The Workers are a group of individuals working in different public services around the country. They came together to record this song in solidarity with colleagues taking part in the Day of Action for Pensions Justice on 30 November.
The Workers are hoping to raise awareness of the campaign for a fair deal on pensions for public service staff, and you can help them doing this by downloading the single when it’s released on 20 November, and spreading their message of solidarity to friends and colleagues.
The Workers are:
Alyson
Alyson Ottaway is a nurse from Exeter in Devon, now working on the neonatal intensive care ward at Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital in Westminster. She has performed in musicals and sings with a big band in Archway.
“A fair pension is important to me. It is part of the contract that I signed up for and the government should stick to that, and shouldn’t be moving the goal posts now. Having a decent pension goes some way towards compensating for the lower pay, longer hours and more stressful nature of my job.”
Anita
Anita Marshall a Midwife (Clinical Educator) from Leeds. She started singing in the Leeds Girls Choir and has been in various bands, from an 80’s pop/synth medical band “Alternative Medicine” (Anita and three doctors) to the more recent “The Anita Maric Jazz Band.”
“Let’s all work together in negotiation to achieve a mutual agreement.”
Malkit
Malkit Tung lives in Birmingham, where he is a clinical engineer. Malkit has been singing since childhood with his brother and sister at his local Sikh Temple. Over the past several years he has received formal Indian vocal training and he has been learning to play the harmonium.
“It was great a great privilege to participate in the Let’s Work Together project and I am absolutely certain that this song will be a great success!”
Margaret
Margaret Greer is a social worker from Enfield, London.
She has previously sung at weddings, conferences, functions and auditioned for the x factor.
“If we don’t take action we are walking blindly into poverty. Every worker should be striking as our future – and the future of young people – depend on it.”
Mike
Michael Pearson is a physiotherapist at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. He has previously sung in a charity fundraising group and for amateur drama societies in musicals and pantomimes, including Nottingham Arts Theatre’s upcoming Aladdin.
“The NHS pension scheme is not gold-plated and we are not getting huge payouts from it. Leave hardworking public sector workers alone and target those bankers causing the problems.”
Michelle
Michelle Daley is a probation officer from York, and sings the lead female vocals on the track. Michelle joined her first band at 15 and her most recent band ‘The Goosehorns’ have been together for 17 years.
“I look forward to being part of an event that hopefully will force the government to sit up and listen.”
Polly
Polly Penter lives in London but is originally from Bradford. She is an international student adviser at King’s College London. As a teenager, Polly sang with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and now enjoys dabbling in folk music.
Polly message ahead of the Day of Action on 30 November: “Buy the record”
Robb
Robb Johnson has lived in Hove since 2006, after spending most of his life in Hounslow, West London. Robb is a reception class teacher. He is a songwriter and singer, and runs an independent record label called Irregular Records.
“I believe fair pensions for all should be a right, not a privilege. Society should exist to meet the needs of all its members, not just to gratify the needs of a greedy few at the top.”
Rosie
Rosie Gosden is a 52-year-old midwife from Harrow in North London, working at Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital in Westminster. Rosie has always enjoyed singing and used to be in her church choir. She also plays the guitar.
“As public sector workers, we dedicate our working lives to providing an excellent service to the people we look after. Everyone deserves to have a fair pension to help us to support ourselves when we reach the end of our working lives.”
Steve
Steve White is from London, and is a Fire Brigades Union official. He sings in his own band Steve White & The Protest Family.
“My pension is my deferred earnings, my payback for a career in public service, and I pay for it three times over. I pay my pension contributions, pay tax on my income, which supports my employer’s contribution, and I’ll pay tax on my pension income when I retire. It’s not unreasonable to expect a fair pension on that basis.”
Tania
Tania Bassett is a probation officer from Worcester.
Tania performed in musical theatre as a child and has occasionally sung in pubs.
“Vote yes to fair pensions for everyone.”
Tim
Tim Wilson is from Gateshead but currently lives in London and works around the country in the probation service. Tim, who has sung in bands and choirs all his life, is chair of Napo – the Probation and Family Court Union.
“Union members should unite to fight for your pensions rights. Don’t be fooled by government lies and divisiveness!”
Veronica
Veronica Martell was born in Ramsgate, and now lives in Stratford, East London. She is a civil servant, working in London.
Veronica sings in a ska/jazz band, The Skamonics, as well as an a cappella group.
“We should have fair pensions for everyone wherever they work, private or public sector.”
Viv
Viv Gosden is a student midwife from Harrow, working at Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital in Westminster. Viv has always sung in choirs, and was a choral scholar at St Peter Mancroft, Norwich.
“As health care professionals we spend our time caring and being advocates for others. As I am at the very beginning of my career in the NHS, I realise that we also need to be advocates for ourselves. I hope that people will understand our point of view and support us in what we believe to be the right choice.”
Producers: Jeff Chegwin and Nick Patrick
The record is the brainchild of Jeff Chegwin and Nick Patrick. Jeff approached the TUC with concept of making a record with public sector workers, and working with unions to find and recruit the group from members working in the public sector.
The record is produced by legendary hit record producer Nick Patrick, whose credits include Katherine Jenkins, Marvin Gaye, Russell Watson and Sting, and Jeff Chegwin, whose past credits include discovering Billy Bragg, promoting Elvis Costello, Andrew Lloyd Webber Paul McCartney, and giving Simon Cowell his first hit boy band.
Jeff and Nick created the million selling hit group The Soldiers. The group have raised of £500.000 for armed forces charities.
