SCORES of striking nurses spoke out angrily on the picket lines yesterday to condemn the Tory public sector pay cuts programme.
Hundreds of thousands of nurses were on strike again yesterday, having participated alongside tens of thousands of ambulance staff in the biggest ever strike in the National Health Service on Monday.
Many demanded that the TUC gets off its knees and calls a general strike to defend the NHS and bring down the Tory government now.
At St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south west London, nurses from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and their supporters kept up a lively picket chanting: ‘Claps don’t pay the rent’ and ‘What do we want? Pay increase! When do we want it? Now!’
Danny Mae, RCN member, told News Line: ‘We don’t want to be ignored. We just want to be treated fairly.
‘The government’s behaviour is ridiculous. They are just thinking about themselves. I think the NHS has too many managers. Our real message is not being highlighted about the shortage of staff and the attempts to privatise the NHS.
‘The rich are becoming richer, and politicians pay themselves big increases while holding our pay down.’
First on the picket line at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith yesterday, RCN rep Matthew Coleman told News Line: ‘Everyone on the picket line yesterday was in really good spirits and we won lots of support.
‘At the end of the day the government are pocketing the country’s resources while the rich and big corporations avoid paying millions of pounds in taxes.’
There was a large picket line all day on Monday and Tuesday at University College Hospital (UCH) at Euston in London, where RCN member Janet said: ‘A lot of people support the call for a general strike – together we are stronger.’
Charlotte, a nurse for over 16 years, said: ‘We have been pushed to the brink. We are overworked, underpaid and undervalued. We love our jobs and we love helping people, but we can’t keep going like this.
‘This strike is part of a larger strike wave in the UK, with railway workers, ambulance workers, bus drivers, lecturers, university support staff, and many others also taking action.
‘We are all fighting for better working conditions and fair pay. We want to make sure that essential services like the NHS and public transport can continue to provide high-quality care to the people who need it.’
Jeremy Corbyn joined the striking nurses on the picket line at UCLH. Speaking to them on megaphone, he congratulated them on their strike, joined in with the ‘claps don’t pay the bills’ slogans, took selfies with them and said they would win because the public supports them.
Corbyn then spoke to News Line, saying: ‘Claps don’t pay our NHS workers who keep us all alive. Private health care is not and should never be an option.
‘There are going to be more strikes and more coordination between all the unions. The politics of today is on the picket line.’
Doreen Ratnayke told News Line: ‘I’m 67 and I retired when the pandemic started. Things were already bad then. I was high risk and I had to give up. I’ve seen how much worse things have become since.
‘I’m here today to support my colleagues. Some of the students I trained are now in senior positions. I cannot get over the lack of funding and the shortage of staff.
‘My colleagues are having to work long hours, while wages have not caught up with the cost of living. I think the TUC must call a general strike to bring down the Tories.’
Analisa, a 45-year-old nurse who has worked for the NHS for 25 years, said: ‘We work extraordinarily hard; for example, I was working in critical care during the pandemic, and I saw suffering and hardships that no one should have to. I saw so many of the patients I was taking care of die.
‘Because of NHS underfunding sometimes patients are being denied urgent and essential procedures because of long waiting lists.
‘We need many more nurses to join our hospitals and relieve the stress on extremely overworked staff, which is not possible to do with the salaries we are being paid.
‘The accusations made by the media and the government about the nurses not caring about their patients for striking is nonsensical because one of the major issues that we want resolved is the crisis of understaffing inside the NHS, we want these improvements for our patients, there is no NHS without us.
‘All the workers coming out on strike right now have my solidarity with them. We all deserve fair pay, and we must join our forces together if we are to overcome the obstacles standing in our way to fair pay and conditions.’
Siri, a nurse with 31 years of experience in the NHS, said: ‘The shortage of staff has put additional pressure on the existing workforce, resulting in a lack of breaks and a persistent feeling of working under severe pressure. The government is not listening to our demands.’
Concetta, a senior nurse, said: ‘I am here because it’s the right thing to do. We are asking for respect in the form of better pay. This strike is not just for the nurses, but for the well-being of the people in general.
At the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, RCN rep Sam Thomas said: ‘We are striking here not for ourselves but for everyone who uses the NHS.
‘There hasn’t been a general strike for a long time but we should have everyone out in support of the nurses.’
At Chelsea’s Royal Brompton Hospital intensive care nurse and RCN rep Kumi De Costa spoke passionately about nursing, saying: ‘It hurts me that we are being taken for granted by this government.
‘We have been to university, spent years in training, yet we are struggling to pay bills and feed our families.
‘On our picket line we must have at least 50 years of training between us, yet nurses are leaving the profession – they can get more money stacking shelves at Tesco.
‘I even considered becoming a train driver, but I am passionate about my job. If trained nurses leave the profession it will be criminal because they would be replace by untrained staff and you cannot have the best health care on the cheap.’
At St Thomas’ hospital opposite Parliament, RCN member Frederick Polumbo said: ‘I come from Italy and I’ve been working here since 2016. Even in that time I’ve seen safety go badly downhill.
‘People are stressed and burnt-out and it’s hard to maintain good communication. There’s tension among staff and I’m sure the patients feel it too.
‘You end up with the danger of making a mistake with medicines or discharging patients. The tension arises because workers are unhappy and frustrated at not being able to do the job to their own satisfaction because of the shortage of doctors and nurses.
‘They want us to think this is normal. While I don’t want to be malicious, it seems the government doesn’t care about the NHS. I see people leaving after a few years. For the future of nursing we need a proper pay rise.’
RCN member Jenny Somer said: ‘There’s brilliant support from the public. We want to be heard. I am annoyed that the government won’t start or engage in any discussion about pay. If there’s no conversation then we will just carry on.’
At St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, the picket kept up constant chants demanding ‘fair pay’ and ‘stop putting patients’ lives at risk!’
Student nurse Sagila Thiruthanikasalan, said: ‘I’ve been working in the NHS since 2005 and I’m struggling to pay my bills. Without my partner and parents I would not be able to cope financially. We are completely undervalued.
‘I’ve been in many vulnerable households trying to protect people. I’ve cared for many patients as if they were my family.
‘We want patients to have a good quality of life. It’s incredibly frustrating knowing that our workforce can’t provide the patients with what they need and deserve.
‘We have a shortage of 50,000 nurses across England and these positions need to be filled. At the moment we cannot cope with the workload.
‘I 100% agree that there should be a general strike.’
