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BUILD AN AUTUMN
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General200814
O
ver 400,000 trAde uNIoN
members in the National Health
Service are to be asked whether
they are prepared to strike in ballots
which begin next week.
For Unison members the ballot starts on
28 August and runs until 18 September. In
Unite the ballot is from 26 August until 26
September. The GMB, which has 30,000
members in the health service, is expected to
follow a similar timetable.
If health workers endorse strikes, union
leaders plan a four hour strike on Monday 13
October. Its very important that its a big YES
vote for strikes.
Health workers are right to want to fght
over pay. The Tories tell us were in the midst
of an economic recovery but the majority
of people have seen no change to their
experience of austerity.
On average, public sector pay has gone
down by 18 percent since 2010 across the
public sector.
Meanwhile, bosses pay in the top 100
companies is now 180 times that of the
average worker.
The one percent pay offer, that most NHS
workers wont even get, is a pathetic insult.
Thats why 1.4 million public sector workers
struck together on Thursday 10 July.
Intransigent
Teachers, local government workers, civil
service workers and frefghters (who
were striking over a savage attack on their
pensions) held a one day coordinated strike
which saw big protests in towns and cities
across the country.
Now union leaders who organise members
in local government have called a further
strike for Tuesday 14 October.
Teachers who joined the 10 July strike will
decide their next step as they return from the
summer holiday.
Firefghters, who just held another eight
consecutive days of short duration strikes,
will have to decide their next move if the
government remains intransigent.
Workers in the civil service union, PCS are
committed to further national action.
On Saturday 18 October the TUC has
called a national demonstration in London
under the banner, Britain Needs a Pay Rise.
In other words, the potential is there for
the week Monday 13 October Saturday 18
October to be a big week of resistance to the
Tories and to their austerity agenda.
Labour too have already committed to
Tory spending plans. So whoever gets elected
will implement further cuts. We have to build
networks of people with the strength to resist
new attacks.
Care uK
We cant see a repeat of what happened in
2011 when a huge strike of 2.6 million wasnt
followed up and some leaders signed shoddy
deals over attacks on our pensions. We need to
build up confdence to push for further strikes.
Unite the Resistance has called a national
conference on Saturday 15 November to help
this process: http://bit.ly/1odwQ98
Among speakers will be strikers from local
disputes who have shown how to fght back.
The Care UK strikers in Doncaster, who
have now launched a second stage of their
dispute for fair pay. They will strike again for
three weeks from Monday 25 August until
Monday 15 Septembertheir longest strike
yet. This will bring their total number of strike
days to seventy since March.
They know that they are not just fghting
attacks on their terms and conditions,
they are fghting for the very future of
the National Health Service. Privateering
frms and their big money backers, like
Bridgepoint Capital that owns Care UK,
are only interested in proft not healthcare
provision.
Jarrow
Teachers at Lambeth College in London
were on strike for over fve weeks last term
facing a bullying principal. They have just
returned to work and will have to decide
what to do next if there is no improvement
in the situation. They are fghting to defend
education.
These strikes and protests like the Peoples
March for the NHS, currently marching from
Jarrow to London and the Occupy Stafford
Hospital camp all deserve our support.
Everyone who wants to see the back of
the Tories have to see the coming weeks as
an opportunity to build an autumn of strikes
and protests that can break this weak Tory
government.
400,000 NHS workers being balloted...
UNITE THE RESISTANCE
STRIKING
TOGETHER
Organising to win conference
Speakers include: Billy Hayes CWU, John McDonnell
MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jane Aitchison PCS, Ian
Lawrence NAPO, Ian Hodson BFAWU, Peter Pinkney
RMT, Mandy Brown Lewisham College UCU, Mags
Dalton & Roger Hutt, Care UK strikers.
Saturday 15 November, Bloomsbury
Baptist Church, central London.
Care UK strikers protest outside Bridgepoint HQ