Strike Action - Public Service - 30th November

[Squiggs 11]

Two genuine questions, not having a go.

 

1. Was it really milk and honey under labour or are some members voting for strike action just because they hate the Tories ?

 

 

Must be just Tory-hate from the Labour, after all, no-one ever went on strike in winter with a Labour government...

[tinfoilhat 11]

Must be just Tory-hate from the Labour, after all, no-one ever went on strike in winter with a Labour government...

 

I'm not saying there wasnt strikes, fire service and posties spring to mind. There just seems alot more alot faster.

[qazitory 10]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/health/sheffield_hospitals_strike_alert_plans_to_just_treat_emergencies_1_3976211

 

Sheffield hospitals strike alert: Plans to just treat emergencies

 

Published on Thursday 17 November 2011 09:13

 

HEALTH chiefs will reduce Sheffield hospital services to cover just emergency and urgent care when thousands of nurses, doctors and other health workers walk out on November 30.

 

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust - which runs the Northern General, Royal Hallamshire, Weston Park, Jessop Wing and Charles Clifford hospitals - will cancel all outpatient clinics and non-urgent operations.

 

Only emergency procedures and vital care such as chemotherapy and dialysis will be carried out at the five hospitals and bosses are declining all new requests for leave on the day.

 

Some 7,500 members of Unison will be walking out, including nurses, administrative and domestic workers at the city’s five teaching hospitals, as well as Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

 

And the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, the Society of Radiographers, and the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists have also returned ballots voting for strike action.

 

Professor Hilary Chapman, chief nurse and chief operating officer at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, said: “We will of course respect colleagues’ decision to strike or not - but our first priority is patient safety.

 

“Staff are not obliged to tell us if they will be going on strike and so we are currently discussing cover arrangements to provide emergency and clinically urgent services such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and dialysis on the November 30.

 

“We will not be running outpatient clinics or performing planned non-urgent operations.

 

“We continue to have discussions with the trade unions and they are working with the trust in line with national agreements regarding the delivery of services on the day of action.”

 

Staff who are not on strike will be redeployed to cover areas they are needed - but bosses cannot, by law, use agency staff to cover for the striking workers.

 

Sheffield Children’s Hospital has not yet finalised its care plan for November 30, but managers have written to parents asking them to check the hospital website in the days before the strike.

 

John Reid, director of nursing and clinical operations at the Children’s Hospital, said: “We are trying to minimise any disruption to care this action may cause and have written to the parents of children due to come in on that day.

 

“We are negotiating with the unions about protecting essential services and will know more about the extent of the strike next week.”

 

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trusts managers are to meet with union staff on November 22 to put together an emergency plan for the day.

 

A bulletin sent to staff at the hospitals said: “The trust appreciates this is a difficult position for staff to be in, as many will be committed to the services they provide but equally have strong feelings about the proposed pension changes.

 

“Staff in trade unions with a mandate to take strike action are of course entitled to strike if they choose to do so, but they will not be paid for that day of action.

 

“If staff plan to come into work and then choose not to cross a picket line this decision will be respected, but will be regarded as strike action, and pay for that day will be lost.”

 

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, which represents 282 members in Sheffield, returned an 86 per cent ballot supporting the walkout, for the first time in 31 years.

 

Sheffield physiotherapist Luke Symonds, a CSP steward, said: “Physiotherapy staff are in the frontline of caring for patients and are dedicated professionals, so this was an extremely difficult decision for them to take.

 

“The message from our members however was loud and clear, we need to take this action to protect our pensions.”

 

Staff are walking out over plans to switch from final-salary pension plans to a career-average scheme, and rise the retirement age to 68.

 

The British Medical Association, Royal College of Midwives and Royal College of Nursing did not ballot their members for the November 30 walkout, although the RCN has warned they will consider strike action in January if the Government does not take part in ‘credible negotiations’ by the end of the year.

[alchresearch 215]

Unison has 1.3 million members.

 

Only 196,000 bothered to vote, despite having the paperwork sent to you and pre-paid envelopes to return the vote. All you had to do was put a cross in the right box, stick it in the envelope and pop it in a post back.

 

Out of that 149,000 voted yes, I wonder how many were swayed by the mistruths portrayed in the literature they sent out.

