The RMT’s Mick Lynch

TRADE unionists warned against division in the campaign to secure a better deal for low-paid workers.

The Islington Solidarity group organised a public meeting on Monday evening which saw contributions from a host of union leaders and campaigners.

“The enemy doesn’t arrive by small boats on the English Channel, the enemy arrives by limousine – that’s who our real enemy is,” said Jo Cardwell, a member of UNISON Islington.

“Every single picket line you go onto, every workforce you go into, it is a diverse workforce. That is who actually makes up our communities – we’re black, white, Jewish, gay, straight LGBTQ+, and we’re proud of it, because that’s who we are.”

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport workers), championed a move to “get past this history the movement is riddled with”, referring to the trade unionist movement’s historic lack of diversity, and include “the people that are struggling to have their identity acknowledged, the people that are suffering from racial oppression, and the feminist people in our society that are looking to get equality”.

He added: “I’m glad to report that the movement is starting to come back from the right place, from the grassroots, from the workers themselves, and from the progressive people in our society.”

Kevin Courtney

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn said: “This is a fight about wages, about conditions, about respect, but it’s also about inspiring people who work at Starbucks, who work at Amazon, and so many ­others who we need to bring into union membership.”

Ellen Grogan, a member of the Royal College of Nursing, said that it was “clearly a political decision on behalf of the government” not to negotiate adequately with unions.

“It’s clear to the dogs in the street that they want the opportunity to sell the NHS off in juicy contracts and make more money for their cronies to line their own pockets,” she said.

The anti-strike “minimum service levels” bill was also on the agenda.

Kevin Courtney, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “They want to have a minimum service level on strike days. And they say that if we don’t provide the minimum service, if we don’t force members who’ve voted for strike action to go to work, then they will fine the union and sack the workers.

“But, I want to say to them, what about having a minimum service on non-strike days? Why don’t we have a situation where GCSE chemistry classes actually have a chemistry teacher? Why don’t we have a situation where primary classrooms have a permanent teacher instead of a succession of temporary teachers?”

He added: “I say it’s not about sacking the workers and fining the unions, it’s about sacking the government.”