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Mick Lynch, the headliner of a large rally in central London yesterday, told the crowd: ‘We are the working class and we are back.’
Forty thousand people poured into Whitehall as trade unionists staged demonstrations across the country in support of striking teachers, civil servants and civil servants.
In London, the RMT railway boss, whose members were also on strike, had a message of unity for workers from all sectors.
Lynch said ministers were “trying to ban the working class” and “our message is that every worker needs a raise”.
He continued, “And our message is, sod this, we demand, and we are united. We will not be divided based on who we work for.
Mick Lynch, the headliner at a large gathering in central London yesterday, told the crowd: ‘We are the working class and we are back’
“We will not be divided based on our faith, or the color of our skin, or the part of the country we come from.
“We are the working class and we are back.”
Lynch was joined at the protests by Labor MPs including John McDonnell, Sam Tarry and Rebecca Long-Bailey, despite Keir Starmer’s warning that no MP should stand on a picket line ‘if they want to be in government’.
Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn was also in attendance.
Labor MP Zarah Sultana also addressed the rally, saying: ‘When Mick Lynch said the working class is back, it’s back, it’s here and it’s fighting.
Enough is enough, enough of the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer.
“This is not a crisis of the cost of living for everyone, the rich are not getting poorer… it is a crisis for the working class.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he could not move his meetings to attend in person, but sent a statement of support to be read.
Labor MP Zarah Sultana also addressed the rally, saying: ‘When Mick Lynch said the working class is back, it’s back, it’s here and it’s fighting’
Yesterday’s rallies – there were also protests in Cardiff, Newcastle and Leeds – were organized in part by the Trades Union Congress to protest the government’s minimum service legislation, which would allow ministers to force some workers to work through strikes or possibly being fired.
They came as a rail union baron threatened a ten-day strike in an attempt to override the proposed laws.
Mick Whelan, from Aslef, who staged strikes yesterday and will do so again tomorrow, said drivers could stage longer bouts of union action if the anti-strike law came into effect.
