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From The Socialist newspaper, 4 April 2007
NHS meeting
Frustration at demo delay
HEALTH GROUP People United Saving Hospitals (PUSH) campaigners met in Coventry on 31 March. The meeting heard reports of yet more privatisation and cuts at hospitals and PCTs around the country and of local struggles in defence of the NHS which in some cases are winning victories or delaying cuts for the time being.
However, there was frustration that yet again UNISON has delayed calling a national demonstration. Instead of a June/July demonstration that activists were expecting we now have to wait until October. The meeting agreed to complain to UNISON for putting off a national demonstration when services are at risk of closure now.
The meeting also agreed to organise a national protest event in central London on the NHS anniversary day, Thursday 5 July. PUSH organisers will be contacting other campaigns like Keep our NHS Public, trade union branches and pensioners' organisations to join in with this protest.
This won't be the national demonstration we wanted for the summer, but it will be an important event which takes this vital message to the heart of government - lay off our NHS! A protest on the NHS anniversary day will also be an important staging post in the run-up to a national demonstration in October.
Lois Austin
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
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In The Socialist 4 April 2007:
Children suffer in low pay Britain
Socialist Party editorial
Iran - Sailors fall victim to imperialist policies
Socialist Party news and analysis
Blair: No solutions to crime or crowded prisons
Waltham Forest protest - more memorable than Prince Charles!
Commemorating the abolition of the slave trade
Socialist Party reviews
Education
Take national action to defend education
Labour's market policies damage education
Privilege and privation in our schools
NUS leadership abandon fees fight
PCS takes industrial action
London strikers close passport office
PCS members take industrial action
Campaign for a New Workers Party
How to stop the BNP: Build a political alternative
Campaign for a New Workers' Party
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Ammanford home care workers march
Asylum
Leicester protesters challenge Home Office
Workplace news and analysis
Trade union leaders heckled over inaction
Action needed as Ford bosses close Leamington plant
Greenwich: "We've got to strike"
Burslem postal workers strike again
Northern Ireland
British government and local parties retreat on water charges
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