Stop Con-Dems' assault on NHS: No health cuts, No privatisation

Health workers demonstrate at Whipps Cross hospital in East London, photo Paul Mattsson

Hardly a day goes by without some report outlining the crisis facing the National Health Service. This crisis is a consequence of the drive toward privatisation and the most severe financial cuts in the NHS's history under the government's health 'reforms'.

Roger Davey, Unison, Health Service Group Executive (personal capacity)

Even NHS financial directors are predicting massive job losses, ward closures, and drastic service cuts as they struggle to make savage 'efficiency cuts' and prepare for the re-organisation of the NHS - ie privatisation. In fact, primary care trusts (PCTs) are already frantically cutting services in order to balance the books before they are due to be replaced by GP consortiums.

One of the ways that cuts are being made is the 'rationalisation of operations', a move that has been severely criticised by the Federation of Surgical Speciality Associations (FSSA), which represents about 15,000 surgeons.

According to FSSA an increasing number of patients are being denied surgery, including hips, spinal and even some cancer surgery.
In order to cut costs some PCTs are even restricting the number of patients who can have a hysterectomy, or even have babies with a planned caesarean section. Increasingly these surgical procedures are deemed to have a low or no clinical value, despite evidence to the contrary. It can safely be predicted that the definition of 'low value surgical procedures' will be expanded to cover much of what the NHS provides as the financial crisis deepens.

Of course this is all good news for the private sector.

One major health company, Spire Healthcare, recently conducted a survey of over 500 GPs which discovered that not only were cuts being made to the so-called 'non urgent' operations, but also waiting times were rising remorselessly for a whole series of treatments, including cardiology and oncology (cancer treatment). Increasingly, more patients will go private in order to receive care, creating demand and profit for the ruthless health care corporations.

Foundation trusts

Also, anticipating this development, foundation hospitals are planning to expand the provision of private health care now that the Tories have lifted the cap on it. This all adds up to the end of comprehensive NHS provision, and the acceleration of a two-tier service - one for the rich, and one for the rest of us.

Although the government is now saying it will 'pause and listen', in reality there is no slowing down in the implementation of their plan. While it may be slightly modified, the thrust and goal remain the same. That is, NHS finances will be transferred to GP-based consortiums, themselves likely to be absorbed by private companies.

These organisations, accountable only to shareholders, will purchase the cheapest possible care from the private sector, or foundation trusts, who themselves are in transition towards private health care companies. In effect it is a complete programme of privatisation which will have a devastating impact on all our lives.
The government has declared war on the NHS and in response the health unions should be mounting a massive campaign, including strike action, to defend the NHS and those who work in it. Socialist Party members will continue to demand a one-day public sector strike as part of an overall strategy to defeat this rotten coalition government.

We say:

• Stop the cuts. For a fully funded, publicly owned NHS
• End all privatisation through GP consortiums or other methods
• Return privatised services to NHS control. Publicly fund and integrate them with the rest of the NHS
• For united action to defend the NHS involving trade unions, anti-cuts campaigns and service users

Unison health conference - Delegates disappointed

Roger Davey, Unison health service group executive, personal capacity

This year's Unison health conference, held in Liverpool, was the first major union gathering since the magnificent demonstration on 26 March. It also came at a time when both the NHS and the pay and conditions of health workers are coming under ruthless attack from the coalition government.

These two huge factors should have made this an historical conference, one that established a clear strategy, programme, and commitment to defeat the government. Instead the conference illustrated the unwillingness of the union bureaucracy to build upon the momentum of the 26th and delegates returned to their branches disappointed.

The whole conference was tightly controlled, which ensured that any resolution that called for industrial action over pensions or privatisation was ruled out of order. It meant that the service group executive did not oppose any of the motions, none of which, of course, committed the union to do anything.

However, there is huge pressure building up from health workers for the union to take action over pensions, the pay freeze, and the destruction of the NHS. Delegate after delegate told of the reality of working in the NHS today as it is being prepared for privatisation.

They spoke movingly about the likely impact of marketisation, and the effect that the unprecedented financial cuts will have on patient care. They also repeatedly expressed anger that health workers and patients are expected to bail out this rotten capitalist system.

