health and medicine
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in hospitals and pharmaceuticals around the world.
Mental health workers on strike in support of colleague
Nearly 700 UNISON members in Manchester Community and Mental Health branch went on strike yesterday in support of their colleague Karen Reissman, suspended from work since June.
About half the strikers were on lively picket lines at the four main sites - at Wythenshawe Hospital, Chorlton House (Trust HQ), Manchester Royal Infirmary and North Manchester General Hospital.
As health workers prepare for ballot, Unison leaders back off
Unison national secretary has angered union activists by demanding that local branches take a position of neutrality on the issue of a below inflation pay offer.
With Unison also preparing to ballot members for strike action over pay on the 20th August, days after 95% Royal College of Nursing members asked to be balloted for strike action, Unison’s leadership have sent a message to all branches demanding that activists take no position on the government’s below inflation pay offer.
Fiji: Public sector strikes grow amid death threats and intimidation
A week long strike by 1400 nurses in Fiji expanded on Thursday as 1000 teachers and 300 public works, water and sewerage workers also began strike action.
They are demanding the reversal of a 5% pay cut and the changing of the retirement age from 60 to 55, and an additional 10% pay rise. The pay cut and change in retirement age were announced shortly after the military government took power in a coup last December.
NHS/UNISON health workers disappointed at low pay increase offer
UNISON calls government pay increase "paltry." Improved offer expected; NHS ballot in August-September will determine outcome.
NHS employers and union representatives meet today to discuss a new settlement for health staff in England.
Mike Jackson, UNISON’s lead negotiator, said the unions were hopeful there would be more money on the table.
Ivory Coast: hospital workers win strike over benefits and bonuses
Workers at the University hospital in Treichville have ended a three-week strike after management agreed a series of concessions.
The strike brought together members of different unions and non-unionised staff. The suspension of the strike was announced after a general meeting held by strikers.
The strikers won bonus pay for handling hazardous materials and some undisclosed improvements in working conditions. They also won the right to free medical care for themselves and their families, including operations.
Cameroon: wildcat strikes win improvements for hospital staff
Nurses and other hospital workers have won important concessions after launching a country-wide wildcat strike on Monday
The main demands of the strikers were improved work and living conditions, however there were further demands amongst the three main groups of striking workers.
Public employees: demanding a re-evalutation of their salaries which have not been increased for fourteen years and the right for all employees to retire at 60.
New Zealand: 800 Hospital cleaners locked out after strike
Around 800 workers contracted to Spotless Services Ltd have been locked out of their kitchen, orderly and cleaning jobs today at 13 public hospitals across New Zealand after they attempted to start industrial action.
The action involved striking for 55 minutes of every hour, 24 hours a day in a struggle for better wages and conditions.
Poland’s health care workers’ strike: new challenges and old problems
As a mass health-care strike enters its sixth week, all that may be achieved is the speeding-up of the privatisation process.
The Doctor’s Strike and the Nurses’ Occupation
South Africa: ‘Massive’ strike spreads on 13th day
A nationwide public sector strike by hundreds of thousands of workers has shut down schools, courts and hospitals in a bitter dispute over pay that has seen the army deployed against pickets.
Today thousands of workers have joined one of the largest strikes in South African history. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) – which is a partner in the ANC government – has called for a one-day solidarity strike today from public and private sector workers as the ongoing pay dispute enters its 13th day.
1977: The great Northampton General Hospital lie in
A short history of a successful example of creative direct action against healthcare rationing in a British hospital.
30 years ago: Rita Ward and the Great Northampton Hospital ‘lie-in”
We hear a lot these days about the ‘creeping privatisation’ of the NHS. We have a Labour government committed to turning our free National Health Service into just another business along the lines of the American model, which sees poor people refused medical treatment because they can’t afford it.
