The National Shop Stewards Network on the 26th March TUC Demonstration

Hundreds of NSSN supporters worked to promote the Network on the TUC March 26th demonstration against the cuts.  Some 40,000 high quality postcards were distributed explaining the NSSN's main demand that, following the success of the huge march, the TUC should step up the pressure on the Government by bringing together public sector and private sector workers in a 24-hour general strike to stop cuts and defend pensions.

This demand was warmly received by thousands of marchers who recognised that, in the weeks and months ahead, almost every sector represented on the march would face a battle to defend jobs and services, oppose wage freezes at a time of rocketing inflation, or to fight against Government plans to make us all work longer, contribute more, and receive less in our pensions.

It makes sense to the whole rank-and-file that, instead of those battles being kept separate, trade union leaders should coordinate their action and unify the struggles by setting the same date for a national, weekday, strike.  We now need to make trade union leaders see sense as well.

This theme was further explained at the rolling meeting the NSSN held at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park.  The TUC had decided that, of all its platform speakers, only the 10 largest unions would be represented.  That meant some of the most active and militant trade unions, such as the RMT, would be excluded.

The NSSN, therefore, built a platform and organised a speaker system to allow a range of speakers to address thousands of marchers as they passed Speakers' Corner.  Such was the size of the demonstration, however, that some of the scheduled speakers didn't arrive in Hyde Park until, unfortunately, the meeting at Speakers' Corner had finished.  That included Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the FBU, and Alex Gordon, President of the RMT.

A range of speakers volunteered on the day and contributed to a lively meeting, including Keith Gibson (GMB) one of the leaders of the current battle against the lockout of construction workers at Saltend, seeking to defend the Blue Book Agreement; Terry Pearce (Unite) of the Bracknell anticuts campaign; Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the Socialist Party; and Cllr Dave Nellist, of the NSSN anticuts campaign steering committee.

Hundreds of names and addresses were collected during the day, and a number of people signed and paid up to join the campaign.

The Network grew stronger on March 26th, and will now be even better known by active members in a range of trade unions across the country.