Laboratory biomedical scientists and support workers in the Unite union struck for on Tuesday of last week. Their employer, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, is imposing new working patterns.
A Unison union rep and campaigner at Whipps Cross Hospital in east London has been threatened with disciplinary action by bosses at Barts Health Trust.
As the Tories push more of the health service into the private sector Sarah Ensor spoke to people who remember the grim reality of privatised healthcare before the NHS was set up 65 years ago this month