Nurses and doctors marching to save the NHS, 4.3.17, photo DavidMBailey Photography

Nurses and doctors marching to save the NHS, 4.3.17, photo DavidMBailey Photography   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

“It’s time for all of us to take a stand, if we don’t we won’t have an NHS left” said one nurse through the megaphone at the RCN nurses’ union pay cap protest in Leeds on 30 June.

Around 30 nurses in the RCN, officials and supporters took part in the protest.

Nurses were angry about how the NHS is being run down, and despite the RCN never having gone on strike before, 78% of the 55,000 members in the NHS consulted with said they would be prepared to strike against the pay cap.

The rest of the NHS and public sector unions should be preparing campaigns to coordinate strike action with the RCN. Given the wobbles of Theresa May over whether the cap would continue, RCN members felt confident that they could win this demand.

The protest attracted a lot of media attention, but it was clear to all there that this was just the start of the campaign.

Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Party