SUPPORT IS HOSPITAL steward, Prestwich hospital, From the outset, the Whitley Cor WORKERS WORKERS

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ice militancy The mysteries of Whitleyism MOST NHS workers have only a dim con- tion of national rates of pay.

Well, Mr Thompson, you can either die, or have private treatme In 1980 nurses got 13% and ancillaries 12%. In 1981 ancillaries were awarded 6% over 15 months (averaging 4.5%) and nurses 6%, despitea 15% rate of inflation.

The history of pay since the NHS was first set up in 1946 is one of exceptional exploitation. There has been continual underfinancing of the NHS in which labour costs make up approximately 70% of the NHS budget and any restriction or cuts in the budget directly affect pay and/ or services.

The decisive factor has been the temerity and sometimes the outright treachery of the officials, selling out and undermining struggles, weakly giving in to government preșsure and conducting negotiations in an atmosphere of secrecy.

This has severely affected the ability of the rank and file workers to mount a consistent challenge to successive governments, who have been intent on using NHS workers as the backbone of their wage cutting policies.

And only in response to angry struggles by the rank and file have the officials been forced kicking and struggling into any form of action.

ages jobs for extra money. One of the main weapons in the bosses' attempts to dismantle and ruin the NHS would be PAL PaTE «NUPE Vital fight forwomen EL LOW In 1975, over 75% of Health Service workers were women, of whom 50% were part-timers.

Women in the NHS are predominantly employed as nurses or as ancillary staff - doing what is commonly regarded as "women's work".

Senior positions throughout the medical profession are almost entirely monopolised by men. Less than 20% of medical posts in the UK are filled by women.

The vast majority of NHS employees fall into the low-paid grades:

ancillaries and nurses make up 64% of the workforce • The practice successive governments of awardWing percentage pay increases weighted in favour of the top pay grades has increased this inequality.

And cuts in service hit women the hardest. Not only are they denied necessary health care, including family planning clinics and abortion facilities: but it is primarily women who suffer the burden of caring for sick and elderly relatives who ought properly to be in hospital.

by Anna Lunts (NUPE shop steward, Prestwich hospital, Manchester) Manchester)

MOST NHS workers have only a dim ar ception of the complicated and bure: cratic system by which their pay is det mined - the Whitley Council system.

Daniel Vuillamy of WEA descril Whitleyism as follows:

"Whitleyism can be compared to long playing football match where 1 management have a moveable goal (1 elusive DHSS and Treasury) and : allowed to foul at will (particular favo ites are obstruction and time wasting The staff side have improved in recr years, although the team selection rema strange and some members (the prot sional associations) are reputedly bric by the opposition and they always have play uphill. The spectators are gett: frustrated and logic seems to demand change in the rules.

Whitleyism as a system of pay b gaining actually originated from a ser of recommendations made by a parlia entary committee in 1917 under 1 chairmanship of J.H. Whitley.

This system was in fact an attempt break the back of the growing shop str ards movement by imposing indust wide, centralised pay bargaining wh would shift negotiations from the ar of the workplace to national committ set up for that purpose.

The idea that a "consensus" could arrived at by both parties and that : breakdown in negotiation could be sett by arbitration was an essential part of recommendation.

The Whitley recommendations w vigorously opposed by the shop stewa movement and were thrown out in ind tries such as engineering which were It tively well organised.

Before the legislation of 1946 wh established the National Health Service 1948, hospital bargaining followed lines of hospital ownership.

Trade union organisation was we with the exception of some of the la mental asylums, which had their o national negotiating machinery.

In the Second World War, natio machinery was set up for nurses :

domestics as part of the centralisation the economy under war-time condition:

The Whitley Council system was int duced into the newly established N with the support of NUPE who favoure were made by drug firms from sales to th I0DW17/]4. NES in 1070 alone The nationalisation of private medicine, the drug monopolies and other suppliers would be a major step towards the planned expansion of the NHS under the management of elected committees of health trade unionists and consumers.

To achieve this means first to defeat and drive out the Tory wreckers and the Labour leaders who began the attack on the NHS.

In this, health service militants must fight side by side with the whole working class. onauleTthe the are 'UTent ins lesred : to ing larries imthe to ewtrylich ena :ees be any led the 'ere Irds luselaLich : in the ak, urge Iwn inal J0 1 LoHS e pi joint national negotiating approach bi joint national negotiating approach with the opposition of the general unions with the opposition of the general uni From the outset, the Whitley Counc system was cumbersome, bureaucratic system was cumbersome, bureaucratic an heavily weighted in favour of the heavily weighted in favour of the NH organisations. There was no regi organisations. There was no regIon machinery resulting in the rigid applic machinery resulting in the rigid app tion of national rates of pay.

The negotiations on the form whic the Whitley Council would take wer heavily dominated by government officia and union full time officers.

Both groups had an interest in securir a system of centralised bargaining..

In the government's view it meal that labour costs could be easily co: trolled and uniformly applied; while tr trade union officials saw it as shiftir control over pay bargaining into the han‹ of the "professional negotiators" - tr full time officials!

Minimising the power of the unions In fact it ensured that the power of ti unions is minimised - particularly on ti issue of nurses' pay, where the anti-unic "professional' association, the RCN, retail a majority vote on the council.

Last year, for example the RCN vor to accept the government's pay offi secured its unilateral imposition b management - despite the fact that boi COHSE and NUPE remained formall opposed to it.

The collaborationist structure of tr Councils perpetuates this role for noi union bodies and for the top consultan whose colossal salaries are a sign of the influence.

Some groups of workers such as engi eers and electricians, have refusca 1 accept the Whitley system and negotia directly with the DHSS.

The medical profession have an ind pendent review body set up in 1961 an have much greater access to the DHSS.

Abolish the Whitley Councils!

Whitleyism in the NHS gives papr guarantees of the right to trade unic membership which was one of its initi attractions to the trade union officia who were anxious to increase membershi In practice, management intimidatio and an absence of effective union orga: isation has meant that it was only durir the pay battles of the 197Us that healt service trade unionism expanded rapidly.

The unions themselves, whether rigi wing or left talking, were characterised b a lack of internal democracy and accoul tability, a totally inadequate system ! workplace organisation, a largely passin membership, huge, inactive branch which met infrequently, and a near pathi logical reluctance to use industrial actio to pursue wage claims.

The majority of members wei estranged from their own union - th immigrant workers, the part-timers an the thousands of women workers lel adrift by the inaccessibility of their unio structures.

So what is the way forward. We ner to abolish the bureaucratic Whitk Council system and we need to encoura Tank and file activity at all levels by buil ing and strengthening Joint Shop Stewar Committees.

But we also need a serious campaign reform the unions, to make them mo responsive to their members. We need ! encourage the involvement of blacks ar structures and to force our leaders and fo time officials to be accountable to i members that pay their fat salaries.

Finally we need to commit the Labo: Party to a properly financed NHS und the democratic control of the labor movement and the community, and • need to fight for a Labour governme: that will actually carry out its responsib ities to provide a fully comprehensi national health service, free at the point / need and which provides decent wages at conditions for its workers.

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NUPS SAYS NUPE SAYS SUPPORT YOUR ars

INDI JSTR SPE CIAL

women workers and part timers at : levels. We need to demöcratise the unic