The Socialist 7 February 2018

NHS - build the fightback

NHS - build the fightback

NHS day of action: all around the country

Tragic death exposes criminal understaffing of NHS

York socialists head resistance to NHS outsourcing

Trump v NHS

Capita in crisis: bring all outsourcers back in-house

90 feared dead after migrant boat capsizes

Corbyn's left must seize the advantage in Labour's civil war

Haringey: now's our chance for a no-cuts council

Walthamstow: occupy to save the town square

Scene set for TUSC conference electoral debate

Royal Mail forced back under threat of action

Unison national women's conference

Striking back against academies in Newham

May's silence is a green light for Chinese repression

Sudan: Mohamed Satti released - global solidarity campaign gets results!

Protesters denounce oppressive Sri Lankan regime

GCSE grading game stresses out students - even more than before!

Fighting sexism: Positive discrimination - yea or neigh?

Bernie's book shows need for workers' party

Darkest Hour: Not the usual flattery of brutal Tory Churchill

The Socialist inbox

The Socialist Party is being evicted - we need you!

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Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/981/26853

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York socialists head resistance to NHS outsourcing

Marching to save the NHS in London, 3.2.18, photo by Mary Finch (Click to enlarge)

Nigel Smith

There has been a consistent campaign in York to resist secret plans by the local NHS trust to establish a limited liability company at York Hospital.

This company intends to manage the cooks, cleaners, porters and maintenance staff. Hospital security has already been outsourced. The Socialist Party in York has led the way in the campaign against it.

We initially met with York Defend Our NHS, to discuss strategy, but moved much more quickly into action than they were able to. We also briefed the trades council, who agreed to release a press release expressing their opposition to any such proposal.

One of our members is a shop steward at the hospital and has been leading the campaign inside it. The mood of the staff is solidly opposed to privatisation and the unions have seen significant recruitment since the campaign started.

Without this campaign the hospital staff would still be largely unaware of these proposals. By working together the three main unions - Unison, Unite and GMB - have been able to prepare a joint statement, which they presented to the hospital board, outlining determined resistance to the proposals and referencing disastrous attempts at privatisation at other trusts.

An online petition organised by York Defend Our NHS has so far received 1,700 signatures. The York Socialist Party branch also has a petition of over 1,000 signatures so far.

We are frequently thanked for our work and feel fully supported by people in York. We have also had to double our order of the Socialist and have sold out each edition. This is a tripling of our usual sales.

We have also sought to enable the local Defend Our NHS group to make a fighting plan with us, and we presented our petition along with theirs at the latest hospital board meeting.

Since then the trust has met with representatives from the unions for the first time to 'own up' to their previously clouded intentions.

We will continue to work with any group that shares our objective. No compromise; no limited liability company or outsourcing at York NHS Trust.

In this issue

Save our NHS

NHS - build the fightback