Thursday 15 August 2013

SUPPORT GROWS TO SHUT DOWN THE TOWN!

Socialist Party members were out again last Saturday and today campaigning to defend Stafford hospital. Many more signed our petition to scrap the Health & Social Care Act – a privatiser’s charter.

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We have now given out over one thousand leaflets calling on Support Stafford Hospital to name the date for a shut down of Stafford to make the administrators listen to us.

We have also asked the opinions of the hundreds who have signed our petition what they thought of this idea as the next step. A big majority agreed with us, some weren’t sure but not one disagreed.

A Stafford hospital worker who didn’t want to be named said, “Yes, we need decisive action as soon as possible to save maternity, paediatrics, intensive care and A&E. Closing down the town might just work”.

Save Our Hospital! Shut Down the Town!

Self-appointed administrators have announced plans to reduce services at Stafford District General Hospital (DGH) and facilities in surrounding towns. It leaves people to travel 20 miles to hospitals in Wolverhampton or Stoke.

This is what they effectively decided months ago – it fits in nicely with government plans to run down DGHs and dismantle and privatise the NHS. No one in Staffordshire accepts their verdict!
 
The  administrators’ so-called consultation is a sham  -  they know it and we know it!
 
Over 1,500 angry people turned up to Stafford’s first ‘consultation’ meeting. Only half could fit in the room, others went to another room, 250 listened in a car park.

Despite calls for calm, people vented fury against health bosses who had cut their services. They cried “turn it off” as bosses played their promo video. Staff who challenged the bosses were cheered to the rafters. If that’s the start, then future consultation meetings don’t augur well for administrators!

Stafford march April 2013

We don’t need to be ‘consulted’ again – 50,000 of us marched on 20 April against any plans to dismantle Stafford/Cannock hospital! Originally the administrators raised the spectre of closure but the pressure we have all put on means they are not confident enough to go that far at this stage.

But they’re clearly still not listening enough! The powers that be still want to get rid of Maternity, Paediatrics, Intensive care and downgrade A&E. We need to step up the fight to defend Stafford and Cannock! Decisive action is necessary.

IF WE ARE TO MAKE THEM LISTEN TO US AND KEEP OUR SERVICES THEN WE MUST CLOSE DOWN THE TOWN FOR A HUGE PROTEST!
 
Every business should close, with every worker stopping work for a day or half a day to build a giant weekday rally that can make crystal clear we will not accept the loss of any of our services.
 
The 50,000 who marched on 20 April showed clearly there is massive support. Now is the time to mobilise this support again.

If the ‘Support Stafford Hospital’ campaign called for a shut down and named the date, this would receive massive support locally and nationally.

We should turn the ‘consultation’ meetings into mass rallies to build support for a shut down.

Trade unions should join in by organising workplace meetings.

Community groups and residents associations could organise local public meetings to mobilise support.

Neither is Stafford an isolated case. It’s part of the government’s plan to cut local hospitals and privatise as much as they can of our NHS.

Support Stafford Hospital should appeal to organisers of other campaigns like Lewisham and elsewhere to support such action in Stafford.

Save our NHS campaigners in other areas threatened with cuts might also consider taking similar action!

Zero tolerance for zero-hours!

Ian Pattison, Youth Fight for Jobs

Zero tolerance to zero hour contracts pic
 
Zero-hour contracts have hit the headlines with a bang. One million workers – more than four times as many as previously thought – are on zero-hour contracts. For those unlucky enough to be counted in this statistic, there are no guaranteed hours, no guaranteed work, and no guaranteed pay.
You can be called up by your boss at a moment’s notice and expected to be in work. Boots, one of the many high street chains using zero-hour contracts, had the cheek to tell staff with no guaranteed hours that they may be asked to work abroad!
Zero-hour contracts make it impossible for us to plan our lives. You don’t know one week to the next how much work you will have, how much you will get paid, whether you’ll have any work at all. 14% of people on zero-hour contracts say they do not earn enough to live.

Race to the bottom

Zero-hour contracts aren’t just a nightmare for the workers suffering under them – they are part to the race to the bottom, driving down pay, terms and conditions of all workers. You can’t get any lower than zero-hours!
We’re returning to the dark days when dockers and other workers would face the humiliation and uncertainty of lining up before a potential day’s shift, hoping to be picked for work by the boss.
Almost three million workers are out of work in Britain (one million of them aged 16 to 24). But this latest scandal proves that the real unemployment figure is a lot higher.
In the 1980s, the Tories changed the way unemployment was measured 20 times to disguise the true cost of Thatcher’s vicious policies. Today, companies’ use of zero-hour contracts allows the government to claim many more people are employed than have the security that used to come with having a job.
Under pressure, big business politicians like Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, and various Labour Party figures have joined the chorus criticising zero-hour contracts. But what sets Youth Fight for Jobs apart is that we have a real strategy for action to make zero-hour contracts a thing of the past. If the trade unions organised zero-hour contract staff, including through strike action, we could have a united fight to win decent contracts, with guaranteed hours, on a living wage for all.

