“Member of public has just brought us cake! First cake she’s made for ten years. Especially for striking nhs workers.” That was one tweet from a picket line in Norwich this morning as NHS members in England took strike action over pay for the first time in 32 years.
And while it represented just one person’s gesture of support for NHS workers, it typified the public response reported across the country.
From Cambridge, branch secretary Martin Booth reported: “There was a heck of a lot of support for what we stand for – the main purpose was to draw attention to what we are fighting for and we have certainly done that.
“I was really struck by the people going in, including patients, who were saying there’s a need for health workers to be valued.”
And it wasn’t just UNISON activists and pickets reporting this support.
BBC reporter Dominic Hughes, reporting from a “boisterous, noisy picket outside the Edwardian facade of the old Manchester Royal Infirmary” noted that “plenty of cars are tooting their support as they pass on Manchester’s busy Oxford Road.”
And from the west country, local paper The Bath Chronicle reported: “There was a lot of public support for striking NHS workers outside the Royal United Hospital this morning,” with people coming out of houses” near the hospital entrance to offer tea and cake”.
And the big picture supported these snapshots.
An opinion poll carried out by Survation showed that 61% of the public said the action by NHS workers in England was justified, with 27% disagreeing and 12% saying they did not know.
Asked about unions’ campaign for an above inflation rise in pay, almost two thirds said they thought a continued below-inflation 1% was unfair.
Asked specifically if they thought it was unfair to cap health workers’ pay at 1%, 65% said that it was, with just 22% saying it was justified and 13% saying they did not know
And there was plenty of high profile support on the internet too.
Comedian and Great British Bake Off presenter Sue Perkins took to twitter to say: “Sending love and support to all those NHS workers striking today. Thank you for all you have done to help me and my family over the years x.”
“All power to the care-givers,” she added.
And musician Billy Bragg stated: “We rely on NHS workers in times of trouble – let’s support them today when they strike for a properly funded NHS.”
Not so famous, perhaps, but equally sincere, new mother Martha Farqua used Twitter to post a photo of her new baby’s feet, with the comment: “Our amazing NHS helped me deliver these tiny toes safely into my arms this week! Support our nhs.”
And over on The Guardian website, columnist Suzanne Moore said baldly: “NHS staff are there for us in times of need. Today we must be there for them.
“This arrogant government has ignored the advice of an independent pay review and that’s why workers are striking. They need a living wage.”
The campaign for fair pay contnues this week with industrial action short of a strike. The union is urging all NHS staff to take the breaks they are entitled to – or refuse to do planned overtime in the ambulance service.
Pictures and words: live blog of this morning’s strike
