Midwives demand fair pay in London, 2014. (Picture: Chris Marchant)
“Vote yes to save the NHS!” That’s the Unison union’s slogan as it prepares this week to launch a massive strike ballot over pay.
Some 320,000 health workers in England and Wales are set to receive ballot papers in the coming days. It comes after the government imposed a rise of just 4 percent—less than a third of the rate of inflation.
Unison is joining the nurses’ RCN, midwives’ RCM, Unite, GMB and physiotherapists’ unions in asking its members to hit back with strikes. It now looks likely that there will be action by at least some groups of NHS workers in December or early next year.
The Unison ballot is “disaggregated”, meaning the vote will take place on a trust by trust basis. Organisers hope this will allow workers in parts of the NHS where union organisation is strong to strike, even if weaker areas fail to meet the Tories’ 50 percent turnout threshold.
Nevertheless, activists say there will still have to be an enormous campaign to get the vote out. “I would say the mood in my hospital is split,” says Carrie, an admin worker and union activist in the south west of England.
“There’s a layer of people that are definitely up for striking and need no convincing from me. But there are a lot of people who are tired to the point of exhaustion.
“They’ve been through Covid and look at the coming ‘winter pressures’ and are fearful for the future. They ask what will happen to their patients if we strike. I always reply, what do you think will happen to them, and the whole NHS, if we don’t strike?
“I’m spending all my time talking to people and answering their questions,” she says. “That’s in the corridors, on the wards and in staff meetings.
“People want to know about safety cover, strike pay, what happens on picket lines—all sorts.”
Carrie says the key now is to increase involvement in the union in order to reach everyone being balloted. She’s already won the union some new activists.
“We have to ask everyone we talk to if they could be involved in the ballot campaign,” she says. “Our union branch is setting times for mass leafleting—and we’re encouraging supporters from other unions to come down and help us on those dates too.
“And we’re doing ward rounds with union materials, making sure everyone knows the ballot is now on.” A strike in the health service will be political dynamite. It will raise the current wave of pay battles to a new level—and give confidence to millions of others to do the same. And it’s the only way to save the NHS from terminal decline under the Tories.
Leading health union activist Karen Reissmann told Socialist Worker about a strategy for winning the ballot on a high turnout. “No one thinks winning this is going to be easy. There are big obstacles we must overcome,” she said.
“For 12 years Unison has failed to lead a fight over our declining pay, terrible staffing levels, pensions and even Covid safety. That has taken its toll on morale.”
But, says Karen, the absolute government shambles is an opportunity to turn the tide. “Start with the simple things. Get people wearing badges and get posters up,” she says.
“We need to continue and expand the big leafleting drives that I know many branches are already doing. We are in a four-week race to the finish line on 25 November, and we need a local plan that uses all available time.”
“Local pay rallies are an excellent idea. We can use the strength of other workers in struggle to help us by inviting them on to our platforms. And, we can tap into the massive public support there is for health workers striking back.”
Karen says phone banks are another good initiative that the national union has made easy for local activists to tap into. Unison is allowing all its members the chance to join in phoning those in the NHS being balloted and to remind them to vote for strikes.
“We know the Tories want austerity 2.0 to hit the NHS. Striking is the best chance we have of stopping them,” says Karen.
“People here are really up for a fight,” says Nina, a Unite union rep in a Birmingham hospital. Unite are set to ballot different groups of workers in stages, starting with those where the union is strongest.
“Those I work with just can’t bear the thought that nothing in the NHS is going to get better. The psychologists are probably the most ready to strike. We’ve just recruited two new reps from among them, and I think that reflects the terrible state of mental health services.
“It’s also that some of the higher pay bands have seen the most wage depreciation, and that means it’s very difficult to recruit new staff. If you’ve trained for ten years to do your job, imagine how demoralising it is to see what cuts and privatisation are doing to the service you’ve built up.”
Nina hopes that groups of health workers taking action will show others what is possible and encourage a wider fightback in the NHS.
England and Wales
Scotland
Disabled journalist John Pring spoke to Socialist Worker
So much more is possible
Activist for Grenfell justice speaks out
Educational support services are severely underfunded
