[alongside a barrage of attacks on pincer move…]

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alongside a barrage of attacks on pincer move designed to whittle services to the elderly unleashed away social provision for the by Wandsworth's notorious area's 43,700 old people, plan *The sacking of 28 out of 61 provided by St. Benedicts and *A £180,000 cut in the possible total of 55 beds in St. home help and meals-on-wheels James, Balham and the South budget. London Hospital for Women.

The continued struggle to save St. Benedicts Hospital in Tootirig has become a focal point for the fight against the cuts in London.

The fact that the hospital scheduled for closure months ago, is still functioning with over 100 patients, is the outcome of t'he solid 8-month occupation and work-in staged by the workforce-mainly NUPE, RCN and COHSE members.

Now the fight to save the hospital faces a new challengea threat by the Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth AHA to implement the closure on September 30.

Scottish teachers have returned to a new session angry and frustrated with the management imposition upon them of a 14% wage settlement.

Despite the protestations of the leadership of the EIS, it is obvious that the Executive must have known all along that the terms of the Scottish Teachers Salaries Committee enables the management to unilaterally call in the services of an arbitration board to legally impose a settlement upon the teachers, many of whom are now asking themselves-what trust can be placed in a leadership which misleads the membership in this fashion?

Embittered

The embittered mood of many teachers is being expressed in some areas by a refusal to carry out non-statutory administrative duties and resolutions have been passed calling upon the Executive to make the ban official and national in scope.

There are also moves atoot for a Special Salaries Conference and a Special General Meeting of the Institute to change the union constitution so as to establish a directly elected Executive.

All of these moves show that teachers may have received a set-back but certainly do not share the pessimistic mood of John Pollock, the National Secretary, who characterised the settlement as "a major defeat".

If a more radicalised and better organised union at rank and file level means a defeat in the eyes of the leadership that i perfectly understandable.

The current mood of disJason with the present leadership must find expression howart in the elections for Council and Local Association Committees of Management when they neent in earl 1981.

The AHA hopes that by axing the unique geriatric services provided at the hospital they can save £1.5 million in their drive to eliminate "overspending" caused by Tory cuts.

Attacks

The planned closure runs Tory council including:

social work aides.

*An end to telephones the elderly *An end to holidays for active elderly *The closure of a luncheon club for old people *An increase in meals on wheels prices from 6½p in 1978 to 30p now.

Meanwhile the AHA, in a to "replace" the 273 places now Bolingbroke hospitals with a

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leache sold out

For a clear struggle against wage control, cuts