Over the next week, junior doctors will demonstrate and strike in defence of their conditions and the wider NHS. We publish here a letter by a junior doctor, who highlights the importance of continuing the fight against the Tories. If you fight, you will win – militancy pays!
Following the first day of strike action by junior doctors last week, we spoke to Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis (of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee National Executive) about the medics’ dispute and the ongoing fight to defend the NHS. Although the strike planned for next week has been cancelled, the junior doctors’ struggle continues.
Last week saw the first strike by junior doctors in four decades, as thousands of healthcare professionals took action against the attacks on their terms and conditions. The popularly-supported struggle is set to continue next week, as medics carry on the fight against the Tories and their attempts to dismantle the NHS. Dr Tomasz Pierscionek reports.
Today saw the first of three scheduled actions by junior doctors in England, who are striking over attacks on their terms and conditions being pushed through by the Tory government. We publish here a range of reports from across the country, which highlight the militant mood amongst the doctors, as well as the wide level of support for those fighting to defend the NHS.
After weeks of talks, the government have refused to budge on the question of junior doctors’ contracts, and are ploughing ahead with their attempts to attack the NHS and its staff. As a result, junior doctors across England will be commencing industrial action on Tuesday 12th January. Support the junior doctors in their struggle against Tory cuts.
Enraged student nurses and midwives assembled in London, Manchester and Newcastle last Saturday in protest over Tory plans to axe their NHS bursaries. Joe Attard of the KCL Marxists reports from the London demo of this fightback against Tory austerity, which sets the stage for the walkout by junior doctors, planned for tomorrow.
Last week, workers at the University of London (UoL) submitted a claim to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg over UK trade union legislation. The workers, university cleaners at UoL, are represented by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and are seeking official recognition of the union by their employer.
We publish here a foreword – written by Socialist Appeal supporter and Chair of Portsmouth Momentum, Sion Reynolds – to the “Needs Budget” presented to Portsmouth City Council this week by Portsmouth Against the Cuts Together (PACT). Labour councillors need to lead the fightback against austerity and refuse to carry out Tory cuts.
HMRC has recently announced that they will be reducing the number of offices from the current 170 sites (already slashed from 900 in 2006) to just 13 sites, with four Specialist offices around the country, by 2021. Martin Page, PCS rep in Leicester (personal capacity), reports on the latest Tory attacks on the public sector.
At the eleventh hour, Tory Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has climbed down from provoking the first junior doctors’ strike in British history. Forty-five thousand junior doctors in England were due to take action, beginning today. However, the strike was suspended yesterday evening. Ben Peck analyses the future for the junior doctors’ struggle.
At a special conference on Friday 27th November, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) made a historic move to re-affiliate to the Labour Party after more than a decade of being outside of the party. The FBU’s decision marks a strengthening of the Corbyn movement and a step forward in the process of reclaiming the Labour Party from the Blairites.
Junior doctors have voted overwhelming in support of strike action, with 98% voting Yes to a full walk out. All of this on a 76% turnout – a vote for action that would smash even the Tories’ new anti-union laws. The scene is now set for a showdown between doctors and the government.