Some 50 striking NHS workers joined the rally at the Maudsley Hospital on Thursday
Unite union members at the South London and Maudsley (Slam) NHS Foundation Trust walked out this week over pay and conditions.
The workers—electricians, decorators, joiners, painters and plumbers—work at sites including Bethlem Royal, Lambeth, Lewisham and Maudsley hospitals.
“We keep the doors open, the lights on and the water running. If we don’t work, this place doesn’t,” Glenn, the equalities rep at the Maudsley, told Socialist Worker.
“But we’ve got people on this picket who are doing exactly the same job as others on band 5 of the NHS pay scale—except they’re being paid at band 3 or 4. It’s absolutely unacceptable.
“And it’s not only that. There are people in other departments who have been bumped up the bands, often without even asking. But we’re the nobodies of the trust, so we get nothing”.
On Thursday, around 50 workers rallied at the Maudsley Hospital. It’s the largest mental health training institution in Britain.
“All the trust does is talk. We feel like it’s one meeting after another,” Luke, the union’s health and safety rep at the site, told Socialist Worker.
“So, since we’ve exhausted every other avenue, we’ve walked out on strike.
“And there was overwhelming support for it—97 percent voted to walk out. As you can see, the mood here is militant,” he added.
The strikers chanted, “What do we want? Fair pay! When do want it? Now!” as people passing by honked their horns in support.
Glenn said, “The bosses have been taken by surprise a bit. I don’t think they actually believed us when we said we’d strike. But now that we’re out, everyone’s in high spirits.”
Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, addressed the striking workers on the picket line on Thursday.
“The NHS has been starved of resources,” she said.
“The NHS is a toxic merry-go-round of cuts and increasing workloads.
“But, in the face of all that, it’s workers like you who keep hospitals like the Maudsley open.
“It’s not the execs on six figure salaries. The top two earners in this trust earn £400,000 between them. That’s the amount it would cost to solve this dispute.”
Mark, a staff nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in south London and a fellow Unite member offered his solidarity to the striking workers.
“We’re balloting over a similar issue at my workplace. So I’m here today to stand in solidarity with the workers here,” he told Socialist Worker.
“But we also need to link up all of the struggles across the NHS,” he added.
The workers at Slam were set to strike on Friday. And, if the bosses don’t come back to the table, they’re ready to strike again.
“We’re certainly prepared to come out again, until we get what we’re after,” Luke said.
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