In fact when delegates, in the main Socialist Party members, called for a one-day public sector strike to defend the NHS and our living standards they received an enthusiastic response from the conference. Not even the bureaucracy could completely smother this overwhelming desire for action, emanating from the rank and file.

In one of the conference workshops, delegates were asked to decide how to react if management proposed cuts in order to save jobs and services. There was uproar when those participating in the workshop unanimously refused to accept any cuts either in the service or in pay and conditions.

The pressure and mood even forced general secretary Dave Prentis to talk of strike action over pensions. He made the startling claim that he had fought all his life for the downfall of capitalism! But the stark fact is that we've heard all this before, without national action following. Unison needs a new leadership to ensure that it becomes a fighting democratic union.

During the next period, tens of thousands of health workers will be demanding action from the union. This would be a step towards transforming Unison into a fighting organisation, one that will join with other unions in national strike action to defend living standards and to campaign against all cuts.

The Socialist Party made a significant impact on the conference, with a record number of delegates, and an inspiring fringe meeting addressed by Tony Mulhearn, one of the heroic Liverpool councillors who fought the Tories in the 1980s. Socialist paper sales were encouraging and over £300 was collected for the fighting fund.

Leeds Unison - fighting the cuts

Leeds Unison local government branch, jointly with the other council unions, has recently run a consultative ballot amongst the membership. This is over the employer's cuts packages.

A Leeds Unison steward

But there was no clear mandate from the ballot. This is partially because the wording of the recommendation from the Joint Trade Union Committee (JTUC) said that the offer was the best that could be achieved through negotiations but we cannot positively recommend this offer. This was a confusing and defeatist message.

After hearing concerns from branch activists, Unison sent out a much stronger statement to recommend a rejection. Yet the initial recommendation will have contributed to the low turnout.

The union leaders feel incapable of raising the confidence of activists and mobilising a genuine campaign to oppose all the cuts. Instead they have decided to jointly reject the council's proposals but also to continue negotiations "with the aim of avoiding compulsory redundancies".

It's clear that the unions want to engage with the employer with a 'softly softly' approach. But in doing so they are agreeing to 'smaller' cuts. We've already had consultation and we've been issued with another 90-day consultation period that ends on 3 May.

Socialist Party members believe that we need to move straight to a strike ballot against these severe cuts.

Labour Link won't save jobs and services

Like many trade union leaders across the country, the leadership of Unison in the east Midlands have tried to answer the question: "What next after the demo on 26 March?"

In a document recently circulated to branches, they correctly pointed out the need for a good turnout on the demo. Then they add: "The next big thing after 26 March is the council elections on 5 May and we need to give the Lib Dems and Tories a message through the ballot box too".

"Vote Labour", and not a word about further demos, never mind industrial action. It is now over six months since the TUC passed 'composite 10' at the TUC conference that called for a demo to be followed up with "support and coordinated campaigning and joint union industrial action, nationally and locally, in opposition to attacks on jobs, pensions, pay or public services".

Instead, what we have from Unison is an advert for the Labour Party and a promotion of Unison's 'Labour Link'.

But the Labour Link is not going to save jobs and services because the Labour Party opposition to the coalition government is based on a policy of 'cuts yes but not so fast'. Or as Socialist Party councillor Dave Nellist puts it: "It's a difference of half a parliamentary term". The Con-Dems want these cuts during this parliamentary term, whilst Labour leader Ed Miliband wants to extend into the next parliamentary term.
The campaign to defeat the cuts needs a political answer as well as an industrial one but the unions' leadership have nothing to say about that.

In fact, when the civil service union PCS proposed at the last meeting of the TUC public services liaison committee that the unions should unite in action against the attacks on public sector pensions, Unison officials attacked the PCS for being 'unrealistic'.

They said there was no way they could expect their local government members, who contribute to their pension scheme, to take strike action in defence of civil servants who have a non-contributory scheme.
Unison members in local government face a massive increase in the amount they have to pay into the scheme and a reduction in their pension entitlements.

