Prentis pledges that UNISON will stop Tories destroying the NHS

UNISON will take on the government to stop it “dismantling the NHS,”Dave Prentis pledged when he spoke to the union’s annual health conference on the opening day in Brighton this morning.

Noting that the UK’s health service remains most efficient one in the world, the general secretary added: “We will not accept privatisation of NHS – we will reclaim our NHS and will not let the Tories flog it off”.

And he called on all “the other health unions to stand shoulder to shoulder with us on our fight to protect the NHS”.

He also emphasised the crucial role that the future of the NHS would play in next year’s general election, saying that UNISON would make it “our fight”, but adding that “everyone’s voice must count”.

Mr Prentis paid tribute to the union’s campaign to stop the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton being handed to a private company, and also told delegates that “we will win in Doncaster for the Care UK workers” who are fighting a private company slashing their wages, terms and conditions.

On pay, Mr Prentis said that it had shrunk by £3,000 per year since 2010 and health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s decision not to even pay the recommended 1% rise this years was “not borne of necessity. but an ideological choice”.

Declaring that the union stands “for values of solidarity and a public service ethos that Cameron and co will never get,” he added that, “when we take action, we expect our Labour Party to be standing shoulder to shoulder with us, not hiding in background”.

Film: Dave Prentis speaking at health conference on NHS pay

UNISON in health care

Doncaster care workers strike again

Supprot the Care UK doncaster strikers