Big support in Barry for fair pay for NHS workers

By John Williams

The Socialist Party has restarted campaign stalls in Barry in South Wales as the lockdown has lifted.

We’ve been calling for support for a 15% pay increase for NHS workers. The response has been really good – we’ve spoken to several health and care workers who are outraged over the proposed 1% pay ‘rise’, and agree with us that the Welsh government could have done more to resist the cuts from Westminster.

Everyone has their own stories about how the NHS have helped them in their lives. It’s clear that many still see the NHS as a proud tradition of their lives. “We need our own party. Now I agree with that!” was the response from one local resident. There was a clear message that there is still a mood to fight for the NHS to ensure the sick are properly taken care of.

One NHS worker told us horror stories of hospitals so under-resourced that rooms were left unlit and nurses transformed into “jailors” by understaffing on mental-health wards.

Many of Barry’s residents still remember the shameful attempt by the Welsh Labour government to shut down the local Sam Davies ward, that thankfully was saved by a campaign led by health workers in UNISON which the Socialist Party supported. Closures like these left our NHS ill-prepared to deal with Covid.

Though this behaviour from the Welsh government isn’t that surprising: at the height of austerity they passed on £1b worth of Tory cuts to the Welsh NHS, according to the Welsh Audit Office. Current First-Minister Mark Drakeford was Welsh Health minister while their brutal campaign of austerity was carried out. There’s clearly anger at the Welsh government for doing the Tories’ dirty work.

Barry Socialist Party member Kevin Gillen stood for TUSC in the Welsh Parliament election this year and as a result we picked up a list of supporters and potential members, one of whom has joined already and has joined us on several campaign stalls. With committed work we’re confident of taking our party forward in the future and are planning a public meeting in the near future.