Civil servants, teachers and health workers were able to protect themselves against the last attacks on their pensions in 2005 by threatening coordinated strike action. Now the 2005 deal, which protected existing members of the scheme from any detriment, is in danger of being ripped up by the government.
Council workers and civil servants are both under attack. It makes sense, as PCS was proposing, for the unions to coordinate their strike ballots and strike action in defence of the pension schemes, as well as defence of their jobs and wages, which are also under attack.

It is high time that the Unison leadership was held to account for its unpreparedness to defend members facing government attacks. Their strategy is again: "Let's wait for a Labour government", something they mouthed throughout the last Tory government.

A political and an industrial strategy are vital. Socialist Party members in Unison call for the ending of the link with the Labour Party. We argue that the union should put itself foursquare behind the demand for a new mass workers' party based on the trade unions.

Teachers and council workers strike together in Tower Hamlets

The fight against the cuts in Tower Hamlets, East London, had a big boost on Wednesday 30 March when there was a joint strike of local teachers, who are members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in the East London Teachers Association (ELTA), and Tower Hamlets' council workers in Unison.

Pete Dickenson, Tower Hamlets Socialist Party

There were dozens of picket lines throughout the borough and a very well attended march of 1,500 from Weavers Fields to the East London Mosque where there was a rally.

Speaking at the beginning of the march, Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies, who is on the executive committee of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), called for a 24-hour public sector general strike as an essential next step in the struggle after the magnificent demonstration on 26th March.
The march got a very positive response from the people of the East End as it wended its way through the borough. At the rally held at the end, messages of support were read out from many NUT branches round the country, from Queen Mary Uni UCU, and the FBU, amongst others.

Speaking at the rally, secretary of Tower Hamlets Unison John McLoughlin called for a public sector-wide general strike, which got a very good response from the audience. He also said that Unison would defend every job under threat, which was welcome since at an earlier meeting of the Tower Hamlets anti-cuts body, HOOPS, he had said that it would not be possible to defeat all the attacks, and the movement would have to pick the areas where it could win.

Keith Sonnet, deputy general secretary of Unison spoke next and called on the government to revisit its spending plans. For example the troops could be brought home from Afghanistan and Trident could be scrapped to save money. These aims should and can definitely be achieved, but unfortunately he gave no concrete indication of how.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS civil service workers' union, received a very enthusiastic response when he spoke, possibly because he was the only speaker to explicitly say he was opposed to all cuts. The PCS is currently balloting 90,000 members for industrial action. He said that the way forward was for unions to strike together.

The PCS is already in discussion with the UCU and NUT on coordinated strike ballots, but all the public sector unions should be balloting. He received a standing ovation and prolonged chants of "general strike!".
This joint union action in Tower Hamlets shows a way forward for the rest of the movement that must be built on quickly, leading to a national 24-hour public sector general strike.

Socialist Party UNISON NEC Elections leaflet

Vote for a fighting democratic Unison leadership

Unison members, along with all other workers in both public and private sectors, are facing unprecedented attacks from the Con-Dem government, local councils and employers.

The elections for Unison's National Executive Council run from 11 April to 13 May, when members will have a chance to vote for candidates pledged to turn Unison into a fighting, democratic union.

Unison needs a strategy to defeat all cuts, whoever proposes them.

Labour councils who pass on Tory cuts by slashing jobs and services are part of the problem, not the answer.

Council workers being sacked by Labour councils will be horrified that Unison continues to pump £3 million a year into the Labour Party on their behalf.

Members in areas across the UK have shown a willingness to fight the attacks but each branch is being left to fight alone; there is no linking of the disputes.

The majority of Unison's current national executive have either no intention of leading a fightback or don't know how to develop a winnable strategy and organise. We need a big influx of new blood - activists with a proven track record of defending members and organising to win.

All local government members could have voted for: Glenn Kelly in the local government male seat. But Glenn is one of the four Socialist Party members being witch-hunted for challenging the Unison leadership.

He has been banned from standing in the NEC elections. This is another indication of the undemocratic methods of the leadership, despite the four winning an Employment Tribunal against the witchhunt. Now the union leadership will spend thousands of pounds taking the case to an Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Glenn's ban from standing will be challenged. But if Glenn is not on the ballot paper we call on Unison members to vote for Paul Couchman.

All health care members can vote for: Len Hockey health care service group (SG) male seat, John Malcolm health care SG general seat.

