One of the only two orA picket was called of the International Olympics Committee meeting in Birmingham in support of a call to boycott the state of Utah. Utah was bidding for the 1998 Winter Olympics. The boycott was called for after Governor Norm Bangerter signed into law the US's most restrictive abortion law.
denied access to DI in the NHS for choice THE JULY 5 Day of Action called by NALGO in solidarity with sacked NHS clerical staff victimised for taking strike action against Oldham health authority coincides with a rising tide of local activity in defence of the health service.
Rallies are being held in many hospitals, challenging the Tories' reactionary NHS 'reforms'.
Campaigns
Campaigns against the second wave of over 100 would-be hospital opt-outs across the country have gathered strength and urgency from the revelation that hundreds of jobs were axed in April by two of the Tories' flagship 'Self Governing Trusts', Guy's and Bradford.
Now the plans to cut more nursing posts- including senior nurses and midwives = hy tha opted-out North Middlesex Hospital will add further impetus to already active campaigns.
In London, health workers and local community organisations are linking up to fight optouts, with especially active campaigns in taling Barnet, Valtham Forest and Parkside The Hands Off Our NHS attack left The National Front have stepped up attempts to establish a presence in West Lonion. A group of from the 'Flag' faction of the National Front organised an attack on left-wing newspaper sellers in Hounslow on June 22.
The attack follows a failed attempt by the nazis to hold a demonstration in Uxbridge recently, which was met by a determined mobilisation of the left and the Black community.
Fascists have notattempted to organise on the streets in the area in five years, though they have a history of standing in council elections.
Inaction from the police means that continued vigilance from the left and the Black community will be necessary.
SARGUR LOCAL HEALTH CLINICS NEEDED Campaign reports that campaigners from many other parts of the country have been ordering leaflets and material against opt-outs.
In the Oxfordshire region, TUC health unions covering the four counties of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire have joined together to publish a spe cial campaigning leaflet, and a detailed attack on management's plans to opt out eight units.
The report Reasons to be Fearful shows that two of the Trusts would be in deficit for at least two years, and five hope to make 'surpluses' ranging from 0.06% to just 1% of their annual budget. The eighth (Milton Keynes General Hospital) has submitted no financial information, while it has already slashed back its ambitious plans to open up new beds and expand its workforce - in effect staging a With Trusts now a concrete, bitter reality rather than an abstract future threat, and with many of the first-wave Trusts already facing financial problems, the battle against op ting out' is likely to continue throughout the summer.
Now is the time for the unions to raise the profile of the campaign: if the Oldham NALGO strikers are to be defended, and Trust managers deterred from attempting similar union-busting tactics, the unions must show themselves ready to fight back in defence of jobs, conditions and union recognition.
Hands Off Our NHS can be contacted at 446, Uxbridge Rd, London W12 ONS.
staline, a preemptive Guy's- Bitter reality