By Harry Mottram: During a day of strike action across the country (on Wednesday 1st February, 2023) members of a number of trade unions along with members of the public, workers and some local councillors in Bath made their point on the streets of the city.
At a rally in Brunel Square in Bath hundreds of people turned out to make their voices heard. There were representatives of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union, the National Education Union(NEU), the Bath Labour Party, the Bath Greens, Extinction Rebellion, The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) Union, and the Unite trade union.
Bath’s Labour Party retweeted this message on the day: “At Bath Demo today to support people’s right to strike, on a day when hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are striking, sending a clear message to government about the state of our public services.”
In a statement online the Bath Labour Party stated: “Solidarity with all our comrades fighting to protect pay and conditions. We strongly oppose the Tory government’s Strikes Bill, which could see workers sacked for exercising their legitimate right to strike.”
The University and College Union Bath (UCU) said they were demonstrating to “support people’s right to strike, on a day when hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are striking, sending a clear message to government about the state of our public services.”
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Moorlands Jess David also attended and tweeted: “At Bath Demo today to support people’s right to strike, on a day when hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are striking, sending a clear message to government about the state of our public services.”
The Government led by Rishi Sunak has criticised trade unions for a number of strikes this winter. It has resulted in a new bill backed by the Government passed at its first stage this week that will aim at enforcing minimum service levels for some sectors during strikes. These would include the railways and emergency services.
The Prime Minister criticised the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer at PMQs and called on the opposition to condemn the strikes – in particular the school teacher strike. In reply previously Keir Starmer has said an incoming Labour government would repeal Rishi Sunak’s anti-strike legislation.
Below are some of the photos posted online by those who took part in the demos in Bath.
