The unions need to take the public with them on their quest and postpone their industrial action until next year, says Bev Turner

We’ve just lived through the biggest transfer of wealth in history with 24 people becoming billionaires in the UK during the Covid pandemic. And, believe it or not, not all of them were mates with MPs.

But couple that galling fact with the sense of powerlessness created by the government repeatedly moving the covid goalposts, leaving us uncertain, undermined and a feeling of being trapped.

Nurses and Paramedics were applauded but given no tangible appreciation for their efforts. Soaring prices due to successive government’s inability to forward plan any sort of fuel security - plus some businesses clearly just taking advantage of this excuse – and people feel skint.

Then throw in the trade unions, major-labour donors who see the Conservatives bombing in the polls and decide to twist the knife.

So psychologically, financially and strategically, this is the perfect storm for a winter of strikes. And many of us can empathise with the frustrations of frontline workers, as former police officer Maggie Oliver said on this show yesterday, in a reluctant defence of the workers, if not now, when?

But with Christmas round the corner and freezing weather - which has already caused its fair share of tragedy - more accidents will happen. The elderly will avoid going outside for a few days then pop to the shops for milk and slip on the ice. Cars will come off roads, drunken Christmas revellers will fall asleep on pavements.

Tis the season to be careful. But this year, with nurses and paramedics set to strike and – perhaps even more cruelly – RMT workers depriving people of the freedom to travel to see loved ones over Christmas, I think the unions MUST postpone their industrial action until the new year. They need to take the public with them on their quest, play the long game for proper change in their industries, seek results which will see workers respected as well as remunerated.

And for that they need all our backing!