Ambulance pay sell ou

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A meeting last week of the campaign to save the threatened Bethnal Green Hospital now under the It looks the though leadership the in Ambulance Service unions will be successful in persuading their membership to accept a derisory pay offer within the 10% limit.

The original claim by the unions (COHSE, NUPE, GMWU and TGWU) was for a 26% increase, consolidation of previous awards, and increased holiday and sick pay.

This was answered by an offer of 62% from management, which was theoretically rejected by the union leadership, thus preparing the ground for their "reluctant" acceptance of the latest offer.

This offer comprises a 10% increase in basic pay-but, by some bureaucratic sleight of hand, calculated on a lower basic than the current one, which means it is actually nearer 8%-and a consolidation of a mere £3 of previous pay awards into the basic, bringing it up to about £47 a week.

Low basic wage

With a low basic wage level and overtime rate, ambulance men and women are still forced to do enormous amounts of overtime to make a living wage.

In the context of depleted, undermanned health service, this means a divided workforce competing for jobs and money whilst the union : leadership make platonic comments about the cuts.

Keep

Len Murray's contribution to the health of the nation is to advise us all to keep fit; a good idea if you're last on the waiting list for a kidney machine!

The leadership of the ambulance unions should have fought for the original claim. This meant calling for strike action alongside the firemen, and for the building of councils of action to coordinate and broaden the struggle against wage controls and the anti-working class Lib-Lab government.

Sliding scale A new leadership must now be built in the public sector union, capable of leading the fight against the cuts by fighting for a sliding scale of wages and public expenditure.