Lecturers to join council worker protest on Thursday

Striking lecturers from Southampton University, Solent University and City College will join hundreds of council workers in a march and rally in central Southampton this Thursday (March 24), starting from 12.30pm in Hoglands Park.

Lecturers — members of the University and Colleges Union — are taking part in a national strike over pay and pensions.  Council workers who are members of the Unison and Unite unions say they’re “protesting over the Conservative-controlled council’s decision to implement pay cuts by dismissing the whole workforce and re-employing them on worse working conditions”.

Unison and Unite will, this week, lodge a complaint at the Southampton Employment Tribunal against Southampton City Council for failing to consult on the mass dismissal of staff.  If successful, they say the council could be fined up to three months pay for each employee — amounting to some Ł10 million.

Titanic museum
“Hundreds of Council workers will demonstrate on Thursday their continued opposition to the savage pay cuts the Conservative controlled Council is imposing.  Ordinary Council workers will be telling the Conservatives that they will not accept pay cuts while the Conservatives spend millions on pensioner Council Tax discounts, a Council Tax freeze and a Titanic museum which the Council is paying for but will hand over to a private company when it is built,” said Unison Branch Secretary, Mike Tucker.

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