I MUST respond to Marjorie Carr’s letter (The Cumberland News, June 30) where she decries the unions’ attempts to protect members’ livelihoods and standards of living.

There have been 12 years of Tory government mismanagement and chaos, accelerated following the establishment of the Johnson government, resulting in the proliferation of foodbanks, increases in child poverty, zero-hours contracts and a constant decline in income for the majority of middle and lower earners.

The old adage states 'you reap what you sow', so is it any wonder that many working people have decided enough is enough and it is now the time to fight back against a dishonest government and avaricious employers?

She identifies rail workers, teachers, airline staff and many more, which I can only assume is an inference to the widely reported discontent of people like doctors, nurses and even barristers, and identifies them as the villains of the piece.

Let’s remember, it is only a short while ago that many of these 'villains' were heroes whom we applauded from our doorsteps and we continue to depend on to do difficult jobs.

Astoundingly, Majorie Carr gives the Government a free pass for their very obvious part in the degradation of the vast majority of working people’s standards of living and public services available to them.

She fails to comprehend that trade unions were established, by working people, to do the very thing that we see the likes of the RMT doing now – looking after their members’ interests.

The actions that a union implements are democratically decided by its members, and the membership ultimately decides what action they are prepared to take to safeguard and improve hard-fought-for working conditions and wages.

She states that 'negotiations are pointless': an apparent excuse for the Government’s failure to engage with the RMT to resolve the rail dispute, ignoring the obvious intent of Johnson and his acolytes to exacerbate industrial disputes as a means to appeal to their core support and deflect attention from their failings.

When it comes to selfishness, a trait she accuses the unions of, we should look no further than our Prime Minister.

Allan Glaister
By email