The election gives us a chance to protect our services, jobs and well-being  

On Friday 28 April, people across the region and country will come together to mark Workers’ Memorial Day.  This is always an important and moving day where we reflect on the lives lost and damaged by unsafe working conditions.  Full details of events taking place on Friday in the North West are available here. 

For workers delivering public services, we may not feel as vulnerable to the dangers of sudden and tragic accidents at work that are all-too-common in industries such as construction and manufacturing.  But it is right to reflect on the impact that our work and employment conditions have on our own health, safety and well-being.  

Public service workers have faced sustained attacks under Conservative-led governments since 2010.  Years of pay caps and freezes have increased the pressure on our household finances – increasing the stress of money worries at home.  Cuts to staffing levels increase our workloads and make us feel vulnerable to losing our own jobs.  Cuts to the time and resources we have available for us to do our jobs can worsen the quality of services we can provide – which is demoralising for us and can provoke anger and even violence from members of the public. 

The stresses of cuts, low pay, overwork, and job insecurity are all growing – and they are felt by public service workers every day.  The single best thing we could do for the health, safety and general well-being of working people is to vote out the Tories on June 8^th.