We publish here further reports from the strike of NHS workers that took place earlier this week. The first is an interview by the UCLU Marxists of an NHS worker at the picket of University College Hospital; the second is a report from a Unison steward in Worcester. Both provide a good picture of the reasons for Monday’s strike and the anger felt amongst workers in the NHS.
We publish here further reports from the strike of NHS workers that took place earlier this week. The first is an interview by the UCLU Marxists of an NHS worker at the picket of University College Hospital; the second is a report from a Unison steward in Worcester. Both provide a good picture of the reasons for Monday’s strike and the anger felt amongst workers in the NHS.
UCLU Marxists interview striking NHS Worker
Transcribed by Jaki Michele, UCLU Marxists
At their picket line on Monday morning the UCLU Marxist went down to join the picket line. In their meeting the previous week we raised over £20 in donations which we used to buy hot drinks and snacks for the striking picket line to show our solidarity, as well as leafleting widely for the strike on campus. On the picket line we interviewed Lucy, Unite member and one of the many striking NHS HR workers at University College Hospital.
UCLU Marxists: Thank you for speaking with us Lucy. Why are you coming out and striking today? What’s the most important thing about the strike?
Lucy: We’re coming out on strike to support our members in getting fair pay. We’ve already had our pay frozen, most departments have been restructured which means most people have been moved down a pay-band, and the cost of living has gone up. I mean, people just cannot afford to live properly as we should be, in a “non-third world” country.
UCLU Marxists: And what’s the mood been like in the build up? Have people been talking about it?
Lucy: Yes, people have been talking about it. My managers have been talking about it. It’s interesting that they’re quite supportive of us going out to strike on their behalf, to also get them improved pay. None of them are here today but you know, hey ho. (chuckles.)
UCLU Marxists: The government is freezing most health workers’ pay and giving a very small amount of workers a 1% rise. The cost of living has gone up much more than that. What has it been like for you over the last couple of years? Have you noticed a difference in your pay coming home?
Lucy: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely we’ve noticed the difference. And, you know, all the other things the government has put into practice; working tax credit, family tax credit, pay, and genuinely getting nothing back. Absolutely nothing back and having everything taken away. It’s been really hard, really tough. You know? There’s nothing left out of the wages for life.
UCLU Marxists: And that’s what you need. In order to relax after a very stressful job like this.
Lucy: Oh absolutely. With a very stressful job like this, come any weather, we’re here, and we’re doing it, and a lot of us have children. We still work full time trying to bring the money in and to make sure that they have a decent life, you know? We’re trying to do it for them, really, and yet, it’s becoming harder and harder and harder and you become more despondent and it can be very depressing at times, you know?
UCLU Marxists: I think the government for the first time ever this year ignored the independent pay review and imposed their own austerity on the health service and they ignored the proposal that a 1% rise should be for everyone. At the same time the MPs have given themselves a 10% pay rise this year. What do you think about that?
Lucy: Well you know, the argument has been that they haven’t had a pay rise for ages and they’re patting themselves on the back for a job well done. I would say it’s not a job well done across the board. We’re not just talking about the Tories or the Liberals, we’re talking about Labour as well. Across the board, it’s really discouraging that we have a government that we cannot trust giving themselves a 10-11% pay rise. A 1% pay rise isn’t a pay rise. It’s a pay cut! There is no pay rise at all. And it’s just… who do you trust? Who do you trust? We have no choice but to bring somebody in, and they know that, they know that. I can see things getting a bit more vocal and possibly physical if things don’t change. Soon.
UCLU Marxists: Really? Physical?
Lucy: Yeh. I think so.
UCLU Marxists: How do you mean?
Lucy: I think that people are going to start protesting in a different way.
UCLU Marxists: People are fed up?
Lucy: Yeh. I think people are fed up. I think they’ve had enough.
UCLU Marxists: I mean, today you’ve seen not just Unison but Unite coming out, you’re part of Unite yourself, and there’s a series of strikes across the country in the next couple of days, and on the weekend there’s the TUC demonstration. What do you think about that, as the way forward? Not just individual strikes but everyone coming out together?
Lucy: I understand individual strikes, because sometimes a specific department or organisation wants to tell their bosses, that they’re not happy, but I’m actually more of a fan of massive general strikes where everybody comes out. I think it shows a lot more power. I think it shuts the system down. I think it speaks volumes.
Many times when I was a child I was out on rallies with my dad, and everyone came out in force. When the masses went on strike years and years ago, Hyde Park was absolutely mobbed. Everybody was out, and it showed the world that the English, the British, wouldn’t take it. And yet, we are now. You know? We’re taking it, basically, we’re too scared now to really… you know, the French do it. They come out in bloody millions. It’s time that we did. I’d be up for it, definitely, and I’d bring my kids out, and I think we need to stand up and stop this sort of, in my mind, this sort of…it’s a little bit, too little.
UCLU Marxists: We need to escalate action together.
Lucy: Yeh. Nobody wants aggression, but we need to do something a bit more powerful. A bit more wake-up-and-listen and, you know, look at all these people here, united in trying to get a fair pay, fair conditions.
UCLU Marxists: Last of all, it’s quite significant that for the first time ever, the midwives have come out on strike. I guess you must speak to a few of them during the course of your working day. What do you make of that? The fact that for the first time in a very precious job like midwives, generally health workers are told, if you go on strike, people suffer, so you can never go on strike, what’s your opinion on that?
