Unison leader announces major campaign challenging government’s record on public sector pay

Exclusive: Christina McAnea criticises Labour, calling for ‘strong opposition’, and says Westminster has ‘abandoned’ workers, reports James Moore

Ms McAnea says she feels public sector workers are ‘exhausted’ (Unison)

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea has urged Labour to up its game on workers’ rights as she prepares to launch a major campaign targeting the government’s record on public sector pay.

Ms McAnea, who this year became the first female boss of the UK’s biggest union, said she believed no party was taking the issue sufficiently seriously in the wake of TUC figures showing one in four workers have seen their terms and conditions reduced during the pandemic, which has seen a parallel epidemic of fire-and-rehire tactics alongside the continuing blight of zero-hours contracts.

In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Ms McAnea said she felt workers had been “abandoned” by Westminster, and urged the opposition to exploit what she termed a “wedge” issue.