Heal Th Stewards Join

Scan page 10

together throughr inate the the cuts NHS stewards ut London, to coordsporadic fight against some seventy shon stewards representing nine the inaugural meeting of CLASH - the Conference of London Area Stewards in the Health Service on February 23rd.

Opening the meeting on behalf of the Joint Stewards Committee of South Camden which had called the conference, Eustelle. Lindsay INUPE, University College Hospital spoke of the fight put up by her committee to defend the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital.

Their experience had convinced them that hospital closures could not be fought one by one and they had therefore called the conference to build united action.

Platform speaker, Arthur Churchly, _NUPE steward at the occupied Elizabeth Garrett AnderHospital, emphasised the responsibility of the large, well organised hospitals to defend the small, poorly organised ones.

He paid tribute to those few individuals who had fought against the defeatism to be found among the non-unionised EGA staff at the beginning of their fight against closure, and whose leadership had persuaded workers that the only way of defending their hospital was to occupy it.

This, he stressed, was the only way to fight the cuts. Whilst the Campaign to save the EGA had concentrated their activities on lobbies of MPs, organising petitions and other protests, they had lost half their hospital.

PREVENTED

Since the occupation started, however, they had on two occasions prevented the AHA from closing the remainder of the tospital.

One of the immediate successes of the conference was to draw in a number of stewards from the Whittington bospital - which until now has been the weak point in the fight to save the EGA.

Whittington GMWU steward Bill Wicodall speaking in response to Arau Churchly stated that the *Ettington unions would cooperLe FE EGA workers in refusing to =lo% ice EGA to be moved there.

Later, the conference adopted a resolution demanding that the NECs of NOPE, COHSE, NALGO and ASTMS call all-London strike action on April 18th, the day when the AHA have announced they intend to close the hospital.

STRIKE

Denis Renton IGMWU, St. Bartholomew's] described the recent strike in defence of night porters when they were victimised for refusing to do work normally done by clerical staff.

The strike had won the reinstatement of the victimised porters after the joint unions banned all emergency services, including oxygen deliveries.

As a result the strike was short, patients were less harmed and the outcome was that management had to create a new post - for a night records clerk.

Consequently the managemen: were looking for other ways of making cuts and a further dispute was brewing over overtime and rota changes.

Supplementing • these remarks, John Clarke [NUPE, Queen Elizabeth's Hackney] explained that the Barts workers had also won guaranteed earnings from overtime. Staff to be recruited since the agreement, however, were not entitled to guaranteed overtime.

DIVISIONS

This led to divisions amongst workers doing the same job. further, the AHA had promised that when they closed hospitals there would be no redundancies.

Instead, staff were transferred to other hospitals, including Barts.

Two chefs, transferred to Barts from the now-closed Metropolitan, were not included in the guaranteed overtime agreement and consequently lost £17 a week in wages.

Since their basic wage was inadequate they were forced to leave and therefore lost even the chance of redundancy pay. In this way, the 'no redundancy" promises of the AHAs could be seen to be a fraud.

The main resolution to the conference was moved by Colin Kenny LASTMS, St. Mary's! on behalf of the organising committee.

NECESSARY

He emphasised that the resolution posed what was necessary if a real fight in defence of living standards was to take place.

The theme of the resolution was the emphasis to place the NHS and its major supply industries workers control.

Furthermore, to defend living standards, pay rises should be based on the rate of inflation, as determined by "labour movement assessment of the effects of inflation"

The resolution called for opposition to ali redundancies, including "natural wastage" and proposed opposition *by linked strike action and occupations to the closure of any wards, departments or hospitals, except where replaced by immediately improved facilities.

These policies could only be carried out through the building of joint stewards committees in opposition to the participation schemes of joint consulsative committees. This motion was carried 41-6.

A second resolution, implicitly opposing the organising committees resolution was tabled by supporters of the SWP (IS) paper Hospital Worker.

STEWARDS

Pointing out that CLASH was a conference of stewards and that SWP members had failed to get their resolution adopted by any stewards committee, the Chairman nevertheless allowed the resolution to be taken.

In its support John Clarke argued that demands like nationalisation were "irrelevant" to the present problems facing hospital workers.

Instead, the Hospital Worker resolútion called simply for support for the Hospital Worker conference; for £60 a week minimum wage; support for the Leyland stewards "initiatives"; and support for the Hospital Worker paper.

Several delegates pointed out that unlike the organising committee's resolution, it contained no policies for a continuing fight against cuts or wage controls and the resolution was heavily defeated.

In addition to the main resolution, the conference called on all its delegates to fight for a mass lobby of the conference of public sector union executives on March 22nd in Central Hall, Westminster, to demand that these executives organise a "nationally coordinated one day public sector strike" against the cuts, on May Lith, and to demand through their union branches that the NECs of each union call official strikes on that day.

CLASH will now meet at threemonthly intervals. Details of future meetings can be obtained from Colin Kenny, Virology, St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, Praed St., London W2.

Workers at Winsford Textiles Ltd, members of the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers, have without a single dissenter signed the following resolution in a mass petition from the factory to the union's District Committee.

"This Branch of N.U.T.&G.W. declares its opposition to the present policy of wage control.

Already after less than 2 years of the incomes policy the average wage has been cut by £10 a week.

We therefore call for a substantial wage increase and also a policy of wages tied to a cost of living index: a sliding scale of sages.

Scan page 11

"GWU TS 3_AC IINDUSTRIAL rage 11

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

NHS unions and twenty eight hospitals in London attended

Sliding scale demanded