Health Workers United

Health Workers United Healthcare worker militants organising for health provision that is firmly in the hands of the workers and the patients. [email protected]

Here is our leaflet that we produced collectively that deals with the current pay dispute in the NHS.It is essential tha...
21/06/2021

Here is our leaflet that we produced collectively that deals with the current pay dispute in the NHS.

It is essential that we stand together and organise autonomously across unions, job descriptions and workplaces. We need to learn from the previous struggles of our brothers and sisters who came before us.

Only independent workers' self-organisation can break the power of the bosses!

Email us if you want us to send some copies.

If you want us to send you copies of this leaflet for local distribution, please send us an email: [email protected] You can download the PDF file below… angrywo_31865Downloa…

Distribute and discuss this long version of our leaflet leading up to the July 3rd "Day of Action". We lay out some thou...
11/06/2021

Distribute and discuss this long version of our leaflet leading up to the July 3rd "Day of Action".

We lay out some thoughts on the current pay dispute, and draw from examples of our brothers and sisters in the past who fought our struggle before us to suggest some concrete steps forwards for building power.

"Often we can find some collective spark when we look at how we worked together during the first months of the pandemic. It was us together who got us through those days, while management and politicians were fumbling around. Together we know how to work with substandard equipment and unclear guidelines, we kept the show running."

(Picture: Recent rebellion of hospital workers in Argentina) This is a longer version of a leaflet that we wrote together with friends of HealthWorkersUnited for the current pay campaign in general and the day of action on the 3rd of July in concrete. If you want us to send you copies for your local...

While the slaughter is ongoing in occupied Palestine, health workers in Israel face threats from their employers that if...
20/05/2021

While the slaughter is ongoing in occupied Palestine, health workers in Israel face threats from their employers that if they dare take action as a class.

Management of Rambam hospital in Haifa sends letters asking staff not to join action, while Education Ministry asks for names of teachers in Arab communities who choose to participate; 'We cannot sit quietly by,' says teacher

One of the limits of the general scope for workers' action in the UK health sector, is that it is often viewed through t...
04/05/2021

One of the limits of the general scope for workers' action in the UK health sector, is that it is often viewed through the lens of the NHS. It's important to remember that healthcare is a social role, not designated to specific structures or employers.

Care homes, care workers and other forms of more disparate care work are as much our struggle as that in the hospitals.

In the US, thousands of care workers are preparing to strike across between 33 and 51 care homes, confronting poverty wages in the industry.

Is this something that should be coordinated with action by other sections of the health sector? What are the possibilities for such a coordination in the UK?

Solidarity with sisters and brothers in the US!

The state’s largest health care workers’ union warned 33 nursing homes that about 3,400 of its members are poised to strike in two weeks.

We recently spoke to a fellow health workers from Chicago, where they are currently preparing to take strike action late...
26/04/2021

We recently spoke to a fellow health workers from Chicago, where they are currently preparing to take strike action later this year.

Here are some notes on the meeting that we had. We are looking to organise another chat with fellow workers in this dispute soon, so if you're interested, make sure to get in touch!

We were joined by a fellow health worker from Chicago who told us about the situation there and about their preparation for industrial action. She works in a public hospital, most of the patients a…

Health workers in Argentina have sparked a massive regional uprising that began with the workers refusing to accept the ...
26/04/2021

Health workers in Argentina have sparked a massive regional uprising that began with the workers refusing to accept the pay deal brokered between the government and the unions.

Locked out of 'official' modes of resistance, workers have commenced a huge campaign of wildcat strikes and road/logistics blockades.

Realising that they weren't going to be able to make their point confined to the health sector, health workers have taken to disrupting the oil and gas sectors, which the Neuquén area relies on heavily.

New solidarities are being formed in this struggle, and it is essential that we learn from them as much as possible.

Here in the UK we face a difficult situation in the health sector, people are tired, they survive on low wages, they fear changes such as privatisation. We haven’t found our own ways yet to do some…

Public sector union federations in Norway - including those of health workers - have issued demands for pay rises in lin...
22/04/2021

Public sector union federations in Norway - including those of health workers - have issued demands for pay rises in line with real wage growth this spring. They've declared that if the government does not fulfil their demands, they will launch a massive nationwide strike.

Nurses, teachers and other public sector workers at the municipal level are all demanding pay raises this spring that represent real wage growth after one of the toughest years they’ve ever had. If they fail to come to terms in May, they’re ready to launch major strikes nationwide.

Hospital workers in Bhopal, India, such as cleaners and other outsourced positions are on strike, demanding permanent co...
19/04/2021

Hospital workers in Bhopal, India, such as cleaners and other outsourced positions are on strike, demanding permanent contracts.

All workers around healthcare must struggle together. It is only ever in the interests of the bosses to section is into neat little categories and pretend that some of us are more important to providing quality healthcare than others. We need to remember that the end goal is a patient and worker controlled health system, and our struggle must reflect that.

Power to the brothers and sisters in Bhopal!

Bhopal: Corona movement in Madhya Pradesh is growing very fast. The maximum cases of this epidemic are now coming from Indore. On the other ..|News Track

Nurses in Belize are facing a pay cut after the government's latest budget announcement, so the Nurses' Association of B...
16/04/2021

Nurses in Belize are facing a pay cut after the government's latest budget announcement, so the Nurses' Association of Belize polled all nurses, members and non-members on industrial action, returning a massive 95% in favour of a strike.

On top of that, they're adding a big f**k you to the government by demanding that if costs need to be cut then it should be done by cutting ministers' salaries and allowances!

Power to our brothers and sisters in Belize!

…and the teachers are not alone. Today, the Nurses Association of Belize told G.O.B. its members stand ready to support joint unions’ position on government’s salary cuts and other cost cutting measures. In fact, they have been poised and ready to respond before the budget was presented on Fri...

Our comrades in France wrote this fantastic exploration of the nature of healthcare in the current situation (beyond jus...
14/04/2021

Our comrades in France wrote this fantastic exploration of the nature of healthcare in the current situation (beyond just the pandemic).

It's a slightly more dense read, but absolutely essential for those of us who want to understand the ins and outs of health work and its position in society.

"If human activity in the field of health has always been primarily concerned with the necessity of the reproduction of life, in societies divided into classes, and thus in the capitalist mode of production, health work responds to the vital imperative of the reproduction of labour power [workers]."

Friends from France have written a detailed paper on the question – read it here.

Thanks to all who have engaged so far!This was the first thing we put together, that went out on our blog and our Twitte...
14/04/2021

Thanks to all who have engaged so far!

This was the first thing we put together, that went out on our blog and our Twitter.

"It is not a coincidence that we see more offensive disputes amongst outsourced health workers than within the NHS. Trade unions, more often than not, are reluctant to rock the boat, while claiming at the same time that the NHS has to be defended as a ‘public good’. While we have to fight for good and free healthcare and against the deterioration of working conditions, we also have to fight the illusion that this will be guaranteed by the formal umbrella of the NHS. "

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Know someone who works in healthcare? From cleaners, to doctors, clerical staff to support workers; we need to pull together in this fight. We can't let the bosses divide and rule. We need to fight for our class, not this or that job title or pay band.

Invite fellow workers and comrades.

Get in touch!

[email protected]

Things are heating up – the 1% pay increase insult dished out by the government led to a lot of angry discussions in tea rooms and on ward floors. This is a proposal to other workers’ militants in …

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