"The health service is in dire straits"
It is rare for the TUC to seek to convene the whole trade union movement at a special Congress outside of the TUC’s usual flagship annual event in September.
A Special Congress last took place over 40 years ago in 1982, to fight Margaret Thatcher’s anti-union legislation.
But given the exceptional circumstances of an “unprecedented Tory attack on the right to strike”, hundreds of trade union delegates representing millions of workers will meet in at Congress House today.
One of them – Dr Matt Church, from HCSA, the hospital doctors’ union – spoke to the TUC about why the right to strike is so important, and what impact minimum service levels will have in the NHS.
“We don’t want to be out on strike”
Matt told the TUC: “A year ago, I hadn’t taken strike action before. But I’ve now been involved in seven rounds of strike action with my junior doctor colleagues.
We don’t want to be out on strike, we want to be delivering healthcare to our patients.
But like so many public sector workers, our real terms pay has plummeted during the last 13 years of austerity. Junior doctors’ real wages have fallen by a third.
This has a huge impact, not just on our lives – but on the quality of care delivered by the NHS.
The health service is in dire straits. NHS waiting times are through the roof. And a huge reason for that is the recruitment and retention crisis for NHS staff.
People just don’t want to work in intensely stressful environments to see that their pay is decreasing year on year.
We feel like we’re not valued. And the waiting lists were climbing well before strikes. And this is why I took strike action this year.”
Minimum service levels are “completely unworkable”
Matt is concerned about how the government’s minimum service levels (MSLs) will work in the health service.
He said “It is completely unworkable to introduce MSLs in the health service. I’m apprehensive to see how they’ll be applied in my hospital.
There are simply not enough staff working in hospital wards on non-strike days. We are woefully short staffed at the best of times.
So how can hospitals be expected to provide a “minimum service level” on strike days, when there is no minimum service level and staff are left to fill gaps routinely on non-strike days?
We might end up in the ludicrous situation where hospital staffing levels are better on strike days.
MSLs mean that the opportunities for health workers like me to negotiate and if necessary – strike – for fair pay and working conditions is seriously affected.
Which will ultimately have a negative impact on patient care when the NHS recruitment and retention crisis gets even worse.”
Dr Matt Church is a medical oncology registrar working in a cancer hospital and is a member of HCSA’s junior doctor committee.
