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Unite members join nationwide protests against NHS privatisation

UNITE members joined campaigners nationwide at the weekend to demand an end to the privatisation of health services. 

Saturday’s day of action for the NHS, which the health union organised alongside the SOS NHS campaign, saw activists in 100 cities and towns across England call on peers to vote down the Health and Care Bill when it is debated in the House of Lords tomorrow.

Unite’s Community section and Unite in Health, which represents over 100,000 NHS workers, held rallies and set up stalls in high streets, urging people to demand that their political representatives reject the legislation over fears that it will lead to further privatisation and cuts to services. 

Demonstrations took place across northern England, in major cities including Leeds and Manchester but also small towns including Hebden Bridge in the West Yorkshire Pennines.

In Leeds protesters mounted a display of placards on the steps of the city’s town hall. Among the messages were “Scrap care charges, end privatisation, fair pay for staff, end trolley waits” and simply “Dignity.”

In Hebden Bridge, about 30 activists gathered at the town’s main crossroads and were encouraged to hear cars, buses and commercial vehicles honking their horns in support.

Members of Calderdale Trades Council displayed their banner.

Protester Jamie Johnson told the Morning Star: “I’m here to keep all privatisation out of the NHS.

“People don’t seem to be aware of how creeping privatisation is taking over the NHS — GP practices [are] being taken over by private health firms from the United States.”

In hospitals, Mr Johnson added, “cleaning, catering, portering staff — billions of pounds is being siphoned from the NHS into private pockets.”

In the West Midlands, members of Worcester Trades Union Council were among the demonstrators, while in London, striking outsourced security guards at Great Ormond Street children’s hospital linked up with activists to demand that services be protected.

In the south of England, a large crowd of protesters gathered around a “#SaveOurNHS” banner outside Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital.

And demonstrators in Brighton staged a “tug of war” between suited activists representing Tory ministers and the “people,” with the latter winning in the end.

The government, which denies that the legislation will limit patient access to treatments, claims that the changes will make the NHS “less bureaucratic and more accountable.”

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