THE past week has been dominated by the sheer arrogance of the Tory-led coalition as it prepares to implement its plans for the wholesale destruction of the NHS and the mass closure of hospitals, along with its determination to dramatically cut pay levels for public sector workers.
At the start of the week, the health bill was passed in the House of commons making it now legal for the Tory health minister, Jeremy Hunt, to close down any hospital he feels like with only the barest of nods to consultation in the affected communities.
This change was the Tories’ response to the ruling by a judge last year that Hunt had acted illegally in closing units in Lewisham hospital in order to save the money needed to bail-out a neighbouring health trust that had been bankrupted by the government’s cuts and ‘reforms’.
Faced with this decision, Hunt blithely announced that he would just change the law, sticking two fingers up to the trade union and Labour Party leaders who had relied on the courts to defend the NHS.
Later in the week, the Tories delivered another savage attack on public sector pay when they announced they would implement the ‘independent’ pay review bodies’ recommendation that bankrupt British capitalism could only afford a 1% pay rise, while Hunt decreed that even this paltry increase was far too good for nurses and midwives and they would get precisely nothing.
This derisory offer comes after two years of pay freezes followed by two years of 1% increases resulting in wages in real terms falling by up to £2,824 since 2009 because of inflation, with energy bills shooting up by 39%, rent by 26%, food costs by 24% and transport by 30%.
Where does the arrogance of the Tories come from?
It most certainly does not come from any inherent strength or public support in this war against the NHS and the living standards of working people. It is a government hated and despised by the vast majority of workers and the middle class.
Its arrogance comes from the treacherous betrayals carried out daily by the leadership of the trade unions, a leadership that the Tories know full well will not lift a single finger to defend the NHS or its membership.
This was demonstrated by the response of the country’s largest union, Unite, to this latest pay cut – Unite said: ‘We will be consulting our health service members on possible industrial action, following Jeremy Hunt’s “divide and rule” refusal to sanction the recommended 1% pay rise for all NHS staff.’
Nothing about fighting the derisory 1% rise imposed by the government – they completely accept the argument that for capitalism to survive workers must accept savage pay cuts.
Instead, they are playing to the gallery over Hunt’s refusal to sanction any pay increase for NHS professionals. Everyone, including the government, knows that Unite’s threat to ‘consult’ over industrial action in the NHS is just hot air – these leaders have never led any fight over pay just as they have not led any struggle to defend a single hospital ward or NHS job.
At every turn, the trade union leaders have rolled over and accepted every cut and closure; now they are lining up behind the 1% increase and trying to cloak their treachery behind the smokescreen of opposition to Hunt’s refusal to sanction this pittance for all NHS staff.
The conduct of these TUC leaders is the sole reason for the Tories’ arrogant belief that they can get away with smashing the NHS and driving the working class into destitution and poverty.
The leadership of the TUC is the force that is keeping this hated government in power today, and the time has come to kick these misleaders out and replace them with a new leadership that will answer the Tories’ arrogance with an indefinite general strike to bring them down and replace them with a workers government and socialism.
This is the way, not only to wipe the smirk off the face of Cameron, Osborne and Hunt forever, but also to put an end to the attacks on the NHS and the working class and by going forward to socialism.
