The Porters of the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, along with some of the civilian Facilities staff, are going on strike over unfair conditions over booking annual leave. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-16946320 . Good luck to them! Of course going on strike is a very serious matter in hospitals. When the railways go on strike people can get the bus to work instead, but when hospitals strike it can cost people their health and life! But the NHS is in such a terrible state that it can't realistically get any worse. Things have reached the point where far more harm will be done by not striking than by striking.I went to visit the GWH when it first opened about 10 years ago and was astonished by what I discovered. Not only were all the Facilities staff employed directly by Carillion, the contractor, but all the nurses' name-badges I saw were agency and the doctors’ name-badges had BUPA, a major private healthcare company, written on them. Above the gate of the hospital it said: NHS TRUST, but what’s NHS about it? This is a private hospital in all but name.
The hospital must be fair to its workers. That's the point of these porters going on a strike. Once they are given their just dues, they can work again. After all, it's to the benefit of both parties.
ReplyDeleteAll the workers care so much. Great staff.
ReplyDelete