Whipps X hospital Strike

I'll probably get down there early next week if not before. What's the atmosphere like now? Seemed quite positive if not very hopeful a couple of weeks ago, and they'd planned to go out for full weeks/indefinitely if nothing happened so it looks like they're sticking to it.

or to join a new one hehehehe

i will actually try to pop down there sometime next week, probably without dirty lefty propaganda though :biggrin:

i'm a dirty propagandist for radical unions run by the workers and that won't do deals with the boss behind your back. did you click on the link in my post?

The slow buildup seems designed to drag it out as well. When I spoke to them this was the setup.

one, one-day strike every two weeks.

one, two-day strike every two weeks.

Then I think it was two-day strikes every week, then then three days, then apparently now a jump to five days. Very slow rate of escalation which must be wearing people out.

About two weeks ago Rentokil Initial was only considering talking to the hospital management, with absolutely no recognition of the union at all (maybe something at regional level). Probably why Unison hasn't worried about 40-50 people. Difficult to guage what will happen if there's actually any negotiations but wasn't much sign of that at all, don't know what the situation is now.

Catch: I've been to talk to the pickets a couple of times. Perhaps we could meet up there if the five day strike goes ahead? After all, we are both 'local workers' are we not?

The workers seem in good spirits. They obviously see the importance of making this stand, but the small group I spoke to said that they were starting to get a bit fed up with the way things are dragging on. I think this is linked to the difficulty of extending the struggle. They have received moral support and money from other workers in the hospital, and said that there is another hospital where there may be a similar struggle, but there have been no meetings with other workers and no attempts to draw them in directly. Of course this is difficult when the majority are nurses and doctors, who are understandably reluctant to strike, but the absence of any cross-union mass meetings has left the cleaners and porters rather isolated. Naturally the union ideology/rulebook reinforces this isolation.

WHIPPS CROSS – MORE ACTION PLANNED
Whipps Cross Hospital strikers on the picket line last Wednesday determined to win their pay dispute
ON THE final day of their three-day strike, the Whipps Cross hospital workers were confident of beating the employer and getting the money they deserve.

Nearly 300 porters, cleaners and switchboard staff employed by Rentokil Initial at the East London hospital have held a series of strikes in a dispute over Initial’s failure to honour an equal pay and bonus deal in April 2006, that came out of a previous strike in 2003.

Local UNISON official Len Hockey said more action is planned this month.

Vinod Nagla, a UNISON member and porter at the hospital, said yesterday: ‘The strike is going strong and everyone is for it and we’re all out together.

‘We are getting a lot of support from other hospitals, yesterday (Thursday morning) they were all here early at 7.00am.

‘There were 20 people from different hospitals, stewards and workers from Barnet, Haringey and even Lambeth hospitals came down.

‘The London Fire Brigade came down to the picket and donated money to the strike from their union.

‘It’s not just that they have come to support us, they realise that if wage cutting happens elsewhere then we all have to come together for extra strength and fight these private contractors.

‘We are fighting our issue, but it is an issue that affects other hospitals and other workplaces.

‘That is, the private contractors coming into the public services and cutting jobs and pay.

‘They want workers to work longer hours for less money, so they can make more profits.

‘That is why I support the ladies from Gate Gourmet.

‘What they did is fight for their rights and they gave our struggle extra strength because they showed that what you want, you must fight for.

‘They are real fighters because they won’t give in and good luck to them.’

Jeff Edwards, a UNISON member and porter, said: ‘We are determined to win our struggle and there will be no giving up.

‘If it takes a month, six months, whatever it takes we will do it.

‘The thing is we are on low pay anyway, so we know what it is like to go without.

‘We are fighting to get the private contractors out, not just out of this hospital but the whole NHS.’

http://www.wrp.org.uk/news/1471v