Enough is Enough! National Day of Action Protest in Leeds
On the 1st of October, protesters nationwide braved the rain and took to the streets in a day of action organised by the Enough is Enough campaign to challenge the growing Cost of Living Crisis. The rally marched from the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ (RMT) picket line at Leeds Train Station on to protest outside the British Gas offices. Later, protestors moved on to support the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) picket down at the Royal Mail Holbeck delivery office. The protest made a clear point of showing the interconnectedness of industrial action and the Cost of Living Crisis, as well as the failures of national leadership.
Outside the British Gas offices in Holbeck protestors symbolically burned energy bills, energy company logos and fake money. During their speeches, union representatives and protestors denounced profiteering by energy, rail and postal companies amid record profits. The Regional Coordinator for the campaign described the volumes of people they’d met struggling to meet their bills and put food on the table despite working 60-hour weeks. As energy companies continue to see high profits and shareholders rake in enormous bonuses, the Coordinator saw the causes of the Cost of Living Crisis as very simple: “It’s just putting profit above everything else isn’t it – it’s just greed.”
Embodying its name – Enough is Enough – the atmosphere was one of a shift away from complacency toward taking action after having put up with far too much. Saturday’s protest brought together a variety of people of different ages from different backgrounds to challenge the status quo and fight for a better standard of living. One protester discussed how they hadn’t protested other issues they felt strongly about – such as Brexit – but that things had got so bad that they had no choice but to come out into the street. They described how the looming presence of the Cost of Living Crisis had become unavoidable and everyone had been affected by it – they themself having to seriously re-evaluate their bills and cutting back on their spending. They felt shocked, coming from a line of union activists from the 1926 General Strike to Yorkshire miners in the 1980s, that today things would still be this bad.
Strikers on picket lines at both the train station and delivery office were met with an outpouring of support and solidarity from protestors who came to lend their numbers to the picket and hear their grievances. At the delivery office in “Hellbeck” – so-called by Royal Mail management due to their total unionisation and refusal to let slack on the protection of their fellow workers – picketers were cheered by the crowd in support of their fight for an inflation-line pay-rise and the continuation of their worker protections. This was emblematic of the nationwide wave of industrial action set to continue throughout the winter. The increased rate of striking and worker militancy, especially in the face of government threats against union organisation has been clearly and deliberately linked to the fight against the Cost of Living Crisis by this protest, with great support from its attendees. A regular chant from protestors throughout the rally was “Every Strike, Every Time, We’ll be on the Picket Line!”
Saturday’s protest emphasised the importance of solidarity and mutual support in the face of the growing crisis and its turnout across the country highlights the growth of discontent that only seems to be growing as we head into what will certainly be a difficult winter.
Image Credit: Gabriel Kennedy