First hand report of action in Durham!
First hand report of action in Durham!
Just
about thawed out from standing from 7.30 ’til bout 2 pm on the picket
line at the hospital. Many stewards and activists had chosen to join
the marches at Newcastle and Middlesbrough, however there were still 9
of us who turned up at 7.30. Following this, others turned up to take up
the placards and leafleting. There were very few cars who passed onto
the premises without either stopping to take a leaflet or who turned
back. There was overwhelming support from passing motorists, especially
wagon drivers, one of whom stopped to leave a large bag of toffees for
us (strange, but thoughtful). A few RCN members who hadn’t
been balloted turned up with supporting tee-shirts during their breaks,
and brought us flasks of tea and coffee. One worker
in particular struck me as being very representative of those who were
taking strike action. He was coming off backshift at about 8 am, and
was obviously not returning for his night shift. An ex-miner who had
lived through the dark times of the miners’ strike and had gone into
nursing afterwards expressed his total support for the strike action and
stated that the pension issue, although very important, was only the
tip of the ice-berg in the public sector, citing cuts in pay and working
conditions, stressful conditions and practices which were harmful to
patient care and safety.
This obviously makes a lie of the Tory/Lib Dem
attitude of the irresponsible public workers taking strike action which
would harm patient care. The general mood on the picket line was
actually of optimism that workers were taking action together, and the
spirit of solidarity experienced with workers and public passers- by was
definitely worth the
very cold stint today. Most of the workers expressed the opinion that
this was just the beginning, and watch out this government for the unity
and strength of the workers uniting.
