3 December 2020 Frances O'Grady My impression is that most women public service workers have a long fuse. Precisely because they care so deeply about services, more than anyone, they still want to find a sensible and fair negotiated agreement. But their patience has run out.
3 December 2020 Frances O'Grady I cherish the creation of public space and services, especially health, housing and the comprehensive education system which dared to give so many of us ideas ‘above our station.’
3 December 2020 Frances O'Grady I want a society that provides decent jobs for those who can work and decent security for those can’t.
3 December 2020 Frances O'Grady It is not natural or inevitable that half the world goes hungry that the freedom of markets trumps protection of the planet or that citizens’ rights come second to those of corporations.
3 December 2020 Frances O'Grady The TUC’s new slogan ‘a future that works’ sets a profound challenge. Austerity and rapid deficit reduction is failing in its own terms, but even at its best it is short-sighted, muddle-through politics with no vision of a new economic model.
3 December 2020 Frances O'Grady When I look at my daughter, who’s 24, she is much more confident than I ever was and her expectations are higher. But I worry that there is a backlash brewing against progress on equality.
3 December 2020 Frances O'Grady As long as the number one worry for people, keeping them up at nights, is whether they’re going to have a job in the morning, then they are less likely to resist unfair changes, or unfair treatment, or cuts in real pay at work.
3 December 2020 Frances O'Grady I came from a family where joining a union was the expected thing to do. I’ve always believed that the relationship between an employer and an individual worker is fundamentally unequal.
