As some of the largest scale public sector strikes in a generation struck Britain on Wednesday, Oxford’s streets were filled with demonstrators, who marched through the city centre to protest the government’s proposed changes to public sector pensions.
Starting at Magdalen Roundabout and marching down the high street, the march – which was organised by the Oxford and District Trades Union Council and numbered several thousand people – had reached Broad Street by 3.30pm. Traffic was held up but there was no major disturbance.
Protesters included representatives from education, the NHS and the civil service. They used slogans such as, “Cuts! Job losses! Money for the bosses!” Unions such as Unite and the NUT were out in force, with a number of students providing support.
While the march itself was against the government’s cuts to public sector pensions, the placards on display indicated a wide range of grievances. Some called for revolution and the overthrow of the government; some were against public sector pension cuts and the rising retirement age; some were anti-tuition fees. Others were more light-hearted, with one reading, “I was told there would be biscuits.”
Security was tight across Oxford in the run-up to the march, with staff checking Bod cards on the way into libraries and the exam schools. There was an active police presence throughout the day, but the march was an orderly affair with no violence.
The public sector workers involved in the rally were clear about their reasons for going on strike. Clive Scoggins is Negotiations Officer at Prospect, a union which has recently voted for industrial action for the first time. He told Cherwell, “Most of our members in Prospect are moderate, they’re inaudible, they don’t take industrial action lightly. They feel they’ve been driven to this because of the lack of real negotaiation with the government with these changes.”
Van Coulter, a member of Oxford City Council, said, “I’m here primarily because the cuts are so unfair. They’re taking a greater proportion of the income of the poor than they do for the rich. It’s quite unjust that poor people who are sick, vulnerable, retired – that they’re being asked to pay more value added tax on a smaller income and if they had any savings they’re getting a pittance for those savings.”
Julian Hill, RCN Officer at the Royal College of Nursing, added, “It’s going to be a long hard slog, but if we don’t protest, the government will just keep doing whatever it wants.”
Most protesters agreed that the day had been a success. Liz Peretz, who works for the campaign “Keep our NHS Public”, called the event “The best rally we’ve ever had in Oxford” and added, “We’ve seen lots of students who are really supportive.” Peretz claimed that the workers on strike enjoy wide support in Oxford, saying, “For every one person who’s here today, there’ll be another ten who aren’t here, but who are with us in spirit.”
Roy Bentley, from the University and College Union, called the event “incredibly successful”, and expressed the hope that rallies like the one in Oxford today will have an effect on the government’s policy. He said, “The government would be foolish to ignore today. What we’re asking them to do is to reconsider their policy. Our pensions are affordable, but they are trying to take them away to solve the deficit.”
Students who witnessed the rally were largely supportive of the demonstrators’ cause. Nathan Akehurst, a fresher at Lincoln, said, “I’m here today in support of a strike against the unfair pension system. The fact is that the pension scheme’s actually in surplus, and still we’re expecting workers to work more, pay more and get less at the end of it, and that’s not the sort of society I want to grow up in.”
Matt Myers, a Wadham PPE fresher who woke up at 6am to go to the pickets at Churchill Hospital and stayed with the protesters for the duration of Wednesday’s events, said, “The strike today by 2.5 million workers has shown the government that the power of the organized working class has not been destroyed”.
Myers also praised student involvement in the rally, saying, “Today the student presence on the demonstration showed the government that we will not be divided, we will fight together, and we will win together.”
Leo Topp, a second-year classicist present at the rally in Broad Street in the afternoon, took a similarly positive view of the day’s events. He said, “It was inspiring to see so many people willing to come out in protest rather than just accept changes which damage their lives.”
Not all students were wholly convinced by the demonstration, however. Felix Neate, a second-year English student at Corpus Christi, said he sympathised with the strikers’ cause, but suggested that some of the demonstrators were too lighthearted in their approach to the day’s events, telling Cherwell, “They looked like they were having too much fun for people who were actually unhappy.”
