Against low pay, Thursday 17 July, Manchester

The UNITE pickets at the Grimshaw Lane depot show no signs of being put off by the relentless rain. Half a dozen are there before I arrive at 6.45 with more than that to come.

I greet Jimmy Thornton and Raule Burke, Manchester City Council UNITE branch officers, introduce me to everyone and explain the role of the Trades Council and the rally against low pay we are organising at noon in the city centre. I'm helped to put up the very soggy banner.

The conversation is lively and bitter about the council, job evaluation, managers, contracting out, the use of agency staff and those unions that haven't balloted to get their members out. The need for a proper pay rise is put repeatedly. People are surviving doing extra hours. The flexibility clause that softens the pay cut brought by job evaluation is contracted to the management getting paid overtime for working the evening hours worked at normal time under the flexible working clause.

Tea at 20p a cup and free toast is supplied by the cafe up the road. I ask for a photo with the banner and everyone comes together, despite the rain.

There is also a lot of politics. My favorite argument for socialism - "If all the management disappeared, could you possibly make a bigger mess of things than they are already?" goes down well. The argument "We have to do it ourselves" is put by someone else. The point that gets across best, perhaps, is that yesterday and today’s strike action is like a boxer who has being lying in bed for a year getting up for the first time: he isn’t in good shape but there is no reason why the two day’s of strike won’t help a lot to make up for years of inactivity

I leave for a meeting at the MMU Didsbury campus and having parked, stop to chat to pickets outside Fletcher Moss Park, again undeterred by the rain.

Dashing to the Peace Gardens to help set up the PA, everyone turns up on time and just after twelve we kick off with Jimmy Thornton speaking for the UNITE membership in Manchester City Council, followed by Chris Chorlton from the PCS NEC and Lawrence Chapple-Gill, UNITE regional official. Kieron Lennon, UCU City College, Kevin Brown, FBU regional secretary I speaking with characteristic bluntness - is followed by Chris Morley, NUJ regional official. I read a short message fro the UNITE members at Initial cleaners at Manchester Airport who have just won an extra 1.5% having had a successful ballot for strike action following an imposed 2% pay rise. Then Bartley Willcock, Manchester TUC Pensioners and finishing with Daniel Murphy, UNITE voluntary sector branch.

Pretty well everyone is short and to the point so that none of the crowd of 120 or so feel that they are being taken advantage of as the rain continues to pour solidly and by 12.45 we can thank everyone for their attendance. The rally has displayed common purpose across public and private sectors, unity and solidarity.

We can look forward to further action against the government’s pay freeze and private employers following suit.