Picket lines were in place at most of the Civil Service offices across the City and in excess of 100 people from various trade unions took part in the march from Moorfoot to a rally outside the Town Hall, where speakers called for a general strike across the whole of the public sector to prevent the appalling attacks on the Civil Service, Health, Education, and many other local services, such as ESOL, demonstrating the Governments ongoing policy of slavishly obeying the Daily Mail and Sun newspaper [sic] agenda of blaming and cutting vital public services for the most vulnerable in society!

Notably none of the candidates for the local elections for the three main (identical) parties in the forthcoming Council elections took up the invite from the Sheffield Trades Council to speak at the event, demonstrating that not only do their policies not represent the working class, but their own candidates do not feel able to defend their policies.

Full support was given from the Green party and RESPECT, with the Socialist party candidate unable to return from his own picket line in time to offer his support in person.

Overall, a successful start to Mayday which demonstrated an urgent need to bring back real political representation to the people who deserve properly resourced public services, and time for the all the Trade Union leaders to stop stuffing their members money into the pockets of Labour’s big business cronies and follow the lead set by those like the PCS and leading a fight back of the working class, starting with a call for a general strike across every part of the public sector to demand an end to the systematic destruction of the Welfare state.