Where next for the health strikes?

utive. Union leaders need to take a leaf from the Tory playbook and bring the pressure of the working class to bear on the Assembly parties. Indeed, union members may need to bring rank and file pressure to bear on their leaders. There is huge support and goodwill towards health workers, an increasingly militant mood amongst workers and anger felt in communities. This combination of factors lays the ground for real wins, not just for health workers, but for workers across the public sector and beyond. It's incumbent on the leadership of the unions to coordinate industrial action, not just in health but across the public and private sector. Such action can be strengthened by linking health with other anti-cuts struggles and by calling public rallies and demonstrations which gives ordinary people the opportunity to express their support for both the health service and its staff.

By Eóin Dawson

WITH THE Stormont Assembly down and a pay deal agreed by a majority of Unions in England, many struggle to see a way forward for the health strikes. But with Northern Ireland now the only region with no pay

a strategy to escalate the action is needed now more than ever.

Both Unite and RCN members in England voted against the deal offered there. The RCN vote is particularly impressive given their members rejected the deal against the advice of their unions' leadership. Further action by the RCN and Unite, Junior

Doctors and other health workers is already planned. What's needed in all regions now is coordination. Many workers have been left confused by the fact that they have taken strike action on different days to their colleagues from other unions. Few are convinced that spreading the strikes over different days maximises the impact. Union

Royal Mail: Reject below-inflation deals and union busting!

By Padraig Mckee

AFTEREIGHTEEN days of strike action, eleven months of discussions, and three national strike ballots, Royal Mail (RM) and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) leadership have presented the membership with a deal.

On pay, the offer of 10% over three years and a £500 one-time payment represents a real-term pay cut. Protections against further casualisation and ‘efficiency’ changes are minimal. The promise of no compulsory redundancies until April 2025 will come with little fanfare from workers who are facing drastically worse terms in the company's race to Amazon style conditions.

The absence of strike action following the renewed mandate in February invited the management to continue their attacks on workers' conditions and weakened the union's bargaining position, undoubtedly leading to this poor deal.

Royal Mail’s holding company International Distribution Services (IDS) stated that with a loss of £748 million for the financial year, they cannot afford to increase wages, and have to force through ‘efficiency’ improvements to prevent insolvency. Such pleas of poverty are laughable in the context of the £1.9 billion paid out in dividends since privatisation, the reported £700,000 received by former CEO Simon Thompson after his resignation and the £758 million in profits posted in the previous financial year.

IDS should be forced to prove these claims; if IDS cannot afford to pay their workers properly, the union should organise a campaign for the renationalisation of Royal Mail, to protect against further casualisation, and job losses and maintain the service as we know it.

Throughout this dispute, management has employed intimidation tactics to break the resolve of the workforce.

Over 200 CWU reps and members were suspended or sacked on often spurious charges.

The CWU has proposed a review of the actions of Royal Mail management which at the time of writing is in jeopardy due to management failing to even live up to their new agreement. Regardless, making the review of sacked trade unionists contingent on this agreement being accepted is blackmail. This plays into the hands of management. A rep at the Glasgow briefing to discuss the offer stated, “I’m going to vote YES for those sacked and suspended guys. I don’t like parts of the deal. But just to get these guys back”. leaders have also failed to draw on the tremendous well of public support for health workers.

The answer to the inadequate pay deal, further casualisation, and unionbusting tactics of Royal Mail is not to “Vote Yes”. The strike action that brought management back to the negotiation table points the way forward for the posties. In April, Royal College of Nurses members organised to reject the insulting offer in favour of further industrial action. The same should and can be achieved in the CWU, with reps opening discussion up in every workplace, renewing the vibrancy that characterised this campaign's beginning, to reject this deal and organise for further industrial struggle.

It is a deeply mistaken approach for unions to pull their punches because of the lack of a functioning Assembly. The secretary of state's recent "punishment budget" is designed to put pressure on the Stormont parties to form an Exec-

The significance of a win for the NHS in Northern Ireland is hard to understate. Rather than being led by their counterparts in Britain, unions in Northern Ireland can lead by example and win more than just pay parity with the least well paid. They can begin to pull the health service back from the brink. An intense, effective campaign would also serve to unite working class people here in their common interests. Something sorely needed in the current period of deepening division and polarisation.

Survitec workers’ strike for decent pay

AROUND 160 workers at liferaft and lifejacket manufacturer

Survitec have been on strike since June 1. Following the insulting pay offer of only 6% by the company, workers organised to take action. A 100% vote for strike action on an 80% turnout is an indication of the determination. Delivery truck drivers have been convinced to not pass the picket and well organised shifts are ensuring an unwavering approach from early morning to late afternoon at the factory gate.

The company is a leading manufacturer of marine and aircraft safety equipment with packed order books.

As Neil Moore, Unite the union officer and Socialist Party member has pointed out "The cost of the pay increase sought by the workers is less than one percent of this company’s total sales. In an unprecedented inflationary period where its sales have increased by more than 130% over pre-pandemic levels – Survitec can easily afford to pay their employees.

"We're all sticking together"

Most workers we spoke to on the picket line are experiencing their first ever strike. Of course the key issue is about pay and the fight for an inflation-busting pay rise. But it is equally clear that for the workers this is also about respect and dignity at work. Taking a stand after a huge increase in workloads and pressure; bullying tactics remain unchallenged and a complete absence of thanks for those who worked on essential production during the pandemic is what workers here are doing.

From organising BBQs to bringing hand-made placards and holding impromptu conga dances to making sure that passing traffic shows support through beeping their horns - Survitec workers continue to show their resolve to maintain this strike. The sense of solidarity is evident and expressed by workers very clearly. One said "It's different this time. This time we are all sticking together".