All members can vote for: April Ashley black members female seat, Hugo Pierre black members male seat, Kieran Grogan national young members seat.

The following candidates are standing for regional seats: Jean Thorpe East Midlands female seat, Hannah Walter Northern female seat, Roger Bannister North West male seat, Mike Forster Yorkshire and Humberside general seat, Angie Waller Yorkshire and Humberside female seat, Victoria Perrin Yorkshire and Humberside reserved seat.

TUC demonstration biggest in decades

On 26 March 2011 the British working class rose like lions and took to the streets in an immense show of strength. The massive TUC demonstration against public spending cuts was well over half a million strong, possibly 700,000 or more.

Hannah Sell

The capitalist media has attempted to completely downplay the importance of the demonstration, concentrating overwhelmingly on the clashes with the police at far smaller protests on the same day.
And the turnout on the main demo was far bigger than has been reported. The BBC, for example, claims there were just 250,000 attending. Unfortunately, the leadership of the TUC itself has also underplayed the turnout as between a quarter and half a million.

This was the biggest trade union organised demonstration in decades. It had widespread support from the working class and from wide sections of the middle class. As a TUC-commissioned poll showed, a majority of the population - 52% - support the aims of the demonstration, with only 31% opposing them. Several Socialist Party members got free or reduced price taxi rides to catch early trains from sympathetic cabbies.
On the journey to London even first class passengers bought copies of the Socialist out of sympathy with the demonstration.

The potential power of the trade union movement was graphically demonstrated as a tidal wave of humanity flooded the streets of London. Among the protesters were pensioners, community campaigners and students, the latter veterans of their own movement before Christmas. The overwhelming majority of marchers, however, were trade unionists, many taking part in their first ever demonstration. The Unison contingent alone took an hour to pass and it seemed as if every trade union - from the largest to the smallest - had its own lively and colourful contingent.

All of those capitalist commentators that have written off the trade union movement today as a spent force were decisively answered by this demonstration. The power of the trade unions was undisputedly established.  But the question on demonstrators' lips was 'what next?' How can the trade union movement use its power to stop the cuts?

Clearly rattled by the size of the demonstration, Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable has declared that marching will not stop the government, which he laughably described as "one of the strongest the country has ever had".

In reality this is a weak coalition government, far weaker than the Tory governments of Maggie Thatcher - the Iron Lady. Yet the Iron Lady was reduced to iron filings by a mass movement of 18 million people refusing to pay the flat rate tax (poll tax) that her government had introduced.

That movement ended the tax and brought down Thatcher. Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, was right when in his speech he called the anti-cuts movement the Con-Dem's poll tax. This government is already rattled and can be decisively beaten by the huge power of the organised working class. Nonetheless, few demonstrators imagined that this savage government of millionaires will be stopped in its tracks by one demonstration, no matter how big. Correctly, it was widely understood that the demonstration needed to be a springboard for further action.

What alternative?

Alongside the vital question of how to stop the cuts, the other issue of the day was what the alternative to cuts is. The march was officially called the 'march for the alternative'. For some right wing trade union leaders 'the alternative' is code for New Labour.

Labour leader Ed Miliband spoke at the demonstration. A small minority booed him, but in the main he was politely received. He was very careful, however, not to put Labour's real programme, of supporting massive cuts in public services albeit carried out at a slightly slower pace than that of the Con-Dem government. Instead he made an empty speech.

He made no concrete promises that a Labour government would reverse cuts. He compared the anti-cuts movement to the struggle of the suffragettes, anti-apartheid and civil rights movements without once mentioning the history of trade union struggle in Britain, or for that matter the anti-war movement against the New Labour government.

Unsurprisingly, the man who has said he "opposes irresponsible strikes" did not say a word about what action workers should take to defend their jobs and services from attack. Many workers on the demonstration will undoubtedly vote Labour in the elections on 5 May in the hope that Labour will, at least, cut more slowly. A significant minority, however, are too angry at New Labour's record in government and the way Labour councils have willingly implemented government cuts at local level to vote Labour again.
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) - which is standing anti-cuts candidates across the country in the May elections - received a good response.

