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Todays strike shows our strength...

stick it to the tories!

escalate strikes in NHS
t

odays nhs strike is another

show of strength by health
workers who are determined to
take serious action over pay and to
save our NHS.
Unions were right to follow up the
October strike with more action. The 13
October strike was a real success.
On one of the wettest days this year,
big, lively picket lines were organised
across England. Trade unionists and
campaigners brought solidarity to many
pickets and protests.
That solidarity is a sign of the massive
support health workers have and the anger
that working class people feel against
NHS cuts, closures and privatisation.
The attack on health workers pay is
part of a wider agenda. If the Tories drive
down NHS workers pay, they make
our health service more attractive to big
business looking to grab contracts and
rake in profits.
Health workers are on the frontline,
battling to deliver a vital service as an
onslaught of cuts makes this increasingly
impossible.
What a slap in the face to be told
that most of us are not even worth the
1 percent rise! Why shouldnt health
workers get the 10 percent rise that the
MPs were offered?

January

Its good our union leaders are already

talking about more action in January.
We should send a clear message to them
that we want the date named quickly so
we can start building on todays strikes.
Camerons government is dead set
on driving through austerity and are
determined to destroy our NHS. So as
important as todays action is, it will take
more than four hour strikes to stop them.
Health unions need to escalate the
action. Many health workers are arguing
for a full 24-hour strike just for a start.
If our unions moved beyond four hour
strikes it would send a signal to the Tories
that were prepared to do what it takes,
not just to protest but to win.
If a message is given from the top of
our unions that theres a strategy to win,
members will get behind the call.
The attack on the NHS is a key part

Health workers are showing they are ready for a serious fight to defend pay and the future of the NHS

of the wider Tory agenda. With the

secretly- negotiated Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the
threat has gone beyond cuts and closures.
We face the end of the NHS as a publicly
accountable service. Private firms will be
given free rein to run it for profit.
But the Tories face huge opposition to
their attacks on the NHS. Health strikes
can have a major political impact in the
build up to the general election.

Divide

In every branch, members can organise

hustings-style meetings to put local
politicians on the spot on the question of
the future of our NHS.
We cant just wait for Labour to change
things if they get elected.
Labour promises to stick to Tory cuts
and the current 1 percent public sector pay
cap.

The result in Rochester, where Nigel

Farages racist Ukip won a second seat,
shows whats at stake when Labour fails
to offer an alternative to Tory austerity.
We cant allow Ukip to whip up racism
to divide working class people.
Its been the Tories shutting hospitals,
not migrants!
Workers in Britain face the biggest
squeeze on wages since the 1850s. We
need a much broader fight on pay.
In local government our union leaders
have sold a rotten deal on pay.
We cant let that happen in health.
If union leaders wont fight on this
crucial issue we need new ones who will!
And if Labour wont back working
class people we need to build organisation
that will.
The Trade Unionist and Socialist
Coalition (TUSC) and Left Unity will
stand candidates in the General election.
We should support and back them.

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