STRIKING workers were joined by Royal College of Nurses general secretary Pat Cullen at Glastonbury’s Left Field stage today to stress the power of being in a union.

Singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, introducing the panel debate titled Power in a Union: a Year of Strikes and Solidarity, called the wave of strikes sweeping Britain now as important as the miners’ strike in the 1980s.

Ms Cullen said: “Taking strike action is the difference between paying your rent next month or standing up for yourself. 

“But the fight isn’t over. Nurses will strike again, but we strike for our patients.”

Clare Camero, an A&E nurse in Brighton on strike for the first time, described an NHS that has been in a crisis for some time with chronic understaffing.

She said: “We’re looking after 20 to 30 patients in a corridor on a daily basis. 

“We’re striking because we feel we cannot deliver the care we would like to our patients. But I’m ready to strike again.”

Nusrat Sultana, a striking teacher in Birmingham and NEU member, said: “The cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic has made it clear to people the value and impact of their labour.

“There’s power in this action: the impact of it, and the mindset. When the ballot came through the door, you felt positive about it.”

Economist Miatta Fahnbulleh, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, told the crowd that the word “crisis” is often used loosely but added: “What we are seeing at the moment is like nothing we’ve ever been through.

“The average family is spending far more than what they’re earning. This comes off the back of 15 years in which living standards have not budged. 

“This is a massive hammer blow, with stagnating wages at the brunt of this. 

“People are being asked to weather the worst cost-of-living crisis for 100 years.”