The Scottish Trade Union Congress today held a march protesting against further cuts proposed by the Westminster government, with approximately 5000 people taking part.

The protest, which began at 11am, marched from George Square, in front of the city council headquarters, down to Glasgow Green. Those amongst the protesters included representatives of the Church of Scotland, Public and Commercial Services Union and NUS Scotland. Students from the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian and Strathclyde also backed the march.

Similar marches took place in London and Belfast to support the protest against UK government austerity measures. An analysis published earlier this week by STUC revealed steep declines in employment numbers in the past four years in Scotland, higher than unemployment figures in the rest of the UK.

Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary, believes the austerity measures imposed by Westminster are only making the situation worse. He said:- “We recognise that the root of the problems we face are the wrong-headed austerity policies of the ConDem Government. But there are policy challenges for Scottish Government too.”

In his address in George Square today, Mr Smith criticised cuts to benefits, and announced he believe Westminster priorities should be towards encouraging trade unions and supporting employment rights.

President of NUS Scotland, Robin Parker, also addressed the crowds, and said:- “Students are standing side-by-side with trade union and community members from across Scotland today because we don’t want to see Westminster’s austerity policies dump an entire generation on the scrapheap.

“The Scottish Government has said they are putting a priority on tackling youth unemployment, but they can do more. If they are serious about tackling youth unemployment, they need to be serious about funding colleges. Our generation needs a future that works.”