‘Cough up’—striking NHS workers’ message to Labour

Day surgery nurses at two south London hospitals are striking over imposed shift changes

Protesting in central London outside the Department for Health on Wednesday

 (Picture: Socialist Worker)

By Thomas Foster
Wednesday 04 September 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER

The NHS is in crisis—and bosses are making workers pay for it. But Unite union members at Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospitals in south London are fighting back.

Day surgery nurses struck over workloads on Tuesday and Wednesday and were set to strike on Thursday against bosses’ plans to extend their shifts from 8pm to 9pm.

Around 25 health workers from the two hospitals protested outside the Department of Health and Social Care in central London on Wednesday. Only a few years ago, bosses extended shifts from 7pm to 8pm and added Saturday working.

A day surgery nurse said, “It’s not our job to work ourselves to the bone. The NHS trust needs to cough up money for more staff and Labour needs to cough up the money too.

“Labour health secretary Wes Streeting isn’t delivering enough funding for the NHS.”

Workers are demanding that bosses abandon their plans to extend shifts.

Hospital bosses “are extending our work time but not changing how many patients we deal with or the number of operations a day”, one said. “And the managers aren’t extending their time—nothing else is changing. It’s an inequality and unfair.”

Another day surgery nurse told Socialist Worker, “People don’t want to be leaving at 9pm or 10pm. They have families to look after and the late finish isn’t suitable for that.

A different nurse added, “Lots of nurses live outside of London, such as in Kent, or look after elderly parents.”

“And a 9pm shift finish doesn’t guarantee leaving at 9pm. It will likely mean 9:30pm or 10pm.”

He also said, “The majority of staff are migrants and with all the racist attacks going on we don’t feel safe to go home that late.”

Poverty pay and heavy workloads mean many workers leave—which makes the shifting crisis worse.

But so far, hospital bosses “still aren’t agreeing to our demands,” one nurse said.

“They haven’t conceded anything so we are staying out here fighting.”

A primary school teacher in south London who came to support the strike said, “A rising tide raises all boats—workers need to be supporting each other.

“The colour of the government has changed from blue to red but the politics hasn’t changed much.”

A health worker and Unite rep in the area, said, “Labour needs to tax the rich and invest more money into the NHS. Instead it wants to make savings by making us work harder and longer.”

He said that his own trust is carrying out a recruitment freeze. “But we are already overwhelmed and at breaking point,” he said.

“We need to stand up in our unions, organise in the NHS and fight back. We deserve to be valued more than this”.