And those that will vote Labour understand that doing so will not stop the cuts and that therefore further strikes and demonstrations are essential. All the platform speakers were in the main greeted warmly by the crowd, but the loudest cheers came for those who called for the demonstration to be followed up by strike action. Len McCluskey declared that the demonstration would have to be followed by coordinated industrial action. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of PCS, summed up the mood of many demonstrators when he said: "Today we've marched together; next we've got to strike together".

The Socialist Party's call for a 24-hour public sector general strike as the next step in the battle to stop the cuts received wide support from the crowd. At the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) stage many hundreds of workers stopped to hear speeches about how such a strike could be made a reality. If the TUC was now to start seriously building for a one-day public sector general strike it would receive enormous support from trade unionists.

It would also attract millions of non-unionised workers and sections of the middle class towards the trade union movement, as the force in society with the power to stop the cuts. Such a strike would terrify the Con-Dems and give enormous confidence to the working class. Unfortunately, other trade union leaders speaking from the main platform did not put forward a strategy for strike action to defeat the government.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, put forward local demonstrations against cuts. While such demonstrations can be an important part of the movement they are not a substitute for strike action - both locally and sectorally and coordinated on a national basis. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, rightly declared that the trade unions would not allow public services to be destroyed but did not make any concrete proposals on what the next step should be.

Before the demonstration he had emphasised the role of "peaceful civil disobedience". As the Socialist Party warned at the time, we agree, but not if community campaigns and civil disobedience are used as an excuse to avoid strike action, rather than as an addition.

Civil Disobedience

It should be added that Barber's call for civil disobedience does not seem to have translated into supporting it when it took place on Saturday. It was only a small minority of Saturday's demonstration, mainly young people, who organised sit-ins in shops and other civil disobedience. Such actions were secondary to the huge power shown by the main demonstration, despite the capitalist media's inevitable concentration on them.

However, unfortunately the TUC has been reported in the media as just giving a blanket condemnation of 'violent protesters', without a word about the role of the police.

We do not support the smashing up of shops as a method of protest, and unfortunately it gives the government, the media and others a way of trying to detract from the magnificence and size of the main demonstration. But in the main it was the police, not the demonstrators who were violent on Saturday. It seems that the majority of civil disobedience which took place around the demonstration was peaceful, but faced kettling and arrests.

The Guardian website shows film of young people - many singing the international revolutionary workers' song 'the Internationale' - being kettled and manhandled by the police for taking part in an entirely peaceful protest. Len McCluskey was right when he supported the student protests and demanded "the police keep their grubby paws off our kids". The fact that so many students attended the TUC demonstration shows that they are rightly looking to the trade union movement to take the lead in the fight against the cuts.
If that is to remain the case it is essential that the trade unions support the youth's struggle, including against police repression, but also take decisive action against the cuts.

Opposition to cuts in pensions is one issue around which there is a clear prospect of coordinated strike action. The UCU have already taken strike action and is considering more, and the civil servants union, PCS, is discussing balloting for strike action on pensions to take place in May or June.

The NUT is also discussing action before the summer. To have these three unions - one million workers - strike together over pensions would be an important step forward in the battle against cuts. However, we need more. Unison has also promised national action over pensions, but unfortunately Prentis made no mention of it in his speech.

Unison members, however, want to see action on this issue. There was support among Unison members and others on the demonstration for the Socialist Party's call for a national midweek demonstration on the day of the next national strike against cuts and attacks on pensions in order that workers from across the public sector can show their support for strike action and to increase the pressure on other public sector unions to build for a one-day public sector strike.

The political alternative

TUC demo 26 March 2011, photo by Sarah Mayo   (Click to enlarge)

From the platform there was little explanation of the economic alternative to cuts. Much emphasis was put on the need for job creation but without explanation of how that can be achieved.
Almost every speaker criticised the bankers although from the most right wing, like Usdaw general secretary John Hannett, this was no more than a plea for the bankers to "lead by example". This is like asking Dracula to lead by example in refraining from drinking blood!

Several speakers called for a Robin Hood tax on the finance sector which is estimated would raise around £20 billion a year. Mark Serwotka rightly opposed all cuts and very effectively pointed out that tax avoidance by the rich is equal to £120 billion a year, which is almost as much as the total government budget deficit, £143 billion, to be eliminated over four years.

