Unite members have raised over £20,000 in under a week in support of the campaign to defend jobs being led by 50 members of the union employed by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) and who work at Bromley’s libraries.
Continuous strike
The workers have been on continuous strike since Thursday 6 June. They recently renewed their strike mandate and began the latest continuous strike action on Monday 25 November.
Once Unite members became aware that the strikers had voted again to renew the strike mandate a fund raising exercise was organised.
Donations far and wide
Unite branches from Scotland to Gibraltar and many places in between made donations and over £20,000 was raised for the campaign.
The strike is as a result of the plans by GLL, which claims to be a social enterprise, to slash staffing levels by 35 per cent making it impossible for the council’s 14 libraries to remain fully functioning.
Huge generosity
Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said: “The generosity of Unite branches across the UK, has greatly helped to show GLL that this is a campaign supported by people across the UK and has given our members a huge morale boost as well.
“GLL need to understand that the strength and conviction of our members is undiminished and strikes will continue until GLL provides cast iron assurances that they will not slash jobs.
“Our members fundamentally believe that libraries improve people’s lives and that GLL’s current plans will destroy the ethos of the service.
“Unite believes that this dispute can be resolved if GLL is prepared to enter into honest negotiations. Unite’s door is very much open to allow such talks to occur.”