 

Yes, that may be 76%, but why didn't the majority vote? Are they happy with the status quo?

Edited November 17, 2011 by alchresearch

[truman 10]

Unison has 1.3 million members.

 

Only 196,000 bothered to vote, despite having the paperwork sent to you and pre-paid envelopes to return the vote. All you had to do was put a cross in the right box, stick it in the envelope and pop it in a post back.

 

Out of that 149,000 voted yes, I wonder how many were swayed by the mistruths portrayed in the literature they sent out.

 

Yes, that may be 76%, but why didn't the majority vote?

 

A resounding mandate of 10% of it's membership..

[ANGELFIRE1 10]

I work in a south yorks hospital and support for the strike is solid - us oldies know what tories do to the north of england and are willing to lose pay to protest, the 1 day strike will cost me £100 I could do without losing, but what a bargain - the chance to be amongst (hopefully) millions of people saying 'go screw' to the tory and lib dem ******** who will strip this city and it's people bare - my kid will be in the job market in a few years and there are already a million young people jobless while the rich award themselves with top dollar bonuses for making a **** of the economy.

 

mad as hell.

 

support the strike whatever you do, it's the only focussed resistance you'll have the chance to experience.

 

 

Just a comment, if you are on £100 a day, £130 before tax, what on earth are you striking for.

 

Regards

 

Angel.

[truman 10]

Just a comment, if you are on £100 a day, £130 before tax, what on earth are you striking for.

 

Regards

 

Angel.

 

Be fair, it's only 35k ....

[rickiethecat 10]

Let's be honest, this is just an excuse for council staff to take an extra day off to do their Christmas shopping. I wonder how many of them will be up at the crack of dawn, manning the picket line and screaming abuse at the "scabs" who have to go into work to cover for their idleness?

[rickiethecat 10]

Im copying/pasting a comment which i read on another board today regarding the pension fiasco. It raises a number of points that havent been mentioned before :-

 

<SNIP>a load of unfounded left wing scaremongering ,/SNIP>

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/16/council-pension-scheme-danger-collapse

 

It doesn't raise any points at all. I wouldn't trust the Guardian to spell the name of the paper right, never mind any of the rubbish they print.

[Powerage 10]

I dont have any sympathy for the strikers, I know a lot of civil service workers they are hardly badly done to and I wish I had a pension that would pay me 3/4 of my wage when I retire like my friend, and she retired at 58. I will be lucky to retire at 70!

 

Like someone else said 'Welcome to the real world'.

[BigJezLad 10]

I am with you, I have worked in the private sector since leaving school in 1980, never claimed benefits, have my own house. Have 2 children whose child care we have paid for, nothing from the state at any pont in my working life. Paid into a pension since I was 18, it's worth almost nothing when I do eventually get to retire.

 

Will I support the public sector? Not a chance they need to get in the real world.

 

I worked in the private sector before moving to the public sector, my choice as I had a young family and wanted to spend time with them and the conditions of service appealed to me. Haven't had any state handouts either and have also paid into a pension scheme all my working life. When public sector was booming and pay rises were significant 5-10%, in Local Government ours were much lower. We were told this was due to us having the pension scheme we have and the conditions of service we had. Didn't hear the private sector moaning about our pensions or low pay rises then.

 

As soon as there is a problem with the economy, caused by the private sector we in the public sector are villanised in the press leading to the sort of ignorant and uninformed comments posted on here by some. I now have a role twice as large as my original role, have had a pay freeze (and am due a pay next year) and have seen an erosion of my conditions of service. These I have had to put up with as we are not all unrealistic and recognise that there are prioblems.The latest attack on pensions however (allegedly to help the economy) whilst the very people who caused the problems award themselves huge bonuses is a step to far. I am striking, not because I am lazy or workshy, but to protect my pension that I have paid into. Also because at some point when the employers are taking and taking from you while expecting more and more back you have to say enough is enough.

Edited November 17, 2011 by BigJezLad

[alchresearch 215]

A resounding mandate of 10% of it's membership..

 

I took the time (all one minute of it) to vote "no".

 

Lets just remember that only a minority voted to strike, so please don't tar all public sector workers with the same brush - particularly those which aren't even in UNISON.