Therefore, at one fell swoop, it should be possible to cut the deficit!
The problem that was not addressed is how to collect the money. As the unpaid £120 billion indicates, the capitalist class is not prepared to pay even the puny levels they are currently taxed.

To collect the money is virtually impossible unless the government uses wide economic powers. This poses the question of the complete nationalisation of the banks and finance houses under workers' control and management.

Even this would need the cooperation of workers throughout workplaces and industry with the powers - workers' control - to really open the books, discover the scale of tax avoidance taking place and bring offenders to book.

In other words, socialist measures are needed even to eliminate tax avoidance and evasion, which the overwhelming majority of ordinary working people would support.

Unfortunately, speakers at the main platform did not raise the case for socialism; for a society run in the interests of the millions rather than the billionaires.

However, more than 50 Socialist Party campaign stalls put the case for socialism to the demonstrators. For many of them, on their first demonstration, socialism was a completely new and very interesting idea. Hundreds wanted to join the Socialist Party, several thousand went away with a copy of the Socialist and many tens of thousands went away determined to struggle, alongside the socialists, to go in the coming months from a massive demonstration to a massive public sector general strike.

One of the 'Unison Four' now expelled

Onay Kasab addresses 200 trade unionists, community campaigners and service users marched in Greenwich borough, south London, against the local council's brutal cuts package, photo Lorraine Dardis   (Click to enlarge)

At 10.30am on 8 March, Unison made the decision to expel Onay Kasab from the union. This follows a witch-hunt that began back in 2007, which led to a two-year ban on holding union office for Onay as well as bans for Glen Kelly, Suzanne Muna and Brian Debus. All four are members of the Socialist Party.

A Greenwich Unison member

A recent Employment Tribunal found that all four had been unjustifiably disciplined by Unison. However, instead of accepting this decision, the union has chosen to divert attention and finance away from the fight against the cuts and launch an appeal.

This is despite the verdict of the tribunal being unanimous, damning of the union and also concluding that the four had in no way acted in a manner that deserved such disciplinary action.

The latest charge against Onay, which led to the decision to expel him, was that he has acted to Unison's detriment by being active in Unite. The reality is that Unison had not only banned Onay from being an elected representative, but Unison was also doing everything in its power to prevent Onay from playing any kind of role, even as a rank and file member.

The Greenwich Unison branch has been taken into 'regional administration'. No meetings ever take place, no communication goes out to members, calls to the office are not answered and all stewards and officers have been derecognised, not by the employer but by the union!

In light of the cuts being imposed in Greenwich, Onay joined Unite (while keeping his Unison membership) in order to continue to fight as a trade unionist.

Unison conference 2009: Brian Debus, Onay Kasab and Glenn Kelly,

At the same time and in disgust at Unison's witch-hunt, many Greenwich Unison members have left Unison and joined Unite. This should come as no surprise.

Hundreds wrote to Dave Prentis, Unison general secretary, saying they would do this if the witch-hunt continued. Now Onay is being blamed for these members resigning!

The disciplinary hearing itself was a travesty. No convincing evidence was presented to back up the charge.
The investigation was incomplete. No witnesses appeared to back up the union's case.

Confidential post was intercepted and used by the union, possibly breaching data protection legislation. The union's key piece of evidence was not even presented during the investigation.

In fact the standard of the investigation and the hearing itself fell below what most union representatives would expect from the employers. This expulsion sends the message to all Unison members that the union prioritises attacking its own activists over fighting the cuts.

More effort is spent fighting activists than the employers. Unison members in Greenwich will now question even further the value of continuing in Unison membership.

A fight has to be mounted for democracy in Unison. This can only come by replacing the current cowardly and witch-hunting leadership with a fighting, democratic leadership.

In Greenwich, Onay Kasab will be standing for the leadership of the newly merged Greenwich Unite branch, on the basis of building a member- led, united fightback union branch prepared to fight the employers.
In the fight against the cuts, we need democracy, not bureaucracy!

