There’s no time to “wait for growth… People are literally hurting out there… and our crumbling public services need money”. That is what Unite the Union leader Sharon Graham told TV presenter Laura Kuenssberg the Sunday after Labour’s election win.
Keir Starmer’s Labour was elected with a tagline of “change”. But change in the interests of the working class needs to be fought for, and the trade union leaders need to take every opportunity to demand what’s needed from the new Labour government.
Socialist Party members, public sector workers and service users, report on the state of our services after 14 years of Tory ruin – and put forward just some of what’s needed to fix it.
Fully fund housing and mental health services
I work for a homelessness charity and support individuals with mental health difficulties. Now that Labour are in government, they need to sort out the huge problems faced by housing workers, and those who we support.
So many of the individuals we support are unable to find housing, their housing is unaffordable, or in an incredible state of disrepair. To combat this, the Labour government should fund and initiate a mass council housebuilding programme, so everyone can have access to a safe and reasonably priced place to live. This would undermine the ability of ruthless landlords and profit-hungry housing associations to exploit tenants.
Alongside this, mental health services continue to be underfunded and privatised, leading to extended waiting times and individuals frequently having to wait to be in crisis before they are seen and offered support. The government should fully fund all health services and get rid of all the profiteers!
For workers in the housing and care sector, low pay is commonplace. Labour should immediately raise the minimum wage to £15 an hour, to ensure that all workers are paid a salary that they can live off, and so they don’t have to leave their role to find a job where they can actually pay their bills.
Stress also contributes to why many leave the housing sector or need to take time off. A recent survey highlighted that 69% of not-for-profit and charity workers suffer anxiety linked to a culture of excessive hours, while nearly 70% suffer it as a result of their work. The trade unions need to demand Labour fully funds services so they are adequately staffed. A maximum 35-hour working week, without loss of pay, would start to address stress and work-life balance.
Ben Goldstone, housing worker
‘Landlord tests my calm and patience!’
“As Starmer was making his way to Number 10 this morning to give his sermon on ‘calm and patient rebuilding’, our letting agent was writing to us announcing a £200pcm rent increase. I’m not feeling very calm or patient about that.
“I doubt the Tata Steel workers or junior doctors or school workers are feeling very calm and patient now either. Waves of class anger are incoming against a government with a huge majority but no popular mandate.”
James, East London
Ban all zero-hour contracts now!
As someone who has worked on zero-hour contracts for most of my working life, I know the anxiety and stress they can cause. What will a Labour government do for workers like me?
Their manifesto and New Deal for Working People (they are dreadfully afraid of using the words ‘working class’!) have already been watered down on the issue of zero-hour contracts. It says that they will ban, “exploitative” zero-hour contracts. Which ones aren’t exploitative? Me and the vast majority of my co-workers would love to know how many hours we will work week to week.
Will Keir Starmer actually stick to his promise? Unfortunately, Starmer is about as honest as your average snake oil salesman, his record of lying to his own party members and U-turning on his pledges is long and well documented.
We can’t afford to wait and simply trust Starmer, the trade unions need to demand Labour implements a ban on all zero-hour contracts. The same goes for fire-and-rehire – don’t give the bosses any excuses!
Daniel, Teesside
Scrap all anti-trade union laws
Trade unionists will be among the millions celebrating the end of Tory rule, and the scale of their defeat. But most will also be at least a little sceptical.
For a start, thousands were voting in areas like Coventry, Cardiff, and Barnet where Labour-run councils have directly attacked striking workers. Only months ago, Coventry City Council fired and rehired its bin workers.
The trade unions must demand Labour repeal all the anti-trade union laws, not just the Minimum Service Levels legislation and the Trade Union Act 2016 that demands a 50% turnout for a strike ballot to be valid. Every law from the Thatcher era onwards restricting the democratic rights of trade unions must be rid of, including the ban on prison officers striking.
Fire-and-rehire should be ended immediately. Zero-hour contracts need to be banned, and workers should have full rights from day one of employment. Any ‘new deal’ should have these basic rights for workers.
In the 13 years of Blairite Labour governments previously, no anti-union laws were repealed. This Labour government has been elected in the wake of a huge strike wave. The unions should strike while the iron is hot (literally if needed), and force the Labour government to give back our trade union rights.
