On the first day of UNISON’s health conference, general secretary Andrea Egan delivered a speech to conference that called for public funding and better pay for NHS workers.
“As the first lay member to lead our union in its history, I don’t come to this role from an official’s desk; I come to it with decades of experience of working in public services and fighting at the grassroots of our union to transform them,” she said.
Quickly addressing NHS pay, a top priority of the conference, Ms Egan said, “No politician denies that the whole country depends on you. That everyone turns to health workers in our moments of need. That the NHS turns on endless hours of self-sacrifice.
“Yet your terms and conditions are still under attack.”
“Staff are our health service. To invest in you is to invest in the NHS. The notion we can restore our healthcare system without restoring your pay is nonsense. That’s why we have been unequivocal with the government: 3.3% is simply not good enough.”
Ms Egan described a lack of political will and a ‘broken’ Pay Review Body as the underlying drivers for what she described as ‘insulting’ pay offers to NHS workers.
“A united message to the government from UNISON’s health conference should be: start treating NHS staff with the respect they deserve. And that means restoring pay. It means investing in workforce expansion. And it means picking morale up off the floor.”
Privatisation and profiteering
Turning to the no-longer new Labour government, Ms Egan said, “With Labour in power we hoped for a break with the failed ideas of the past. We were promised ‘the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation’ for public services…Well, where is it?
“There are still far too many private healthcare vultures swooping down on our services, profiteering, extracting value – not delivering for patients or the public. Allowing that to continue is a political choice. A deeply irrational one at that.”
Ms Egan referred to health secretary Wes Streeting’s recent announcement in March that acknowledged that NHS hospital productivity outstrips the private sector.
“Let’s stop pretending private healthcare grifters have anything to teach our NHS,” she said.
NHS spending
The real, lasting solution, Ms Egan said, is public funding.
“Our NHS can only be rebuilt on the foundation stone of its socialist-first principles, not by harking back to the failed, corrupt schemes of the mid-2000s.”
“How many more crumbling buildings and patients in corridors do we need to see before politicians stop spreading myths about inefficiencies and start getting serious about investment?”
She referenced UNISON research that shows more than 20,000 NHS jobs are at risk across England over the next couple of years.
“Thousands of hard-working staff – our members – are facing the loss of their jobs because so many trusts are still in deficit thanks to underfunding. We need the damage done to our NHS by austerity to be proactively repaired, otherwise the rot will deepen.”
“There is no substitute for massive new public investment in our NHS.”
“How can there be no more money for our nurses, paramedics, porters, cleaners and clerks but endless cash to splash on the military?”
“How can there not be enough money to give you a proper pay rise, but there’s enough for an extra £130 billion on arms a year by 2035?”
Conference delegates applauded when Ms Egan said, “You never see a war general shaking a tin for more bombs.”
“Every billion spent on foreign wars is a billion not spent on our NHS.”
Industrial action
Ms Egan paid tribute to all health workers who have recently taken industrial action.
“Going on strike isn’t done easily or lightly. Particularly when you love your job and are as deeply committed to delivering for patients and their families as I know you all are.”
“But we need to be well organised enough and ready to strike across the board. And when it becomes necessary to take action, UNISON will be behind you in all our collective force. Whether this is at Gloucestershire – where I was humbled to join you on your picket lines – or the great work to fight for Healthcare Assistants and our staff as part of the union’s Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign, or the many other disputes and campaigns that UNISON has been part of.”
“In UNISON, we know taking industrial action isn’t selfish. It’s the opposite. It’s an act of sacrifice for the betterment of our NHS. A stand for a better future for everyone.”
Migrant workers
Ms Egan described the rights of migrant workers as one of her top priorities.
“I have taken our UNISON message to Parliament, and directly to the Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street: stop the attacks on migrant workers. Now.”
“Our pressure, which began with migrant members organising a massive lobby of Parliament themselves late last year, is working. More and more MPs are realising what catastrophic damage the Home Office proposals would do to our public services and are speaking out against them.”
“We will not rest, I will not rest, until the government drops its abhorrent plans to move the goalposts on indefinite leave to remain.”
Ms Egan called on conference delegates to get involved in UNISON’s national day of action, which is happening across regions on Friday 24 April.
“In standing alongside our migrant members, we are also making clear to this Labour government that futile attempts to imitate the far-right must end. There will be no out-Reforming of Reform.”
Reform
Ms Egan described UNISON’s lead role in combatting Reform UK and encouraged members to get involved in the union’s Responding to Reform network.
“People increasingly see them for what they are. Reform want to take away our rights, turn back the clock on equality, and parcel up our public services for their old pals in the square mile. We in UNISON will not let it happen.”
International solidarity
She also described being proud of UNISON’s stance against the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has included more than 23 attacks on healthcare facilities in a matter of weeks.
“In this union, I know we will continue to oppose militarism and war because we believe in the freedom, dignity and wellbeing of everybody, everywhere.”
“I want to acknowledge the work of our comrades in Scotland, continuing to lead the campaign of solidarity with healthcare workers in Ukraine who carry on every day in the face of Russian aggression.”
“And I want to acknowledge the Palestinian healthcare workers, almost two thousand of whom have been killed in Israel’s genocide. Medical Aid for Palestinians estimated last year that three healthcare workers were being murdered by Israel in Gaza every single day.”
Ms Egan urged conference delegates to watch the new film The Mission, which captures British-Iraqi surgeon Dr. Mohammad Tahir’s humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
“Filmed by medical colleagues using smuggled phones, it documents the brutal reality of operating rooms, collapsing infrastructure, and profound emotional tolls, highlighting the crisis as seen by medical professionals, in the continued genocide of the Palestinian people,” she said.
“Our international work remains as important as ever, as whatever happens overseas has an impact here in the UK, and a reminder that our membership is international. And discrimination in any form will not be tolerated. Not against our disabled members, our women, our LGBT+ members, migrant workers or Black members. We in UNISON will continue to fight rigorously to defend our hard-won rights, whoever is in government.”
Ending on a tone of determination, Ms Egan said, “I did not come into this role to maintain the status quo; I came to transform it. I came into this role on a vote to be your voice. But comrades, I cannot do this alone. So today I ask you one question: are you ready to be part of the change and to be part of this journey?”
“The union is me, the union is you, the union is us. Together we can build a union that truly reflects the strength, resilience and leadership of our movement, a union that fights hard for justice and a union that wins.”
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