heads for pay cuts
OVERNMENT plans to pust pay deal for almost a million health workers have received a double boost during April, with two major unions effectively giving the go-ahead.
Pay increases of just 3.225 percent for this and the next two years are included as part of the controversial "Agenda for Change proposals for the restructuring of NHS pay.
The complex package, set out in hundreds of pages of closely-worded documentation, offers some gains for certain sections of staff, but will leave as many as one in twelve as losers - especially those who work substantial numbers of hours at unsocial times or as overtime.
Union leaders promoted it as a new "partnership" with NHS managers. But with inflation predicted to reach or exceed 4 percent this year, and a further I percent to be paid in National Insurance, the Increase is tantamount to a pay cut, leaving health workers worse off in real terms.
And as ministers force through their plans for Foundation Hospitals and PFl in the teeth of bitter union opposition, there is precious little sign of any "partnership" on any other issue.
Despite these problems, the D biggest health union, UNISON,
voted last month by a substantial margin at a special delegate conference of health members to give provisional thumbs up to the deal, and in particular to agree to it being tested out in ten "early implementer" Trusts.
This was after the health group executive had voted - with only two in favour and 33 against - not to seek conference approval of the package as it stands. The composite that was passed was explicitly moved by Gwent Healthcare delegate Chris Jones as "the middle way". However there is no, guarantee from the government that there can be any renegotiation of the deal, whatever problems may be uncovered in the early implementers.
The UNISON vote was partly the product of intense pressure on delegates and branch activists from full-time officials under orders from General Secretary Dave Prentis to secure a yes vote
It fhas been followed at the end of the month by a thumping 88 percent ballot vote for acceptance by the Royal College of Nursing. UNISON members still have to option to throw out the package in a ballot, but it seems likely to be accepted.
Will members will be convinced it has worked in their favour when they come back to decide on the full implementation of the scheme in a year's time? As we go to press, the elections for the Scottish parliament and local councils are about to take place. The Scottish Socialist Party is fielding a full list of candidates in the Scottish elections. Pauline Roland spoke to FRANCES CURRAN (right), candidate for the West of Scotland What are the main issues of the campaign? At the beginning the main issue was the war. The SSP was the only party to take a clear anti-war position. The SNP and Lib Dems were ambivalent. Labour was originally damaged by going to war but once the main fighting ended there was a lot of relief.
Now people are just questioning what's going on with the reconstruction. The fact that they managed to protect the oilfields and oil offices but nothing else supported what the SSP said. But the issue generally has receded.
The elections are very flat. The media have commented that New Labour doesn't have any 'big ideas' left. The media has been commenting that all the traditional parties are the same but at the same time they've tried to keep the SSP out of the limelight as A progressive tax system One of the main reforms the SSP would introduce is a service tax linked to income to replace the council tax. Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Executive, Fred Goodwin currently pays £2082 council tax out of a salary of £2.580,000.
That's just three times what a cleaner in one of his banks will pay. Under the service tax a cleaner on the minimum wage or anyone with less than £10.000 a year w pay nothing, but Fred Goodwin will pay £509.100. well. After our second party political broad cast went out on Wednesday, we got over 500 calls for copies of the manifesto.
We have been fighting an anti-poverty campaign. Scottish Enterprise gets £450 million a year to travel around persuading companies to move to Scotland but most of the traffic is in the opposite direction. Scottish jobs have been massacred with IBM, BT, Boots and Glaxo pulling out. So we're proposing to take the money and use it to raise the minimum wage to £7.32 an hour and to implement a 35-hour week.
That would create 24,000 permanent jobs in the public sector. Public sector workers are likely to spend their money locally and that would help to regenerate local communities. Has the SSP had a lot of members out on the streets campaigning? We've started to draw support from a very wide section of society. The SSP has had a consistently high profile, has been right in the thick of whatever battles have been going on.
So the anti war movement meant that a lot of long-standing Labour Party members tore up their cards and joined the SSP. Some had been Labour Party members for over 50 years. Because the SSP was so prominent, lots of young people joined up really for the first time since the party was established.
We have lots of young activists, especially school students, which shows that young people are not alienated by political parties just by the traditional ones who've done nothing for them. They're attracted by the Taking the P SSP members from Dunoon were holding street meetings. In Spence Court, one woman had painted an old bed sheet with "SSP" and hung it out of her window. By the time the cavalcade arrived the sheet had been blown over and only 'SS' was visible.
Her friend shouted up: You canny see the 'P' on the sheet'
I hope no, she replied. Cause ah gave it a right good boiling before I painted it!'
(From Scottish Socialist Voice) SSP's direct action and by the issues it takes up.
The Muslim Association had a big meeting at the mosque to raise funds for the people of lraq. Tommy got a good reception and the SSP got the most support after the SNP, especially amongst young people.
We also recruited people like Harry. He's describes himself as a 'socialist vet' who used to have a sliding scale of charges for his work. Now he's retired and he's joined a political party for the first time in his life.
We've also made big headway with the
Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka are calling on their members to vote SSP. But there's also been huge fallout from the fire-fighters' strike.
The latest polls show only 2 percent of firefighters intend to vote Labour compared with 24 percent for the SSP.
But firefighters are also getting active and standing as candidates. Three firefighters are standing for the SSP in Paisley. They are standing as Parliamentary candidates in council seats
All of them joined as a result of the dispute. Lots of other people who joined on the 15 February anti-war demonstration are standing as candidates. (See boxes 2 and 3). What effect do you think the deci sion to support 50/50 representation of women and men as candidates has had? It's beginning to have a big effect on the party. We held a women's press conference where we highlighted issues like childcare and violence against women. Personally if I get elected I'm going to make free universa childcare a major campaign like we did with free school meals.
One of the newspapers reported that because of the way lists were drawn up and because some of the New Labour women were in marginal seats, there could be fewer women in the Scottish Parliament after the elections. But they also commented on the poor performance of lot of New Labour women and said that the SSP could contribute some very forceful women. Certainly if any of the women get elected, it will make a big impact on the public image of the party. What about the results? It's difficult to know how it'll go on election day. There's a lot of confusion about the voting system. We need people's second vote on the regional lists.
Opinion polls are giving us between 6 percent and 8 percent. A few percentage points can make a lot of difference. If we poll 6 percent, Tommy would be our only MSP again. If we get 8 percent across the board, we could have 8 MSPs, one in every region.
Whatever happens, the Party has been transformed. It has become far more than just a coalition of established groups. A new wave of activists is taking ownership. It's starting to develop the infrastructure of a mass party. The fun party Even The Scotsman commented that the election was "boring the pants off the vo! ers.. • Strangely it is the Trotskyist Scotts Socialists who have shrugged off tradtor and tried to inject a little un at the s paigning - possibly Decause then 3re only party with lots of roung acewist
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6 SocK Socialist Alliance ance May Luus