Thousands march in London to support workers’ rights

It’s been a year of high-profile anti-capitalist struggle across the western world with sit-ins, occupations, strikes and demonstrations grabbing the headlines. And to commemorate Labor Day, around 2,000 people marched through central London in solidarity with workers across the world. This year’s Labor Day comes at a very relevant time as the UK government is enacting harsh austerity measures which many feel are targeting the poor and ordinary workers. So the message from the marchers today is “no” to austerity and “no” to the coalition government. At a rally in Trafalgar Square, union leaders told the crowd that the government is ruling on behalf of rich elites at the expense of the poor. Just last week it was confirmed that Britain has slipped into a double-dip recession. The government says spending cuts are necessary to address the huge budget deficit and national debt, but critics say they’re just choking growth. Next week tens of thousands of civil servants, lecturers, health workers and other employees will take industrial action over the government's controversial public sector reforms. With the economy showing no signs of improving, Britain looks set for a prolonged period of industrial dispute.