Strikers enjoy public and VIP support

JOHN “NO MATES” BIGGS is becoming increasingly isolated as he tries to justify imposing new, worse terms and conditions on the Council workforce – despite trade union members voting consistently against the changes.

While Councillors are not queueing up to support Executive Mayor John Biggs in public, well known members of the labour movement are queueing up to support the Council workforce as the story of Tower Rewards spreads around the country.

The latest edition of Tower Power, the newsletter of the Tower Hamlets Town Hall Unison branch, quotes Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis, who criticises the Executive Mayor and Council. With 1.3 million members in public services – workers who are called “heroes” everywhere in the UK except Tower Hamlets – Prentis clearly wants to guard against other councils following the Tower Hamlets lead and making workers pay for post-lockdown budget gaps. Also speaking up for the Tower Hamlets Council workers’ cause are Baroness Shami Chakrabarti and Diane Abbott, MP for neighbouring Hackney North & Stoke Newington.

Tower Power shows happy and strong workers on picket lines – cheered by the constant support from passing vehicles and members of the public. Last time he was the Leader of the Council, Biggs found his support ebbing away and within months he was removed from the leadership by his own Councillors. With the Executive Mayor system not allowing councillors or voters to remove an incumbent, the only option for increasingly worried Labour Councillors – if they are to extricate their Party from this mess – is to persuade their Executive Mayor to back down.

●Read more about Tower Rewards:
Tower Rewards

●Read more about the Biggs Administration:
Executive Mayor John Biggs