Thousands of people, including UNISON members, took part in a trade union march and rally in Cheltenham on Saturday, protesting to protect the right to strike.
40 years ago, GCHQ workers were banned from joining a trade union. 27 years ago, they won back that right.
Today, the Conservative government is attempting to restrict the right to strike for over five million workers.
Last year, it introduced the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, which stipulates that when workers in certain sectors vote to take legal strike action, they could be forced back to work and sacked if they do not comply.
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea was among the speakers at the rally over the weekend. Last year, giving her opinion on the when the bill was announced, she said: “Draconian and undemocratic measures are about to be imposed by a government that has spent over a decade creating the situation we’re in now.
“High inflation, a pay crisis in our public sector, the NHS on its knees, and an economic outlook as grim as the constant sleaze that flows out of Whitehall. This bill will do nothing to change any of that, and we must be part of the campaign to defeat it.”
