Excellent pamphlet on how to run hospital occupations
Nov 8 2006 14:59
Pamphlet donated to us by K. Bullstreet which we OCRed and edited, and we now present to you guys.
Done in 1984, it was funded by the GLC, which sounds pretty crazy, it still has useful information for workers now
Occupy and win - a manual for fighting hospital closures
Does anyone else have any material like this? Anyone know anything about London Health Emergency, or any of the occupations/sympathy strikes?
Nov 8 2006 15:47
#2
The UCH strike/occupation text should be going in the library soon. I also know someone who was involved in occupying Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in the 80s who might have material.
Nov 8 2006 15:48
#3
While that all sounds pretty impressive, Peter, it's a bit sus to claim any one is responsible for something like that - they may have heard the occupations elsewhere from fellow workers, the union, the press, etc. Or are you saying the occupiers stated they were inspired by that? I'm not saying I don't believe you - anarchists it's pretty definite inspired the Melbourne tram work-in/free-riding, for example - I'm just wary of politicos taking credit for workers' actions.
Do you have the supplement you mention, or any documents relating to the shop steward group or anything? It all sounds very interesting...
Nov 8 2006 15:53
#4
Ret Marut wrote:
The UCH strike/occupation text should be going in the library soon. I also know someone who was involved in occupying Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in the 80s who might have material.
Excellent.
Nov 8 2006 19:38
#5
John,
Don't quite know how to respond to this.
Perhaps you could read the article and get back to me.
Peter Good (TCA)
Nov 8 2006 19:49
#6
Peter Good wrote:
John,
Don't quite know how to respond to this.
Perhaps you could read the article and get back to me.
Peter Good (TCA)
Is it online anywhere? Could you email it to me?
Nov 9 2006 10:31
#7
John,
www.anarchistsinsocialwork.org.uk
has a downloadable version.
At the time both Peace News and Black Flag carried lengthy reviews of the supplement. Philip Samson of Freedom was largely responsible for distributing the supplement around London hospitals. Among all the documentation relating to the subsequent Tribunals and court cases there is some correspondance from London TU's - but I'm Northern based and can only offer anecdotetal evidence from the London comrades connected to the occupations of the early 80's.
Peter Good (TCA)
Nov 9 2006 11:50
#8
Pamphlet looks interesting, thanks for the link.
Nov 9 2006 12:00
#9
Peter Good wrote:
John,
www.anarchistsinsocialwork.org.uk
has a downloadable version.
You got a direct link anywhere? i can't find it...
Cheers for the extra info though.
Nov 10 2006 09:01
#10
John,
I'm not very good with IT stuff.
If you let me have a snailmail address I'll post you a copy.
Peter Good (TCA)
Nov 10 2006 09:25
#11
Quote:
Anyone know anything about London Health Emergency
We've got an exclusive interview with the main guy behind it on Independent Treatment Centres coming up in the next issue of Freedom now you come to mention it 
.
On the whole they're probaby the most sound researching group into the NHS I've found so far, they were originally set up to counter the last major NHS crisis 20 years ago but went independent and are now used by the TU movement and NGOs as expert researchers on the topic mainly. They also infrequently bring out a newsletter.
Dec 6 2006 23:35
#12
UCH strike/occupation text now in library.
Dec 6 2006 23:38
#13
I just saw this go up (here) - added a couple of tags; looks great! I'll add links back + forth to this occupations text too.
Dec 6 2006 23:46
#14
Cheers John.
Dec 6 2006 23:52
#15
Were you going to add in more of those pictures yeah? If not I'll have a go tomorrow getting them a bit bigger, that ok?
Dec 7 2006 00:21
#16
Yeh, that would be good, dunno how to do that.
More like this
- Occupational therapy - the incomplete story of the University College Hospital strikes and occupations of 1992-4
- libcom features/collections
- Occupy and win - a manual for fighting hospital closures
- A man is running down the street stabbing himself... The ICC
- Long lost wildcat strikes in the UK, 1960s - 1990s
John,
It was "Freedom" 17th November 1979, Vol 40, No 21, that inspired London Trade Unionists to consider ward occupation as an effective strategy. That particular copy of Freedom was handed out to NHS picket lines then multiplying on the cusp of the "Winter of Discontent".
The issue came with a supplement that recorded the adventures of our anarco-syndicalist shop steward committee at a large Lancashire hospital.
We claim to have introduced "imaginative industrial action" into hospital disputes. Among these tactics was - we think - the first ward occupation in the post-war health service. The occupation - though we called it a highjack - lasted two weeks.
Martin Gilbert's "Anarchists in Social Work" has reprinted the offending article.
www.anarchistsinsocialwork.org.uk
Peter Good (TCA)