Local campaigners, trade unionists and health workers are invited to a National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) meeting on

THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY, 7.00 pm

The Guildhall, Eastgate Street, Gloucester

FIGHTING BACK

Defend NHS jobs, pensions and services

Keep the NHS public

ROGER DAVEY, South-West rep on the UNISON Health Service Group Executive, Wiltshire and Avon Health Branch and member of the South West NSSN Steering Committee will be speaking in a personal capacity.

Roger will provide a report-back, personal analysis & insights into the key issues affecting the NHS and health workers … there will be plenty of time for questions & discussion

There’s a lot to talk about: what is happening to the NHS nationally and locally … the role of the unions and anti-cuts groups in organising a fight back … How to defend the NHS against privatisation … the public sector pensions dispute … the local campaign to stop the transfer to social enterprise… plans for Tewkesbury hospital … downgrading of staff and wages …

On 8 Feb. the controversial Health and Care Reform Bill enters the next stage in the House of Lords and it looks as if the government may have to make concessions. But the government’s relentless attacks on the NHS – £20 billion in cuts, the creeping privatisation experienced under Labour becoming a wholesale sell-out to private companies, cuts to staffing levels, staff pensions and downgrading of salaries have hit NHS staff very hard. Surely no-one still believes NHS contracts are safe after outsourcing – now the Bristol-based Brandon Trust has announced wage cuts of up to 45% for care workers formerly employed by the NHS. Just another local example of why saving the NHS is the battle of a lifetime!

We will therefore also be discussing the next stage of struggle in the public sector pensions dispute (several unions – including the PCS and FBU – are meeting in early February to discuss what to do after the November 30 strike) and UNISON’s decision to sign the so-called “heads of agreement”.

In the same week, the judicial review launched by a Stroud resident and backed by Stroud Against The Cuts and other groups across the county to halt the transfer to social enterprise will be heard in London. Chris Moore, an ACTIVIST FROM STROUD AGAINST THE CUTS will also answer any questions and speak about the local campaign at the meeting.

We would be grateful if you could circulate information about this event around your trade union branch, attend yourself & encourage others to do so. For more information contact NSSN, PO Box 54498, London, E10 9DE

National Shop Stewards Network

The NSSN was founded at a conference called by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers in July 2007 to link trade union activists in different unions at a national and regional/local level. The proposal to re-establish a shop stewards movement came from an RMT sponsored conference to discuss working class political representation held in January 2006. The NSSN is backed by several unions and actively supports workers in struggle.