Socialist Appeal - PCS strike - North-east region report.

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PCS strike - North-east region report.

By Gavin Jackson, PCS member.

Thursday, 11 March 2010

Car parks stood empty, phones rang unanswered, mail lay unopened. The first two days of the PCS strike in the North East has received strong support among its members; the stoic mood on the picket line failed to prevent smiles reaching across workers faces as passing cars honked their horns outside Sunderland's HMRC call centre and pedestrians voiced their support at Newcastle's city centre Jobcentre Plus - but there were not a few pursed lips also, as the scale of the struggle to come began to sink in and thoughts turned to how to pay bills, keep children clothed and cars running. Monday's rally in the centre of Newcastle allowed representatives from UNISON and the RMT to speak of their support also; some onlookers wondered what the fuss was, others nodded in approval as the civil servants held the line against the front men of the bankers.

Though PCS stands alone in this fight to defend public sector jobs for now, a new parliament will bring a fresh campaign from the political representatives of capital, which in its turn will bring a generalised struggle across the public sector. Until then, we ready ourselves for the next round of action and use a little less milk in our tea, turn the heating off a little earlier in the evening. We'll be doing this ever more as the fight intensifies, but we have no intention of backing down.

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