the government is proposing further restrictions that in some sectors will make it illegal to strike due to minimum service requirements. Workers’ rights to withdraw our labour are a fundamental human right and are a vital condition of any democratic society.

We support the strikes on the 1st of February and the protest march starting at 11am on Parkers Piece in Cambridge. We call on the Government to address: the funding crisis in education, the crisis in health and other public services, pay and the cost of living, and to uphold the democratic right to strike.