Adam Harmsworth, Coventry
Councils: ‘We’ve got rid of the Tories, now we need to get rid of their spending policies!’
Many public sector workers will believe that the defeat of the Tories has removed the biggest obstacle to ending poverty pay and rebuilding vital services.
But nothing has yet changed for Birmingham City Council workers. There is still a moratorium on expenditure that falls outside its legal obligations and the council is still run by commissioners appointed by the previous Tory government.
Birmingham faces the largest proposed cuts in local government history threatening 600 jobs, 25 libraries, fortnightly bin collections, a 50% cut in the youth service and special needs transport, the rundown of the homecare service and complete removal of arts funding. A Labour landslide should mean an end to all of that!
Birmingham council workers and service users haven’t taken these cuts lying down. The unions have organised campaigns of opposition including lobbies of the last two council meetings, at which not a single councillor was prepared to speak to the demonstrators.
The main reason for the council’s financial distress, and the issuing of a section 114 ‘bankruptcy’ notice, is the £1 billion cut from the council’s budget by the Tory government since 2010.
We’ve got rid of the Tories, now we need to get rid of their spending policies! The trade unions should be demanding a reversal of all Tory spending cuts to local government and the withdrawal of the section 114 notices for Birmingham and all other local authorities who have issued them. Starmer’s ‘iron-clad financial discipline’ is completely unacceptable.
It was easy for some trade union leaders to just blame the Tories for the council’s lack of funds. But now we have a Labour government in Westminster.
Rather than ‘give the new Labour government a chance to sort things out’, we need to be telling them what’s needed now to sort things out. Council workers and service users have an urgent need for a big increase in funding for council services. The money is there in the bank accounts of big business and the offshore tax havens of the wealthy!
Clive Walder, Birmingham
Fund our NHS
I work in admin within the NHS. For now, my newly created department is well resourced, but we are waiting for the service ‘evaluation’ to find out what funding we will get in the future.
Elsewhere in the hospital the budget problems are more obvious to see. The A&E department has a temporary building outside of the main building. It is used to house waiting patients instead of trying to cut down waiting times. They built this initially so the patients wouldn’t get sunstroke last summer while they had to wait outside for hours.
Health Care Assistants (HCAs) are striking in our hospital at the moment. On the picket lines they talk about what it is like on the ward, caring for elderly patients and being expected to do ‘doubles’ on their own (lifting tasks that need two health workers to help complete). They talk about how the workforce is divided between nurses and HCAs, but that just benefits the bosses, not workers or the patients.
There shouldn’t need to be strikes of different sections of workers in different hospitals to ensure they are on the correct pay band. Workers in the NHS across the board need a decent pay rise. The government should make sure it is fully funded and paid for by the super-rich. That would start to solve the huge recruitment crisis across a lot of the health service.
Jess, Northampton NHS worker
Schools need funds!
The Tories have left behind an education system decimated by austerity, privatisation and neglect.
These is no quick fix, but there are solutions that can be implemented now, that would make a huge difference to the day-to-day running of education services. Labour must remove the two-child benefit cap and ensure children have access to food by providing free school meals to every pupil.
Local-authority maintained schools need to be lifted out of financial deficit by reversing cuts and increasing education spending, which the National Education Union (NEU) recommends should be 5% of GDP.
The national curriculum must be reviewed and designed by educators, not decided by a bureaucratic Department for Education which is not fit for purpose.
Strategies for staff retention must be prioritised. Teachers and education staff need to be supported to maintain their professionalism by ensuring that directed time is adhered to, providing adequate and relevant training, and increasing support in schools for SEND, mental health and non-teaching time. Support staff must be valued in their roles starting with an increase in pay and better working conditions.
There must be an end to outsourcing contracts to private organisations. We are seeing huge amounts lost from school budgets in order to pay private companies for cleaners, catering, schemes of work and recruitment (which can cost a school as much as 20% of a teacher’s salary).
In the run up to the election campaign, the Stop School Cuts campaign has been mobilising to ensure parliamentary candidates made clear their position on education. As we transition to a Labour government, we must continue to drive this message forward and fight for education across the country.
Emily, east London NEU rep
