The following message has been sent to Barnet trade unions - Unison, GMB, NUT, PCS and Barnt TUC -  on strike on Thursday.

Barnet Alliance for Public Services (BAPS) fully supports the strike by trade unions and public sector workers. The jobs you do are essential and it is important that they continue to be within the public sector. It is also essential that you are given a living wage, and terms and conditions that respect and protect your rights, including all those the trade unions have fought for and won over the decades.

Cuts to pay, no matter how disguised or rationalised, are forcing hard-working people into poverty, and are making it impossible to maintain the required level and quality of services, which has a negative effect on all of us.

The right to free association is a fundamental human right. Attacks on trades unions threaten all workers’ rights, status, and power over their own lives. They imperil the relationship between employers and employees, impede the smooth working of business and industry, and damage democracy. They must be opposed.

BAPS stands with the trade unions and their members in their protest against the actions of this Government and in their action to protect their members and our services.