24-hour general strike

Youth Fight for Jobs is joining the National Shop Stewards Network lobby of the TUC on Sunday 8 September in Bournemouth to call on the trade unions to name the day for a 24-hour general strike to stop austerity.
A 24-hour general strike could unite all workers against the Con-Dem cuts. It could inspire even currently non-unionised, zero-hour contract staff at Sports Direct and other companies to fight back too.
The demands of such general action should include a decent job with a proper contract for all those able to work. This would win overwhelming support from ordinary working-class people, who don’t want to see another ‘lost generation’ thrown on the scrapheap.
For more details on the NSSN lobby of the TUC see www.shopstewards.net or email info@shopstewards.net

The Socialist Feature: End Zero-Hour Contracts Now!

Thursday 8 August 2013

SHUT DOWN THE TOWN TO SAVE STAFFORD/CANNOCK HOSPITAL

    No to ‘independent’ administrators decision!

The ‘independent’ administrators have announced what they decided months ago as it fits in with the government’s plans to dismantle the NHS. 
 
No one in Staffordshire accepts their verdict!
 
SHUT DOWN THE TOWN TO SAVE STAFFORD/CANNOCK HOSPITAL
 
The people of Staffordshire have demonstrated great support for our hospitals. Yet the powers that be still want to reduce our services.
The pressure we all put on means they are reducing less than initially planned.
 
BUT IF WE ARE TO MAKE THEM LISTEN TO US AND KEEP OUR SERVICES THEN WE MUST CLOSE DOWN THE TOWN FOR A HUGE PROTEST
 
Every business must close, every worker stop work for half a day to build a giant week day rally that can make crystal clear we will not accept the loss of our services.
 
We call on;
  • Trade Unions to rapidly organise meetings
  • Support Stafford Hospital to call for such action and name the date
  • Community groups, residents to organise local public meetings to mobilise support
Keep Private Vultures out of the NHS!
The Health and Social Care Act (2012) has unleashed chaos into the health service. A full competitive market is trampling on cooperation and fragmenting service delivery, paving the way for private companies to cherry pick the most profitable treatments. 
The government’s multi million pound shake up, coupled with an unprecedented £20 billion of so-called efficiency savings are putting our NHS at grave risk. In just three years £7 billion of new NHS contracts have flooded the private health care market– a figure set to soar to £20 billion in the next few years.
We say ……….
* Axe the Health and Social Care Act
* Kick big business vultures out of the NHS
* Stop all cuts, closures and privatisation
* All hospitals to be fully funded by the NHS
* Adequate staffing levels to provide good quality care for all patients with decent pay and conditions for all staff
* A mass national trade union-led weekend demonstration to save the NHS
* Health unions should organise industrial action to defend every part of the health service
* A 24-hour general strike against all cuts
A Health Service for all!
Socialist Principals were at the core of the NHS when it was set up in 1948. Health care available to all, free at the point of use was a massive victory for working class people. 
We want big business out of the NHS, the pharmaceutical companies nationalised and health spending increased. Health workers, service users and communities they serve should have democratic control over how and where money is spent.
 
If you agree then Join the Socialist Party!
 
Text JOIN with your name & postcode to 07761818206 E-mail join@socialistparty.org.uk; phone 020 8988 8777; write to Socialist party, PO Box 24697, London E11 1YD

Wednesday 7 August 2013

National Health Service in crisis!

  • Stop the destruction of the NHS in east London!
  • No cuts at Whipps Cross, Barts, Newham and the Royal London

Socialist Party members in east London

A major campaign to defend the NHS is needed in east London, as it is in many parts of the country. Privatisation and cuts threaten Barts Health Trust, which includes Whipps Cross, Barts, Newham and the Royal London hospitals, forming Britain's biggest NHS hospital trust.

Barts has announced it is losing £2 million a week and plans severe cuts at all the hospitals, especially at Whipps Cross, to avoid going into administration. The Trust is making the biggest cuts in the NHS, with £30 million cuts this year alone.

It is saddled with a massive PFI (private finance initiative) deal to rebuild the old Royal London. These cuts are due to the greed of private companies that suck the lifeblood out of the NHS.

They are also part of the Con-Dems' plans to sell off the NHS and make massive cuts to all our public services, to pay for a crisis caused by bankers and bosses.

