YESTERDAY thousands of NHS workers took part in the ‘NHS Together’ Lobby of Parliament to demand an end to NHS privatisation.
The lobbying workers were very angry and came from every section of the NHS where sackings, cuts, closures and privatising measures are the rule.
They had not the slightest hope that the House of Commons would stop NHS privatisation.
They told News Line that they were demanding that their leaders call national strike action to stop the privatisation of the NHS and to deal with the privatising Labour government.
The leaders of ‘NHS Together’ coalition between the NHS trade unions and professional organisations however ignored the demands of their members and remained on their knees in front of the Blair government.
Speaking at the NHS Together rally in Westminster, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK’s biggest union, first of all revealed the obvious power of the coalition.
He said: ‘NHS Together is an historic coalition, representing every element of the healthcare system. Doctors, nurses, midwives, cleaners, physiotherapists, ambulance workers, NHS managers, occupational therapists, porters and administrative staff standing side by side to defend our health service.’
Prentis described the evils that this privatising government was bringing into the NHS.
When it came to the point in his speech where there had to be a call for action if the speech was to mean anything at all, all the audience at the Central Halls got was the puniest whimper.
Prentis said: ‘The Government must take note. It’s not just the usual suspects who are unhappy. It’s the voters. . . The Government must know that those same voters can exercise another choice when it comes to the ballot box. But, it’s not too late to change direction.’
He spoke as if the trade unions were powerless, and that inevitably, if Blair did not change his NHS policy the Tories will be back. His underlying message was that the NHS is a lost cause.
TUC leader Brendan Barber’s message was the same. It was to say to the Blair government ‘There is still time for a fresh start, but it needs to happen quickly.’
The plain truth is that these leaders are incapable of calling and leading decisive action to defend the NHS. This was proven by the way they refused to stop the privatisation of NHS Logistics, despite the fact that the Labour party conference voted against it.
It was this refusal to fight that gave Blair the green light to speed up his destruction of the NHS.
Yesterday the trade union leaders confirmed their treacherous stand, when they pleaded with the government to change its NHS policy, when everybody, including them, knows that there is not the slightest chance that this will happen.
The membership of the trade unions must now take decisive action. From yesterday’s powerful lobby councils of action must be formed in all the cities and towns, uniting all sections of the working class and middle class to provide leadership by taking strike action and organising occupations to stop all cuts in the NHS and halt the closure or ‘reconfiguration’ of the District General Hospitals.
At the same time resolutions must be sent from trade union branches to their regional and national organisations demanding the resignation of the national leaders, and that the trade unions call a one-day general strike in defence of the NHS.
This will prepare the way for indefinite general strike action to save the NHS by bringing down the Blair government and going forward to a workers’ government that will carry out socialist policies.
That the trade unions need a new and revolutionary leadership is beyond doubt. Only the WRP is building the kind of leadership that is necessary. Workers should join it today.