Lucy: I think it’s so important that they come out, and I’m really pleased that they have. This country is screaming, crying out for midwives. There was a massive ad campaign a couple of years ago because we had a massive shortage and now we’ve got them coming out on strike because you’re not paying them fairly. I mean, it says a lot. And we have possibly hiring staff from other countries who may not be trained the same, who may not have the same view or ideals that we have but still have to go through training here. It’s a cost. We have homegrown. We have homegrown people who could possibly believe in the country that go and work elsewhere, paid for. It’s absolutely disgusting. I’m fully in support of all health care workers coming out to fight for their rights, because they do save lives. They save lives. So, that’s why we’re here.
UCLU Marxists: Fantastic. Thank you very much Lucy.
Worcester health workers demand a real pay rise
By a Unison steward
At Worcester Acute Hospital support for the strike action on a cold and damp Monday morning was great from porters to psychologists all out on the picket line. From 7am strikers started to assemble at the Newtown entrance to the hospital site; immediately passing cars, trucks and busses blasted their horns in support our just cause.
Meanwhile at the Hereford and Worcester Ambulance station in Worcester, 25 paramedics maintained a picket line for the full four hours. The strike call was heeded by a wide range of staff; we even had the case were a voluntary patient driver did not cross the picket line until after 11am. If proof was needed that staff had responded to the strike call, all you had to do was look at the staff car park with plenty of empty spaces when on a normal Monday it would be packed.
After a while the picket numbers were big enough to split into two and the other was dispatched to the main entrance. At this point a panicking manager demanded that only six pickets were allowed. Our answer was that we have six pickets from Unison, six from GMB six from Unite and the rest were just good friends. This was a good tempered picket line, but if management wanted to play rough we would be able call on solidarity of fellow trade unionists; already we had approached the Unite convenor at the bus depot and the CWU branch secretary, who gave us assurance that if required the picket line would be honoured.
This strike was not out to damage patient care – the Tories can do enough of that. This strike was to raise the issue of the pay offer amongst staff and the general public. We were pleased by how much support we received from patients. Everybody has been really happy to speak to us and take leaflets. Although the majority of staff worked, we got what we call silent support from people working inside the hospital. They’ve all been saying “thank you for doing this for us”.
It is important that the so called 1% offer is really understood by everyone; it is astonishing that the unions have not made they members fully aware of the implications attached to this offer. The Tories want to destroy collective pay bargaining in the NHS and that is the basis of the 1% divisive deal on the table. All staff at the top of their pay band will get an unconsolidated 1% but this money is not reflected in the hourly rate, so if you are a nurse working lates, nights and weekends your shift premiums will remain the same. So for the majority of staff working shifts in the NHS who are at the top of pay band, this pay offer is only worth 0.75%, and the same can be said for the low paid staff forced to survive on overtime – the offer is only 0.65% in real terms.
For the other 70% of staff who will not get a pay rise, the government, especially Jeremy Hunt, continuously promote a lie that the pay progression increments are a costly burden to the NHS. The fact is that pay increments are cost neutral as someone who has progressed all the way through the pay scale eventually retires; they are replaced by a new starter at the bottom of the pay scale. In fact it can result in a saving. For example, a ward nurse manger retires at the top of the grade and a series of three internal promotions are made, each joining the new grade at a low increment point than the previous post holder, and a newly qualified nurse joins the hospital. This will result in a 9% saving.
The other false argument is that increments are just for time served. This fails to recognise the experience, knowledge and effectiveness gained in the previous year. As a clinical psychologist said on the picket line, “my caseload is 20% more than would be expected of a new starter to the profession”.
The government is holding a dagger to the backs of NHS workers, if the unions do not do a deal in negotiating away pay progression increments then the staff who have had the “1%” will find it removed next year. But the alternative is much worse. What Hunt wants is for individual mangers to use performance appraisal to set future pay rises. We all know what this means; we have seen it in private sector pay rates, which have in real terms fallen, and also in the teaching profession where academies have the power to set pay and where the use of performance appraisal has seen pay fall.
The other factor to consider here is that last year the gap between male and female average wage increased to 10% from the previous year’s 9.5%. Under performance appraisal systems pay inequality rises not falls.
On the picket line today were union banners from Unison, Unite, GMB and many more – a coordinated campaign. But this offer was imposed in April this year. A question asked on the picket line was, “why have the unions taken this length of time to organise this strike action? If we had this in the summer, we would not be stood here now freezing, but would be in T-shirts having a barbecue.”
Support for the picket came in the form of coffee and biscuits from Unison Local Government branch, whose strike action was postponed. Again, this raised the question of the TUC coordinating all workers now taking various one-day, half-day and other forms of industrial action. If the unions cannot focus our unity to a single point of attack then we will have a much harder struggle. An observation made on the picket line was, “why not organize a one-day general strike; what is the TUC afraid of? It has to come sooner or later.”
The placard that got the most response was of an MP’s pay award of 11% and the hamper of goodies that that would buy compared to the Twix bar only 30% of staff would get with the miserable pay award. It is not good enough for the unions to just campaign for the measly pay review offer – 1% across the board. What is required is a campaign that will fire up the membership. In real terms a midwife is £4,500 a year worse off than before the recession. That is a fall of 14%.
We are not greedy – we aren’t even asking for 14%, nor the MPs 11%. Many would settle for 8%. The unions should have nothing more to do with Pay Review Bodies (PRB), who only do the bidding of government and offer paltry amounts. Too much has been surrendered already by the NHS workers to have any faith in PRBs. The unions should be reinforcing pay bargaining, rather than allow the Tories to make us pay for a recession not of our making.