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Send messages of protest to Unison HQ: Unison, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9AJ .
Telephone: 0845 355 0845
e-mail: d.prentis@unison.co.uk
Also send to: Defend the Four Campaign, PO Box 858 London E11 1YG.

Coalition steps up assault on NHS

RECENTLY, THE anti-cuts website False Economy published its findings from NHS Trusts which showed that well over 50,000 health workers' jobs will be axed. These job losses, as well as hospital A&E, ward and department closures, show that David Cameron's general election pledge, that spending on NHS services would be protected by the government, is just hogwash.

Roger Davey, Unison health executive (writing in a personal capacity), explains how the NHS is being systematically destroyed by the government, and what is needed to fight this assault on our health services.

Nobody should underestimate the scale and nature of the coalition government's attack on the NHS. If these proposals are implemented we will see the dismantling, destruction and eventual privatisation of the NHS. It will mean the end of free comprehensive care, and a significant move towards a US-style system.

This programme of privatisation was, of course, begun under the previous Labour government. However, the combining of an acceleration of privatisation with the biggest financial cuts in NHS history will result in a huge wave of ward closures and mass redundancies.

The government's proposals include:

• Giving £80 billion of our NHS money to GP consortiums who are supposed to buy care on our behalf. In reality these organisations are likely to be taken over by private consortiums, accountable to shareholders, who will put the need to make a profit above the interests of patients, and will seek to buy treatment from the cheapest possible provider in the private sector.
• To scrap the NHS as a provider of health care. All NHS organisations will move into or become Foundation Trusts (FTs), which in effect will act like private companies. They will be free to borrow on the financial markets, free to break away from national collective bargaining, and crucially will have the cap on the number of private patients they can treat lifted.
• It is also likely that the government will abolish the tariff pricing system for health treatment. This means that consortiums and private insurance can buy from the cheapest health provider irrespective of the quality of care.

All of this would lead to the growing domination of multinational companies in the provision of health. Increasingly these profit hungry giants will take over FTs and other former NHS organisations.

However, the government will face enormous opposition from NHS workers and the wider community in trying to implement this programme.

If the health unions lead an effective opposition the government can certainly be defeated. Unison members are prepared to fight in defence of the NHS and their pay and conditions. That is why the Unison health executive, feeling the pressure from below, overwhelmingly voted to oppose the Unison leadership's attempt to sign up to a completely inadequate deal.

We now have to harness the anger of Unison members in order to organise a struggle to defeat the government's plans. The first step is for a massive mobilisation of health workers to the TUC demo on 26 March. This needs to be a step towards a one-day public sector general strike in opposition to all cuts and privatisation.

3 March 2011

Unison witch-hunt: Reinstate the Four!

Four Socialist Party members, unjustly suspended from office by Unison, have won a major victory at an employment tribunal. On the eve of the Unison national executive last week, a public meeting was held.
The four explained how, after a three-year battle, they have been vindicated. Unison should never have banned them from office. The victory has definitely lifted the morale of Unison activists.

Those present were well aware that the Unison bureaucracy may want to overturn this decision and therefore appeal against it.

Unison branches should pass the latest Defend the Four motion (below) calling for the bans to be lifted and send it to Unison general secretary Dave Prentis.

A noisy lobby of the Unison executive took place the following morning. Around 30 people demanded justice.

Those executive members who have supported the witch-hunt were left in no doubt that the campaign goes on till the bans are lifted.

This Branch welcomes the ruling of the outcome of the recent Employment Tribunal between Glenn Kelly, Onay Kasab, Brian Debus and Suzanne Muna and Unison.

The Judgement stated: "The unanimous judgement of the tribunal is that all the claimants were unjustifiably disciplined contrary to section 64 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidated) Act 1992."

This means Glenn Kelly, Suzanne Muna, Onay Kasab and Brian Debus should never have been disciplined let alone barred from holding office.

This follows a determined campaign by the four and their supporters which has lasted for over three years in which it was widely recognised that the persecution of the four was because they challenged the union leadership and had nothing to do with the disgraceful smear of racism.

We call on Unison to immediately lift the ban on the four from holding office and to end the "regional supervision" of the Bromley, Greenwich and TSA Unison branches.

Unison should desist from spending any more time and money trying to bar these members from holding office.