Part of the reason for the dogged drive to privatisation of the NHS, which clearly opens the door to disaster, is in order to provide new and profitable fields of investment for big business in this time of ongoing economic crisis. Another hint is the over £10 million in donations from companies profiting from private healthcare that the Tories have received since 2001.

The cuts must be fought! Why should working people across east London - workers in and users of the NHS - pay such a terrible price for the failures and the greed of the rich and big business?

Workers at Whipps Cross hospital have a proud record of standing up and fighting and winning.

Whipps Cross Unison branch is calling a public meeting and demonstration, and wants to work with the unions across all the hospitals to build a united campaign.

Attack on the union


The Waltham Forest Guardian reports that: "Charlotte Monro, chairperson for Unison's Waltham Forest health branch at the Leytonstone hospital, has been barred from representing members at a Barts Health Trust staff consultative group pending an investigation into her trade union activity."

It also reported a Unison spokesperson saying that "Ms Monro is the public service union's main link to the trust-wide body for the branch at Whipps Cross and barring her from attending disenfranchises members at the hospital."

Hospital workers and trade unionists who speak out to defend public services must be defended - an attack on one key figure is an attack on the whole union and the campaign.

The whole community should get behind the campaign of the workforce in the hospitals. The Unsion branch at the hospital has a very good record of resisting attacks on members and of defending workers' rights by organising determined campaigns, involving wide sections of the workforce and including strike action.

Demonstrations and other protests will all be important to bring together the community, NHS users, and the workforce to fight the latest attacks and to prepare for further threats. It is the workers in the hospital and the union branch who ultimately have the power to take decisive action, including strike action, which, with the community behind them, could beat these cuts back.

Socialist Party members, who work at Whipps Cross and are campaigning across east London, are pointing to the need to link up this struggle with all those against the cuts and to support the NSSN lobby of the TUC to call a 24-hour general strike.

Several hospital workers from the area are planning to stand as Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates in next May's local elections to provide a political voice that stands up for the NHS.

To get involved in the campaign and for details of meetings and protests, email paulamitchell@socialistparty.org.uk



No cuts in the health service


  • Kick big business out of the NHS:
  • Cancel privatisation and outsourcing contracts - reintegrate all health services back into the NHS
  • All hospitals to be fully run and funded by the NHS
  • Adequate staffing levels to provide good quality care for all patients. Decent pay and conditions for all staff
  • Health service unions to organise industrial action to defend every part of the NHS



111 emergency


The NHS non-emergency phone line - 111 - is in crisis after NHS Direct decided to pull out of the contracts it holds (threatening the service in a quarter of areas). Why the sudden cold feet? Well, it has become 'financially unsustainable' to continue providing the service on the current contract. Which might have something to do with the fact that NHS Direct massively under-bid for the project, promising it would only cost £7 a call. The actual figure has been much higher, leaving NHS Direct in the red and the service worse than shoddy. So much for the benefits of competition.

Out to tender


£5 billion worth of NHS contracts are going out to tender. These include 160 large-scale contracts and seven worth over £100 million. Private sector vultures are swarming round the bidding process, in what has been described as "an arms race", recognising this huge outsourcing of public services as one of the only ways to make a profit in the current economic situation. This tendering represents a major shift in how the NHS operates and the likely devastating effects will be seen over the coming years.

Serco scandal...again


One company very interested in the latest round of privatisation in the NHS is Serco. Serco already runs out-of-hours GP services in Cornwall - which suffered massive failings and a "culture of lying and cheating" within a couple of years of takeover - and community health services in Suffolk. They have a hand on every area of public services in fact - the prisons where they keep prisoners locked up all day, the tagging where they overcharge the government by millions. You'd think these success stories would be enough to put a stop to it but Serco is now going after a £1 billion contract for health services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Needed: a strategy to stop the destruction of the NHS. A collection of articles from the Socialist


£2 including postage

Available from Socialist Books, PO Box 24697, London E11 1YD,




National Shop Stewards Network NHS bulletin number 3


Includes articles on Whipps Cross, Wales, Mid Staffs and building for a 24-hour general strike

See shopstwards.net or email info@shopstewards.net


NHS: cuts ration care

Nurses protest on the 20 October 2012 TUC demo , photo Senan

The medical director of NHS England, Bruce Keogh, has said the NHS should be run like Dixons or PC World with a "more for less" mentality - he must mean more profits, less healthcare, poor service and closures (all Dixons shops closed in 2006!).
But already, a study has shown that the lack of adequate staffing means that nurses 'ration' the care they give to patients because of pressures on their time.
Areas most likely to be cut back on are talking to patients, adequate monitoring, recording details of care, and pain management. Unsurprisingly, the problem was shown to be worst in the hospitals with fewer staff per patients.
 
