#£10 now Campaign by GMB union
GMB Trade Union North West & Irish members and young members demonstrated yesterday in Bolton and Manchester calling on big brands like M&S, Burger King and Starbucks to ensure 9,300 franchise outlet workers are paid a real living wage of £10 per hour and are protected from bad employment terms and conditions provided by outlets operator SSP such as zero-hours contracts and bullying managers.
The demonstrations, as part of a national GMB union day of action across UK cities, was in solidarity with our sister union in the United States SEIU who took part in record fast food workers strikes across 270 US cities calling for a $15 per hour minimum wage.
GMB trade union members in Bolton turned up the heat on M&S with a demonstration outside its store on Deansgate, which was well received by members of the public. Members in Manchester made plenty of noise outside M&S, Burger King and Starbucks, handing out 300 leaflets and speaking to many members of the public about the campaign and its issues.
Commenting on the response from the public, GMB young member Ross Holden said:
“The overall response from the public has been fantastic. We had 300 leaflets explaining the issue of low pay and bad employment terms and conditions at SSP franchise outlets and why we were calling on big brands to step in to stop it happening – they were all handed out by the end of the demonstration. Many members of the public stopped to chat to us, often saying that they experience the same problems in their own workplaces but did not know that there were people taking action on these issues – some even wanted to join the GMB trade union there and then!”
Members in Manchester were very grateful to have members from the Bakers’ union BFAWU and global union IWW demonstrating side-by-side in solidarity and look forward to working together with them again on the #£10NOW campaign in the future.
If you would like any more information on #£10NOW and GMB union North West & Irish Region’s campaigning activities please email our Regional Political Officer Neil.Smith@gmb.org.uk or alternatively email info@gmb.org.uk with the subject line ‘GMB union SSP Campaign.’
