Stroud and District Trades Council held their May Day Rally in Bank Gardens, Stroud, on Saturday.
Trades Council media officer Andy Woolley told Stroud Times: “This is our second year running and it’s slightly bigger and we’re hoping to grow it in future years.
“What we’re trying to do is to celebrate what trade unions do and bring it to the attention of people in in Stroud, and to talk about people who are having difficulty at work.
“We’ve had speakers here from the phlebotomists and teachers, and from the National Education Union, people talking about the problems at their workplaces. We opened it up to a number of community groups who are speaking as well.”
Amongst the speakers were Caroline Hayhurst, one of the phlebotomists from UNISON who are on strike in Gloucester hospitals, a teacher member of the National Education Union who was a delegate to the recent annual conference, Rachel Beaney the Regional Secretary of PCS union, local historian Stuart Butler who is the organiser of the forthcoming Stroud Chartist Festival, Robin Layfield representing Stroud Palestine Solidarity Campaign, one of the UNITE bin workers on strike in Birmingham, Ian Trehearne from the Communication Workers Union, Steve Hunter representing Unite Retired Members, Ben Histon a Unite Representative from Walls factory in Gloucester and a representative of Stroud Against Racism.
Stroud MP, Dr Simon Opher, spoke about ‘the need to learn the lessons of this week’s vote and returning to our Labour roots.’ He also highlighted the need to improve living standards; tackle poverty and inequality; protect employment rights; act on climate change and focus on community.
A procession, headed by Stroud Red Band, and including trades union banners and flags, did two laps of the town centre before returning to the park.
“The idea of the procession is to both entertain people and to tell them about May Day. We’ve handed out leaflets beforehand to explain why we do it, and we hope it’ll show people a very positive side of trade unions,” added Mr Woolley.
Pictures by Matt Bigwood
