On 30 April 2022 from 12:00 to 14:00, David Bales (PCS) and John Partington (TSSA) represented Reading Trades Union Council at the Oxford May Day march and rally.
The march commenced in New Inn Hall Street and ended at Manzil Way, Cowley Road. It was supported by representatives from Oxford & District Trades Union Council (which organised the event), the Communication Workers' Union, the National Education Union, the National Union of Journalists, the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition, Unite the Union, the University & College Union, the Communist Party of Britain, the International Brigades Memorial Committee, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Reading Socialist Club, the Socialist Alliance and Socialist Appeal.
Speakers included Cllr Cassi Perry of ODTUC speaking on Just Transition, Cllr Jabu Nala-Hartley of the Oxford Living Wage Campaign, as well as a member of Oxford Brookes UCU Branch on the long campaign of strike action defending pensions and opposing further casualisation in the further education sector.
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| David Bales (centre, PCS) of RTUC |
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| John Partington (right, TSSA) of RTUC with Kathy McCubbing of Reading Socialist Club |
Following the May Day march and rally, John Partington (TSSA) represented RTUC on the Oxford Palestine Solidarity Campaign march from Manzil Way, partaking in a sit-down protest on High Street at Carfax Tower before ending with a rally and speakers in Bonn Square. The marchers were in full voice the whole route, condemning Israeli apartheid, occupation and military action in the Palestinian lands.
The day of protest came to an end at 15:30, demonstrating a firm solidarity between comrades from different trade unions and other organisations, and from locations as diverse as Reading, Oxford, Swindon and North Wales.
