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From The Socialist newspaper, 26 July 2017
Workers' campaign underway to stop ward closure
NHS (Click to enlarge)
Nottinghamshire nurse and Unison rep
I am a registered nurse in a community hospital in Nottinghamshire and a Unison rep.
On our ward there is very much a family feel among us all and we pride ourselves on providing excellent care. It's an amazing place to work.
While I was away at the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) summer school in Barcelona, the 'powers that be' came into the ward to announce we are being closed down!
At first there were many tears of despair, workers felt frightened, alone and helpless and they were straight on the phone to me. But with the help of Socialist Party members we started to campaign right away and this despair has quickly turned to anger. By the following day you would be forgiven for mistaking them as revolutionaries!
Technology means that international messages of solidarity were quickly pouring in.
With no plans for a replacement service there will be many people with long-term neurological conditions that will be left stranded in our community relying on inadequate private home care.
We have already started a campaign to oppose this and I have already been attacked by management for posting the truth on Facebook.
The staff understand that the fightback can only come from us, and by taking the campaign out into the community. They are greatly emboldened by the messages of support from CWI members, which shows the power of international socialism.
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Finance appeal
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.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 26 July 2017:
What we think
Right wing attempts to use single market against Corbyn
Socialist Party workplace news
Barts health strike: Low pay, no way!
Birmingham bin workers stand firm
Bron Afon workers strike against £3,000 pay cut
Court victory for PCS and all trade unions
Tesco's 10% pay increase accompanied by cuts and job losses
Mears workers escalate action to all-out strike
Workers' campaign underway to stop ward closure
International socialist news and analysis
Building workers' struggle and the forces of international socialism
Socialist Party news and analysis
Abolish tuition fees and student debt!
Education cuts: Tories buckling under public pressure
Homelessness and evictions soar under the Tories
Art and the Russian revolution
Russia 1917: how art helped make the revolution
Young Socialists
Young people...fight for a future, fight for socialist policies
Grenfell Tower
Grenfell survivors tell Tories: "Step down and resign"
Tenants' meeting reveals huge anger
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Corbyn visits Southampton on marginal seat tour
Huddersfield A&E closure referred to Jeremy Hunt
From Militant to the Socialist Party - what you thought
Socialist sales at Salford station
Street cleaners support the Birmingham bin strike
'Freedom riders' lobby against violent policing
Council meeting abandoned after undercover policing protest
Education cuts forced back in Hackney
Southampton councillors faced with angry anti-cuts campaigners
Plans to bring A-levels back to Knowsley abandoned
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