Nurses Pay: Unions Must

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Dear comrades, It was with some surprise that we read the editorial in the, March London Labour Briefing, not least because it was in flat contradiction to the position adopted at the February Target 82 meeting.

There, it was agreed by a big majority that the only socialist policy for Labour was one of resistance, up to and including voting against the GLC budget. Probably the strongest speech at that meeting, against what is now Briefing editorial policy, was made by Chris Knight.

Now you justify the decision of the GLC majority to "make the best of it'.

It seems to us, that your WAGE CUT after wage cut has eroded our pay. This year looks no better.

Broken promises! The no-strike agreement in return for a fair deal has allowed the government to kick our goodwill in the teeth. The Royal College of Nursing are choking on their heroic, humanitarian declaration.

Now, more than ever, nurses are on the offensive. Four per cent or even six per cent is not enough. Even the 12 per cent claimed by the unions is pathetic.

Many nurses are the main wage earners in their familjes. 12 per cent won't cover the rise in the electricity bill, let alone anything else.

The negotiators have made no firm offer yet -they're keeping us dangling. Nothing has come from the table, and nurses are getting angrier each week.

Strike action

We need to get organised now, and nurses are talking about strike action.

That's a real start -two years ago, strikes weren't really mentioned. A caring strike, with patient services being organised by us, to suit us, could occur, but our leaders mustn't be afraid to talk about striking.

At the moment they are backing off, arguing that a stand would frighten away members.

A NUPE Head Office Health Service News' circular dated March 1 has insisted that NUPE is calling for no protest action by shop steward, Heath nurses. "Strike action by nurses would be so serious as to virtually rule it out.

NUPE in particular is trying desperately to recruit £570 million For Barclays, £494 million: for the National Westminster, and £386 million for Lloyds -those are the latest bank profit figures, well up on the already hefty totals for 1981.

For those three banks alone, the protits come to enough to pay every nurse an increase of about £60 a week!

But for nurses, civil service workers and others, more nurses (only a quarter to a third of nurses are in TUC-affiliated unions). They have issued new recruitment literature, run courses for zero to five per cent or the rate for pay ofters.

Meanwhile figures published this week show that most top directors got a pay rise of over 14% in 1981. £100,000 to £500,000 - or £2,000 to £10,000 per week - is the pay range for these bloodsuckers.

And the taxes they pay -where their accountants can't evade them -have been cut substantially since the Tories came in. nurses' shop stewards and issued new ... professional advice circulars from the Nurses' National Advisory Committee.

These developments are good, it's just that it's only being done to increase the membership which NUPE has lost by letting school meals jobs be decimated.

Meanwhile COHSE is offering no lead, while the "professional" RCN, despite a growing current of members calling for the right to strike, remains committed against strike action, and against affiliation to the TUC.

Nurses face more moral pressure and legal obstacles to strike action than almost any other section of workers.

It is unclear at present whether we could all be sacked or even sued one by one if we were to walk out on strike.

And none of the health union leaders have made it clear we would receive supporting action from other hospital workers.

We need a lead. We need legal advice. We need representations before the General Nursing Council - our unions should be obtaining guarantees that we won't be sacked for striking.

*£20 a week rise across the board.

*No sackings of striking