The Bill in question is Andrew Lansley’s Health and Social Care Bill, which will open up 80% of the NHS budget to private GP consortia and give contracts to “any willing provider” of health services. On top of this, 50,000 jobs, including many frontline posts, will disappear this year – 635 of them at St Bart’s and the Royal London Trust, the target of this week’s protest.
Nadia, a medical student from the United States of America told me, “I’m here because I’ve seen what a private health system looks like – it’s expensive, inefficient and the poor cannot afford to access it.” Nadia hoped the demo would lead to more action, “The unions need to do more to reach out to the public. The NHS is what brings and holds people in society together.”
NHS activists march
Unite flags and Unison banners were prominent among the 700 or so activists on the march. While there were a few Unite full-time officials there, it was lay members of both unions who organised the protest.
Mark, a student nurse, told me that, “Unite really encourage their members to get involved in the anticuts movement and this has provided an opportunity for us Unison activists to get organised.” He hoped that some form of joint rank and file organisation may soon emerge in the NHS.
Amy, a young Unite organiser of two years standing, explained that “Len McCluskey has made a real difference because he doesn’t feel he has to please anyone” and can speak his mind. I agreed but warned her about how Tony Woodley had also sounded tough until he sold workers down the river, telling her about the sell-outs at BMW, Gate Gourmet and Peugeot.
As we parted, she agreed, “It’s always good to watch your leaders closely.” The promising, new rank and file organisation in unite, Grass Roots Left will have to patiently educate Unite activists by placing clear demands on McCluskey and denouncing him whenever he backtracks or betrays.
Southwark speech therapists victory
One of the highlights of the demo for me was the sight of so many Speech and Language Therapists from Westminster and Southwark. The latter were particularly buoyant after their recent strike, which saved five out of nine jobs that were under threat: a great example of industrial action, even by a few dozen workers producing results.
A couple of them told me of a brilliant follow-up action they had taken the day before. Health Minister Andrew Lansley had ill-advisedly decided to visit Southwark. The SALT strikers got wind of this and duly ran him out of town – literally chasing him down the street. And that’s just what we’ve all got to do now – not just to Lansley, but the whole Con Dem government!