This blows out of the water the idea that poor care is because of uncaring nurses. Many simply do not have the time and resources to do the job they are trained for because of understaffing and cuts.
The evidence for this BMJ Quality and Safety medical journal study was gathered in 2010 - before most of the 7,000-plus nursing jobs cuts made so far under the Con-Dems! And more redundancies are on the way - 140 hospital foundation trusts plan to slash 30,000 jobs by 2016.
 
The government and media talk about a £30 billion NHS funding gap by 2020. But this 'shortfall' could be more than met if the government scrapped all PFI (Private Finance Initiative - 'Profit from Illness'!) in the NHS.

Robbery

PFI is like taking out a high interest mortgage, but the lender owns the house at the end of the loan! And while everything else in the NHS gets slashed, the PFI payments stay. The total cost of all PFI (including non-NHS) has been measured at over £300 billion!
 
PFI was a favourite scheme of New Labour, but despite criticising PFI in opposition, the Tories' only new hospital - Alder Hey in Liverpool - has been built under the costly system.
 
Of course, two more easy ways of 'plugging the gap' would be to kick big business out of the NHS and make the rich and corporations pay tax!
 
Another money saver would be to take the drugs companies under democratic working class control and management. This would stop the pushing up of drug prices by up to 2,000%, as reported in the last issue of the Socialist.
 
North West TUC is organising a demo outside the Tory party conference in September.  But we can't just stop at demonstrating - the health unions, especially Unison, should be organising national strike action to stop the break-up and privatisation of the NHS.
 
This would be best done as a part of a 24-hour general strike by all unions in opposition to austerity.
But we also need political representation- the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour all agree that the NHS should be cut, broken up and privatised. That is why the Socialist Party is part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, which stands in elections against all cuts and privatisation.

Monday 5 August 2013

DEFEND STAFFORD HOSPITAL! DEFEND THE NHS! No to ‘independent’ administrators decision!

image (3)

Stafford Socialist Party members including Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition county council election candidate Jim Reading took to the streets of Stafford on Saturday to speak to people about the administrators decision to butcher parts of Stafford hospital.



We set up our campaigning stall in our usual spot outside Iceland. Hundreds of people queued up to sign our petition and take away our  leaflets along with Support Stafford Hospital leaflets advertising the first administrators ‘consultation’ public meeting.

Everyone we spoke to agreed with us – that the greatest threat that Stafford hospital faces along with the rest of the NHS is privatisation.

Within an hour we had sold 50 copies of the Socialist – all that we had - and £45 was donated to our fighting fund to pay for more leaflets.

Below is an extract from our leaflets which were also given out to people attending last Wednesday's Support Stafford Hospital public meeting in the Gatehouse Theatre;

DEFEND STAFFORD HOSPITAL! DEFEND THE NHS!
No to ‘independent’ administrators decision!
The ‘independent’ administrators have spoken, announcing more or less what they decided months ago because it fits in with the government’s plans to dismantle the whole of our NHS.
Our reply should be clear:
  • We do not accept your verdict.
  • We want all Stafford’s hospital services to remain along with adequate staffing levels.
  • We want nothing less than Stafford to be part of a fully funded, publicly owned NHS run in the interests of all not the profits of a few.
But we can’t afford it” they will say.
We disagree;
The government has spent billions bailing out banks so it can do the same with the NHS.
Instead of sacking more tax inspectors they should employ more to collect the £120 billion a year corporation tax which is ‘avoided’ or ‘evaded’ by big business companies. 
Step up the Campaign to Defend Stafford hospital! 
We should use Stafford’s high media profile to call a national meeting of the many groups around the country who are campaigning to defend hospitals and NHS services.
We should mobilise Stafford to attend the “Save our NHS” protest at the Conservative Party conference on 29 September. (see opposite)
We want a maximum turn out at the ‘consultation’ meetings. Lets make our voice heard! But we also need regular meetings organised by Support Stafford Hospital open to all campaigners to discuss and plan an ongoing campaign to defend Stafford hospital.

JOIN TUC ‘Save Our NHS’ rally at Tory conference in Manchester

THOUSANDS of trade unionists including NHS workers will tell the Conservative Party conference to ‘save our  NHS’ as anger mounts at the effects of cuts, privatisation and the increasing fragmentation of the health service.
Marchers will speak out for jobs and services as they bring their opposition to the plans to dismantle the NHS to the opening Sunday of the Manchester conference. 
The Save Our NHS march & rally takes place in the city on Sunday 29 September.
Support Stafford Hospital and trade union branches across Staffordshire should book buses to join this demonstration.
No more Tory, Lib Dem or Labour cuts, closures or privatisation!