Photo: Steve Forrest, Workers’ Photos
UNISON’s general secretary Christina McAnea addressed the union’s health conference this afternoon in Liverpool.
Opening, she said: “Conference, a lot has changed since we met last year in Brighton. Most importantly of course, we have finally seen the back of the Tories.
“And after 14 years of cuts, chaos, damage and division, this was a welcome change. One that was long overdue.”
Highlighting the change, she noted the Westminster Labour government’s policies – investing in green infrastructure, boosting social housing and nationalising rail companies. But the most significant change, she said, is the Employment Rights Bill.
She called it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to boost our members’ status and security in workplaces right across the country.
“Of course, the government could always go further and they could always go faster. I want to see the planned National Care Service happen much sooner.
“But be in no doubt, these are all moves in the right direction. And unions like ours … are demanding that ministers hold true to their promises.
“But conference,” she continued, “some of their other decisions have left me baffled and speechless. Stopping winter fuel payments, not giving WASPI women the justice they deserve and most recent of all, the proposals to overhaul the welfare system are indefensible.
“They are counter-productive, will cost more in the long run and, conference, they are morally wrong. And we expect better from Labour.
“We know Tory failure has left the government little financial wriggle room, but going after disabled people and vulnerable families is not the way to get people working or to boost the economy in this country.”
Issues in the health sector
Moving on to addressing issues in the health sector, she said: “There is simply no route to fixing the NHS that does not first involve fixing health worker pay. The idea that 2.8% will do is ludicrous.”
She said 2.8% – the amount which the government has budgeted for the 2025/26 NHS pay rise – would neither encourage experienced staff to stay in the NHS, nor be enough to persuade new recruits to join.
“UNISON will soon be asking NHS workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland how far they’d be prepared to go over this year’s pay rise when it comes.
“Conference, we are not looking for trouble, but if we have no choice, we will come out fighting. We need to send a strong message to the government. Ministers need to show they are different from what has gone before, and they must avoid making the mistakes of the past.”
Referencing the announcement from Holyrood earlier today, of a two-year pay offer being put to unions, including a guarantee that staff would get 1% more than inflation, she said the Westminster government “could take a leaf out of the Scottish Government’s book.”
She told delegates that it would be up to members in Scotland to decide on that offer, but “at least it shows what can be achieved with direct talks with unions.”
“We will take them on”
Moving on to wins in the the service group, she picked out the union’s pay fair for patient care campaign, in particular, saying: “So far it’s won an amazing £154m in back pay, putting money directly into the pockets of as many as 40,000 healthcare assistants and other NHS workers who find themselves on the wrong salary grade.”
On the upcoming pay round and a host of issues concerning the promotion of privatisation and ‘subcos’, Ms McAnea said: “Conference, we’ve won these battles before and we will win them again, because if they come after one of our branches – they come after all of us.
“So, whether it’s the Tory/Lib Dem coalition trying to impose local pay rates, or Reform wanting to bring in an insurance-style health service, or the Northern Ireland office holding back pay increases, or the SNP trying to divide and conquer among different health workers, or a Labour government anywhere in the UK, we will take them on.
“Our union’s first priority – my first priority – will always be to defend our members. And I give you my commitment. Nothing will stop me or the union from doing that.”
Finishing her speech, she told delegates: “Conference, the Tories may have gone, and good riddance to them, but it doesn’t mean all our challenges have gone with them. That was never going to be the case.
“It means we have to keep doing what we do best: building strong branches and regions, boosting our recruitment, speaking out in defence of services, fighting outsourcing wherever it rears its ugly head, and, repeatedly, constantly making the case for our NHS.
“Conference, we have much that we can be proud of. And much more that we still want to achieve. I know that when we work together, we are more than a match for anyone.”
Image: Steve Forrest, Workers’ Photos
Conference heralds strikers
After Christina’s speech, UNISON national secretary for health Helga Pile introduced workers from branches who had taken strike action over the year.
She heralded the determination of the strikers who “got angry, got organised and got the vote out”, saying that their decisions were a “last resort”. She noted that even after having won the ballot, members still had to “take that enormous step of actually walking out. Sometimes once, sometimes many times.”
To a standing ovation, conference then joined a live link to a picket line in Gloucestershire, where phlebotomists were taking strike action and striking workers were asked brought to centre stage.
