STRIKING NHS workers from south London’s psychiatric hospitals marched yesterday from Camberwell Green to the headquarters of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust on the third day of solid strike action against more than 200 job cuts announced by privateer OCS.
Staff from Bethlem Royal, the Maudsley, Lambeth Hospital and the Ladywell Unit joined the march to shame trust managers and the contractor, warning that sanitation and nutrition will deteriorate and damage patients’ health.
Bethlem Hospital union rep Maurice Lawrence addressed more than 100 GMB members through a loud hailer. ‘We are here as one,’ he said. ‘We are not going to give a chance for OCS to bully us, or intimidate us. We are going to continue fighting until we get what we deserve.’
Full-time officer Freija Chapman told the News Line: ‘We are striking today because OCS has newly taken over the outsourced work for South London and Maudsley NHS Trusts.
‘OCS is cutting staff, dismissing staff unnecessarily and trying to reduce the number of people providing the service.
‘This will create less cleaning, less food and less services that vulnerable people in mental health institutions need.’
‘SLAM NHS Trust unfortunately is not supporting their workers either. This is why we’ve come to SLAM headquarters today, to try to make them listen to the issues that arise from their decision to outsource.
‘The trust has said absolutely nothing about the issues of cleanliness.
‘We have explained the clear dangers to the patients, clients, staff and service users across all the hospitals but the trust are not making any effort to ensure that the safety issues are upheld.
‘Catering, cleaning and other support services should always have been in-house, but over many years it has been institutionalised in our society that it is okay for private companies to profit off national health and basic services that should be open to everybody.
‘The privatisation has been going on for many years, and it is going to be an uphill battle to change it. Low paid workers need to stand up and fight because no one else is going to fight for them apart from the unions.
