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Scots walk-out IN 1981, ambulance drivers were the only large group in the health service to take action against the six per cent wage limit. The action, spreading over June and July, was mainly confined to one day complete stoppages, and was especially strong in Scotland, London, and Liverpool. The total strikes were all unofficial.

The leadership of NUPE, CoHSE, TGWU and GMWU refused to back the withdrawal of the accident and emergency service despite the fact that stewards' committees in the militant areas, representing the majority of the membership, felt that this was the only effective form of action.

In NUPE, the fight to win official backing for total action reached a particularly high level. At the health section of the Annual Conference in Bournemouth in May, an emergency resolutcalling for official support for all-out stoppages, passed unanimously, was subsequently overturned by the Executive Council. Troughout the dispute the militant areas continued to stage all-out, one-day wildcat strikes, while the leadership persisted in calling for ineffective partial action.

The NUPE leadership also did their best to kill the unofficial action. At one NUPE SAYS H AUIMURII point they used management's telexing equipment to attempt to dissuade workers from following a one-day strike call in London.

The action was eventually defeated. For one small group of workers challenging a central plank of government economic policy, a defeat soon became inevitable - once the battle for official support had been lost.

Crucial

The strikes posed many questions and problems which are crucial to this year's pay struggle: most notably on the attitudes and reactions to the question of emergency cover.

Perhaps most important, the strikes demonstrated aspects of this government's reaction to action by health workers. Following the example of the Callaghan government during the 1979 strikes, army ambulances and medical units were put on stand-by in the cities. But there the parallel ends, because this government did ON TUESDAY May 4, over 200 CoHSE members from Bangour hospital in Edinburgh staged a one hour walk-out, providing emerg ency cover only. This show. ed yet again that the militancy of health service workers is on the rise. But without a massive campaign for all-out action, with emergency cover under trade union control, this militancy will turn into disillusion.

On the same day, Tuesday 4th, a small group of workers from the Royal Edinburgh pike i got sad 40 not use them, even though there were several times when the police and voluntary services were hopelessly overstretched.

As the strikes progressed, there was a noticeable toning down of the reaction in the press, in stark contrast to the hysterical witch-hunting of the winter of discontent. Also, local management in London refused to take up the offer by London strikers to turn out during a major incident, despite the fact that there was such an incident - the Southall disturbances - during the July 3 strike.

These facts are in clear pointer to this government's strategy against striking health workers. During the ambulance dispute, they refused to authorise any act which would acknowledge the effectiveness of the strikes, no matter how many people suffered as a consequence. In my opinion, there is only one answer to this: hit them with the maximum strength.. Appeals to their conscience are a waste of breath. signatures for a petition in support of the industrial action by NHS workers. On Saturday 8th a similar picket got about 800 signatures.

There will be a mass meeting of all shop stewards in the Lothian health service on May 12 to discuss the pay claim. But union officials are attempting to prevent speakers from the floor of this mass meeting.

A mass demonstration and rally is called for May 19, and we hope for a turnout of well over 2000.

FRED HESSLER HEALTH service workers Who are preparing for battle over pay are being attacked not only by the government, but also by the Royal College of Nursing.

The RCN long since passed the point of being a drag on the workforce. It is an open enemy.

Dame Catherine Hall, the outgoing general secretary. used a speech at the recent congress to solidarise with the government against health service workers.

She and the rest of the RCN leadership are determined to gain some agreement over pay with the government by two means. One is by distinguishing nurses in the RCN from all sections of NHS workers who recognise that industrial action has been forced on them.

The other is to distinguish nurses as a special case - which means backing the government in keeping down the wages of domestic, scientific, and other workers.

The RCN leadership has already abandoned the nurses' claim for this year. Hall focused hope for pay rises on the formula promised by the government to create a framework for long-term • settlement in future years.

She said those talks had been blocked by the "other unions" (she means the unions) on the staff side.

"My view is that we should test the goodwill of the government. They want to do something towards a better deal but it is nurses they are concerned with.

"But nurses will lose out if they have to carry other health service workers on their backs. I would not want to detract in any way from the contribution made to the National Health Service by everyone who works within it. But those who perform duties other than nursing must press for their own agreements on the basis of their own work"

The RCN leadership has however been forced accept a ballot on the question of permitting industrial action (at present it is enshrined in the RCN consti tution that it is outlaweda.

The only purpose of the De action rule 12, is to mati RCN members off from te trade unions.

One of the best ways ine:

union members can brea RCN members from ther reactionary organisation 1::

show them the vicious ag-ments that their leaders uses The weekly RON * Nursing Standard. i ass

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