Spread the fight to win Dudley strike
As we go to press, 600 ancillary workers from the Dudley Group of Hospitals are engaged in a third round of strike action in protest at the decision to remove their employment from the NHS to one of the five contractors in the consortium Summit Healthcare.
At their mass meeting on August 17 they voted to escalate to a seven-day strike, rejecting calls for indefinite action at that stage. At the demonstration through Dudley Town Centre on August 19 , it was announced that UNISON had approved the escalation.
The strike so far is solid and confidence is growing. It has strong local support as demonstrated by the difficulty in actually talking while on the picket line above the din of honked car horns. Large numbers of donations and messages of support are arriving. Wherever strikers representatives go to ask for support they are well received.
The reasons for the action couldn't be clearer. The Trust have said that 170 full time jobs will go and the already low paid workers will then face further attacks on their wages and conditions to satisfy private employers and their shareholders.
The PFI-funded scheme also involves the closure of one of the Dudley group of hospitals and the loss of in-patient services at two others. Overall there will be a loss of 70 beds.
In 1995-6 the Dudley NHS Defence campaign raised over 30,000 names on a petition against the Trust's plans, which of course made no impression on health managers.
Even though the government changed the rules in June 1999 on PFI to allow workers to stay in the NHS for new projects, the Dudley Trust has refused a request from UNISON to do just that.
Government
This led to the current round of industrial action. The Trust is now saying that it is the government that is instructing them not to renegotiate the contract.
However the strike leadership are confident of victory. They claim that the Trust would like a way out, and they are calling for Alan Milburn to step in and resolve it.
The best conditions for victory lie with escalation of the dispute, so that the Trust and the government blink first. That means that indefinite action will be needed if the current 7-day action does not bring the bosses to heel. Full strike pay for these low paid workers will be essential.
All UNISON organised workplaces in the region and could be asked to hold meetings to hear Dudley strikers' representatives and collect much needed money.
A £1,000 donation has just been received from Finnish trade unionists, and money and greetings have already arrived from as far afield as Australia, showing that the strikers could go a lot wider in their appeal.
Other UNISON members might also look again at the possibility of taking action over their own disputes.
A consultant has already spoken out publicly against the Trust despite pressure on him not to do so. The strikers have pledged to defend him if he is victimised. If clinical staff were to get involved in the action, it would be a further welcome escalation.
But UNISON leaders must also be told to break with their twin-track strategy of talking tough on attacks on public services combined while attacking the very people in the union who are leading the fightback.