People's March for Jobs

The march that started in Liverpool arrives at Stoke on Trent en route to London.

In 1981 the TUC organised the People's March for Jobs - a march of the unemployed from Liverpool to London. Designed to ape the hunger marches of the 1930s the protest took place against a background of industrial decline and recession. On 11 May the marchers reached Stoke on Trent where Labour MP Jack Ashley talks to John McLeod and calls for support from his fellow MPs, not all of whom were as keen to get involved.

Also speaking on behalf of the marchers in this ATV Today piece are Barry Williams of the Liverpool Trades Council, who was one of the driving forces behind the march, and Martin Parkes and Ken Barlow of the Union of Construction and Allied Technical Trades. The march ended on 1 June 1981 when a petition of 250,000 signatures was delivered to Parliament.