As you may or may not know, local government workers are on strike this week. Obviously the world isn't going to stop and most likely you won't even notice. But hey! 500 or so people (mostly women: guess who are the less well paid?) turned up to demonstrate outside Torquay town hall to protest at the paltry 2.45% on offer (25 shillings for a loaf at the moment!). Me, Mel and Jus caught the train in, and while Jus went off to work out of my office (one of the benefits of working here is that your kids can get temporary work when they need it, in his case reviewing signs, and today, checking the bus companies are being their normal reliable selves, and being a student, he isn't in the Union), Mel and I joined the throng outside the town hall in the warm sunshine. If you are in the Union, you take the rough with the smooth, and strike when required.
The kids sat by the roadside to elicit toots from passing vehicles,
and when it was all over we strolled down to the harbourside for a very early lunch as the pub opened ("Perfect timing!" said Mel to the barman at 11.02. "Huh" said I. "11.00 would have been perfect timing")
In the afternoon, I paid a visit to my sadly neglected allotment (I have recieved the warning letter about neglect, but honestly, an allotment needs attention at least twice a week, time I have not had due to recent circumstances). I dug a section over (at this time of year!) and did some weeding
before settling down for a beer in the shade.
Tomorrow, the demonstration is on Paignton Green (it's a 2 day strike, and costing us real money), where a sandcastle competition is proposed.
11 comments:
Most days I get to drive past the Town Hall but today I seemed to be driving between SDC and Teignmouth so I couldn't add a blast from a Trident Hooter in your direction. Sorry.
Never been on strike but it sounds like fun, apart from not being paid
I want to ask Darling Alistair the thief of the government if they are going to vote to not have a huge pay increase this year....oh, I forgot, they NEED the money to do their job properly as opposed to the rest of the country who only need it to live.
Shall I bring a can of petrol and a box of mathes? Looks like your lottie needs a fresh start! ;-)
Have you written back to the council yet? Would be a good idea to, or at least phone them to let them know what's going on (but putting it in writing is better).
Hang on: if you're on strike shouldn't you be bulding a new patio?
2.45% is great compared to the 2% we're getting.
Go on strike, Rich
The driving instructors were on strike up here, but it benifited my friend no end when she showed up and they wouldn't do her exam. They're refunding her the test fee, the cost of her 2 hour driving lesson (that covers her getting to, from and during the test), AND any wages she lost by booking time off work. So she's not lost any money AND gained a free 2 hours lesson.
My Dad won't strike when the DWP do, we can't afford it. He's getting around 2% increase as well. Measley buggers.
Good on yer hutters...if nu labour get's up yer nose, picket...(seem to have heard that before somewhere in a class war far away)...
All the sanctimonious MPs making snide comments about the action need to consider leading by example ... taking a sub-inflation pay rise and giving up the John Lewes expenses (which often exceed what a family has to live on)...in the case of labour MPs they ought to be forced to resign as class traitors...
sorry about the grocers apostrophe - don't know where that came from!
Tut! Write out five hundred times: "I must not build (or photograph) sandcastles or go to the pub during strike action", and don't do it Jennings style (or was it Bunter?) by attaching ten pencils together.
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