Lois Austin of the Public and Commercial Services Union, second from right

TRADE unions and workers marched in their thousands through central London on Wednesday to celebrate May Day and in a mark of solidarity with people struggling at home and abroad.

May 1 is known as International Workers’ Day – and groups sang historic socialist anthems as they gathered at Clerkenwell Green before marching to Trafalgar Square.

Union heavyweights Mick Lynch, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) secretary-general, and Matt Wrack, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president were among the speakers.

Andy Bain, president of Islington Trades Union Council, said: “We have a lot to celebrate. There has been a real revival in people having the confidence to strike over the past couple of years. There has also been significant public support for strikes, a rising class consciousness. As well as celebrating trade unions in the UK, today is about internationalism and solidarity with people in struggle around the world.”

Sarah Friday, who chairs Camden Trades Council, said: “I think it’s the best day of the year because it’s the day where we celebrate socialist and trade union values. In Camden, the lack of affordable housing is a key issue for workers. Once upon a time most of the Camden workforce would be able to live in Camden, and that’s no longer the case. So many people have to commute miles into work.”

Many marchers voiced similar sentiments as well as desire to return transport to public hands, and the need to hold government to account on workers’ rights, regardless of which party is in power.

Mr Lynch told the New Journal: “Whether it’s this government or a Labour government, we have to keep campaigning.

Camden Trades Council treasurer Luke Howard and chairman Sarah Friday

“When we have a Labour government we need a stronger labour movement, not a weaker one. We’ve got to put this Labour government under a lot of pressure, politically, culturally, and through industrial action.”

Mr Lynch said that nationalising public transport must be a cornerstone of green policy for any future government.

He said: “We need a public transport system that is cheap, affordable, safe and accessible. We need policies that make people want to use public transport as a default, and that means putting transport into public hands.”

Labour pledged to bring rail contracts back into public ownership last week, although the full details on how easy the transfer will be has yet to be hammered out.

Lois Austin is the London and South East regional secretary for the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents around 180,000 civil servants.

She said: “Our rights have been eroded over many years by the Conservative government. Our members’ pay has been devalued by about 20 per cent since the financial crisis. We’ve got members working for the Department for Work and Pensions who have to claim the benefits they administer, so there’s real poverty among civil servants.”

Ms Austin added: “We need investment into green jobs and public transport, but the government needs to help people working in carbon-heavy industries to move into carbon-neutral employment.

“It can only be done with government intervention and planning. We always say you need to be red to be green, and you really do.”

Solidarity with migrant workers in the UK was another recurring message.

Khadija Najlaoui, a former domestic worker and Unite representative, who coordinates a migrant workers education programme, said: “Language can be a big barrier. When people come to the UK, they cannot fight for their rights if they don’t speak English, and if an employer knows they don’t speak English, it is easier for them to bully and exploit them.”

Ms Najlaoui learned English through the same Unite programme she now coordinates, having arrived in the UK in 2007 not knowing a word.

Members of the Filipino Domestic Workers Association (FDWA) also took part in the march, calling on the government to reinstate rights for migrant domestic workers that were revoked in 2012. Migrant domestic workers in the UK today do not have the right, for example, to change employers in cases of abuse.

FDWA chairman Cielo Tilan, who lives near Finchley Road, said: “Our members are survivors of modern slavery.
“Here in the UK there is no domestic work visa. Domestic work is not seen as work.”