Hackney strikes

Scan page 5

Hackney workers' demonstration against Labour's cuts Trade unionists, parents and youth lobby Oxford Trades Council 1,000 hospital workers and other trade unionists from both the public and private sector stopped work last week and marched from St Leonards Hospital, Hackney which is threatened with closure to lobby the Area Health Authority.

On the march were FBU members from Kingsland Fire Station, NUT and NATFHE teachers, Reuters NATSOPA FIGHT THE C NORTH EROT MICHT.

naig MEDICAL BRANG HOSPITA chapel, British Oxygen workers, East London SCPS and CPSA members from the social security offices.

More important than the march itself was the half day strike by local government workers in support of st Leonards and the other threatened hospitals-Mile End, the German Hospital and London Jewish.

•NUPE, TGWU and GMWU workers from the dust, the parks, school cleaners and movement to sweep from office.

"When we get another Labour govemment it must be one which is responsive to the party conference decisions and which takes measures in defence of working class interests." school dinners were all out in force.

Tommy Durass, SWP member and chairman of the Hackney council joint works shop stewards had obviously been a moving force behind this strike which was significant as the first across the board stoppage by workers in all the public services in support of one area of the cuts.

Potential

Such one day strike action is of course only a first step-but one which shows the potential response from the working class to a fighting policy.

The task now is to develop the basis for full-scale occupations to prevent closurts, backed up by all-out strike action.

Slogans absent.

But the SWP failed to argue for this in the Hackney demonstration, and despite the strong presence of the SWP's 'Rank and File' placards and a special issue of Socialist Worker on the demonstration there was no political direction behind the placards and an almost total absence of slogans generalising the call for strike action.

Nonetheless if this move can be built on there is clearly the basis for an effective fight on the cuts.

A plethora of big name left' MPs-Ted Knight, Norman Atkinson, Reg Race and Wedgewood Benn -addressed the 500 plus demonstration against the cuts at Turnpike Lane on Saturday.

Workers from NATHE, NUT, NALGO, NUR, and VUPÉ supported the call by the Labour Party-controlled Haringey Campaign Against the Cuts.

Haringey, as an NUT speaker pointed out, has been attempting to implement the Tory cuts.

Dithering

Its reluctance and embarassment at doing so cannot let the council off the hook its responsibility for implementing anti-working class measures.

Di Parkin But, dithering and uncertain, it has crumbled on one front in the face of action against the CUTS.

Playgroup workers in NALGO and parents refused to accept the closure of 3 council run playgroups and continued to run them outside the locked buildings last week.

This crypto-occupation and refusal to implement the cuts had the desired effect and the social services committee refused to endorse its chairman's action in closing the playgroups and making other cuts.

Nonetheless the officers of the council continue to freeze the filling of posts and NALGO members are refusing to cover for the vacancies.

Shutting down

An area social services office is shutting down one day a week when there is not the proper amount of staff to cover it.

And the assistant director of social services has issued a "directive" that staff should stop giving out the home phone numbers of councillors and referring angry claimants to them if their services are cut.

But such 'no cover" action is insufficient to meet the all-out attack on the public sector.

This point was made by Di Parkin, speaking from the NALGO Women's Sub-Committee on the platform at Saturday's demo.

She pointed out that the cuts had a dual impact on women. They threatened their jobs, since for instance, in Hackney itself one in three local women workers are in public services; half of the 3,000 local health service workers are women; and women make up two-thirds of the 11,000 strong council workforce.

Many women also work part time or on temporary contracts which makes them most vulner-

----- pull-quotes -----

STOP T4t Sul

*VE DVEN* TURE demo

DEMONS1 AGAINS Üxfo figh