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By David Nicholson
HUNDREDS of union members and community campaigners crowded into a cost-of-living crisis rally in Cardiff on Thursday to build support for a health service strike ballot.
The event, organised by the Wales TUC and Unison Cymru, came after a shocking survey showed hundreds of public-sector workers in Wales have pawned possessions to survive and more than 1,000 have gone without meals.
Unison Cymru regional secretary Dominic MacAskill said: “The threat of homelessness, hunger and in-work poverty is now an everyday reality for public service workers and their families in Wales.
“The very workers who kept our country running throughout the pandemic now face choosing to heat or eat this winter.
“Unison is calling on health workers across Wales to back our ballot for industrial action following the latest pay review body award imposed by the Welsh government.
“Through October and November, Unison will be balloting hundreds of thousands of NHS workers.
“Taking strike action is the only option our members have to improve their pay.”
Wales TUC general secretary Shavanah Taj pledged support and solidarity to all workers taking strike action in Wales and those balloting for action.
She said: “You will win your strike ballot. Talk to people and inspire them to join a union and take strike action.”
Socialist Campaign Group MP Beth Winter gave an impassioned rallying call for striking workers to help mobilise within their communities to build a resistance to Tory cuts in Wales.
“This government has launched a class war and we need to fight back,” she said.
“We need the Welsh government to fight Whitehall for fairer funding to pay better and Mark Drakeford has demanded a meeting with the Chancellor to discuss pay.
“We need to get organised in the way we used to be, with unions and communities coming together to organise, campaign and fight for each other.”
RMT Wales regional organiser Brendan Kelly received a rapturous reception when he brought a message of solidarity from striking railway workers.
“The working class is back and we are not humble and meek and we demand decent pay.”
He also recalled that the late RMT leader Bob Crow had once quipped: “We have six million people in unions and if we all spat together, we can drown the bastards.”
