Dave Prentis

Dave Prentis, General Secretary, vowed that the unions would smash the public sector pay freeze with UNISON leading the way.

Three years without a pay rise, most public service workers having to tighten their belts with escalating food and fuel bills, but one in four now struggling to survive, explained Dave, "This year pay will be our battleground."

Dave slammed the Government for its continued headlong attack on Public Services in spite of the Labour victories in local government elections on May 3 and the shift of public opinion away from the coalition's myths.

The Government continues to slash public sector jobs – 625 public service jobs have been lost a week since the coalition came to power.

"They hate the Welfare State and they are determined to destroy it."

Dave promised that UNISON would lead the fight to save the NHS - it had only just begun. The union will fight with its sister unions to stop this government from destroying the legacy for future generations that the labour movement had built up.

Dave warned Labour that it would not get the union's support unless they came up to the mark, "It was Labour who built the bridges for the Tories to march over - it was them who initiated the Public Finance Initiative and gave us the academy system. Promises to review the NHS reform are not good enough."

Dave congratulated Edinburgh on their privatisation victory and promised new resources for branches fighting privatisation and cuts. This would include a legal helpline.