Yet none of these changes made any difference to the real problems Britain faces but for which we are still scapegoated for; the relative, long term, economic weaknesses of British capitalism.

We should make demands on the employer for a trail of a 4-day week with no loss in pay, employing evidence from similar trials and the ever-growing number of academic papers conducted on the subject.

This means undertaking the fundamental work to properly map out these constituencies and where they intersect, in order to identify new workplace leaders and collective issues that we can tackle through members standing together on the shop floor.

As trade unionists and socialists, we believe that an injury to one is an injury to all. An attack on one equality area is an attack on equality itself and will harm our members inside and out of the workplace. We must be proactive and unapologetic in speaking up against them in all circumstances

Then when it suited them, LU, discovered that the “key point” is not that the remit is “derisory” but that 4.5% plus 0.5% “is more than double [the Government’s] originally intended figure of 2%”. Join us for a union that doesn’t spin when it suits: pcsindependentleft.com/join-us/

On the face of it, they ignored this problem for a long time. LU hope that the national talks might solve this system wide problem but that requires extra funding. Following the budget, do you think we will get that extra cash by just asking for it?

Now is the time to correct past mistakes. The upcoming statutory ballot is the opportunity to show our strength. Vote YES for strike action, recruit your colleagues, and demand a new direction on pay, hybrid working, and jobs.

We in the Independent Left believe the only way to escape the trap of being a minority union is to stop fearing the 50% threshold and start organising with the aggression and member-led focus required to smash through it.

By deliberately conducting an unserious campaign and then claiming members weren’t ‘ballot-ready,’ Left Unity manufactured the outcome they wanted: an excuse to avoid industrial action.

The only way to build a fighting union is to actively campaign, give members a clear objective, and work towards a national ballot. We must take risks—failure is better than doing nothing, provided we learn from any failures.