Trade unionists from the UK joined union members from across Europe in Brussels on 29 September to take part in a No to Austerity march and rally organised by the European TUC to protest at the huge cuts in public spending taking place across the continent.
An estimated hundred thousand marchers sent a strong message to European heads of government that jobs and growth - not cuts and austerity - had to be the priority. To coincide with the ETUC march, Spanish unions went on strike in protest at cuts introduced by their government, and there were anti-cuts demonstrations in Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Ireland and France.
The ETUC march and rally was one of the first events to take place after the launch of the TUC's All Together for Public Services campaign at Congress. Unions in towns and cities across the UK - including Nottingham, Newcastle, Leeds and Belfast - used the occasion to raise awareness of the impact the cuts will have on their communities.
On Tuesday 19 October - the eve of the Comprehensive Spending Review - the TUC will be holding a rally in Central Hall, Westminster followed by a mass lobby of Parliament in protest at the scale of the cuts planned. The rally will start at 12.30pm and will be opened by TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.
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