Nurses leaders prepare sell out
Socialist Organiser1982 1982-03-11Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 15 →
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I nIs is ine real conse- me conseyutices vI strIke quence that the bureaucrats action - a decent wage and do not want to know about. better conditions.
Jane Goss IN A well-timed article, published to coincide with the management side's offer to ancillary, nursing and administrative and clerical workers, a major trade union official has given a clear indication of how the NHS pay struggle will be fought - with hollow words and endless, useless negotiations.
David Williams is the assistant general secretary of Col he is champerson of the Staff Side of the Nurses and Midwives Whitley Council which makes him the chief negotiator for nurses pay.
Luxury
Not renowned in COHSE for being a militant, he confirmed to a Times Health Supplement reporter (26 February) that "radicalism is a luxury of youth". He says that as you get older you "drift over ... become less idealistic"
For thousands of health workers facing a 4% pay rise, idealism is not the issue. The reality of inflation running at well over 12% (the staff side's claim) and the erosion of jobs is enough to occupy most people.
Many health service workers take home pay below the poverty level. All grades in the NHS are fed up with being low paid. The climate is right for industrial action.
But in a paper read almost exclusively by top managers and DHSS officials (the Times Health Supplement) David Williams says we are so strong that we daren't use our strength. We are in a hetter nosition than anybody else in the country to bring pressure to bear. The only thing is, the consequences are too terrible for anyone to contemplate."
The consequences could be a 12% pay rise and a humiliating defeat for the government.
It could also be a politicising of thousands of health service workers and a realis- cervire workere and a realication of how much can be won through challenging the for action durin management and the gov ernment - and consequent ly a realisation of how little the trade union leaders and the TUC have done to fight the Tories.
Consequences
Thin 41.- unal Barstow reports