For more information visit http://www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk/

3 March 2011

Defending jobs in South Wales

Trade unionists, community campaigners and young people from all over South Wales will descend upon Pontypridd on 19 January for a demonstration called by Unison. We will be protesting against cuts to public services and jobs in Wales, specifically those being made at Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council, a Labour run authority.

Jamie Davis, Vale of Glamorgan Unison, personal capacity

Following on from a similar move at Labour controlled Neath Port Talbot council last year, the workforce were told their contracts were to be terminated, and that they would be given the option of signing new contracts with worsened terms and conditions.

After the joint trade unions formally registered a dispute, the council announced they were not prepared to participate in mediation with the joint secretaries of the Welsh Local Government Association and the trade unions.

The Unison and GMB branches have subsequently initiated a ballot for industrial action.

At a question and answer session for Labour Party members last weekend, Ed Miliband's advice to council workers in RCT was: "Blame the Tory government" - little comfort when trying to pay the bills.

Labour councils willing to wield the axe of Con-Dem cuts against their workers and community must be made to understand that they will face the full might of not just the trade union movement, but all those whose lives will be devastated by the programme of destruction that they allow to happen.

16 February 2011

No to Cutts!

Nottinghamshire county council Unison is balloting for strike action against the Tory administration of councillor Kay Cutts. On 24 February Unison hopes to strike and will be organising a demonstration to the budget setting meeting at County Hall.

The council leader has the right name - £87 million of cuts are planned for this coming year and £154 million over three years. The council is prepared to spend £60 million to make 3,500 workers redundant!
Against these attacks Notts Unison has fought a long hard battle. It has conducted a twelve week work to rule, three indicative ballots and is now in its second formal ballot for action. Scores of workplace meetings have taken place.

Greater support is now being offered to the branch from Unison regionally and nationally. But this has only been after a lot of pressure was exerted.

Some members feel isolated and can't see how to overcome the council's butchery of jobs and services. This can be overcome by Unison linking all local government struggles together: to use our collective strength in wide-scale coordinated industrial action.

By a Unison member

16 February 2011

Scottish Unison members oppose leadership's sell-out

Just days before councils across Scotland meet to slash public services, the February meeting of Unison Scottish Council was presented with a paper for debate entitled The Public Sector Workforce Framework.

A Scottish Unison member

The paper, marked "strictly not for publication" was the product of continuing discussions between the Scottish government, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) and the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA).

The paper's stated aim was "the pursuit of the goal of no compulsory redundancies in exchange for agreement to real and meaningful working practices that allow employers to generate the package of savings required to fund this goal".

Social care workers on strike in Scotland, photo Duncan Brown   (Click to enlarge)

An hour before the full council, the union's Scottish Committee meeting had debated the paper and, on a narrow vote of eleven to eight, recommended acceptance.

The document represented a thinly disguised attempt by a section of the Unison Scottish leadership to overturn the Unison council's position for coordinated industrial action to defeat cuts, as proposed by the Glasgow City Unison branch and agreed at the council's previous meeting in December.

Also agreed in December was the call for councils to set needs budgets and to call on elected politicians to refuse to make cuts. However, the proposed document shows that the Scottish leadership accepts cuts are inevitable.

The debate was sharp and protracted with many delegates opposing on two counts: firstly, over being 'bounced' into making a decision without time to consult members; secondly, that the content of the proposal represented a 'sell-out' of the membership in advance of any struggle against the employers.

Branch delegations that had consistently supported the leadership previously were split, in one case providing speakers both for and against the motion.

It was unfortunate that some delegates who consider themselves to be on the left were pushing for acceptance, arguing for the 'new reality' of reduced council budgets.

One delegate, a member of Socialist Appeal, explained that his branch had adopted a similar approach twelve months ago when it became clear that the council would be heading for a crisis.

Speaker after speaker condemned, not only the intention of the proposal, but the signal that it would send to employers who would use it to undermine local action.

If carried it would also represent a severe blow to the morale of the membership who are looking for a firm lead from the union at this time. After over an hour of debate the meeting voted to reject the partnership framework by a big majority.

This represents a victory for Unison members who want the union to have a clear strategy to defeat the cuts.

10 February 2011