Ambulance dispute: nation-wide solidarity action
Labour Briefing1990sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
Over a million people took part in the TUC demonstration of support for the ambulance workers on January 30th.
They all took some form of action — strikes, demonstrations or rallies. It was a massive demonstration of solidarity, giving a huge boost to the ambulance workers and another vote of no confidence in government.
In virtually every city and town there was activity of some kind. Many of those not directly involved showed their support by sounding car horns, clapping or shouting their support.
Liverpool saw the biggest single action, 30,000 local authority workers struck from 11am onwards. A 20,000 strong march was joined by engineers, postal workers and taxi drivers who followed in their vehicles.
There were strikes at Plesseys and at Littlewood's pools and the buses stopped at noon with the drivers taking collections from the passengers. 1500 workers struck at AC Delco.
NALGO estimate that 60,000 of their members took part in some form of action during the day. Other unions must have similar figures.
Support came from workers right across the spectrum. Dockers, transport workers, construction workers, NHS workers, local government workers, teachers, lecturers, shipyard workers, engineering workers, postal and communication workers, gas and electricity workers, steel workers and firefighters.
There were protests at hundreds of hospitals. 14,000 shipyard workers walked out at Barrow-in-Furness; 10,000 people demonstrated in Birmingham (where the Symphony Orchestra took action to play at the rally); 5,000 in Coventry, 3,000 in Cardiff; 4,000 in Newcastle (including striking workers from the Swan Hunter shipyard).
In Sheffield a demonstration of 2,000 was joined by a delegation from a dozen factories where action was taking place.
There were rallies and demonstrations up and down the country: of 2,000 in Salford, 4,000 in Sheffield, 5,000 in Leeds, 300 in Brighton, 3,000 in Nottingham, 1,000 in Chesterfield, 1,000 in Oxford, 200 in Leicester, 1,000 in Sandwell, 300 in Torquay, 300 in Torbay, 400 in Matlock and 8,000 in Bristol including 1,000 dockers, 2,000 in Manchester, 2,000 in St. Helens, 200 in Chester, 500 in Carlisle, 400 in Reading, 1,000 in Southampton and 200 in Taunton.
There were also rallies in; Bradford, Rotherham, Hull, York, South Shields, Northampton, Southend, Bath, Swindon, Cheltenham, Blackburn, Preston, Thirsk, Bridlington and Barnsley. There was even a demonstration of 200 in the Tory heartland of Bishop's Stortford.
More than 5,000 people formed a human chain between the ambulance stations in Hackney. Over a dozen rallies totalling more than 20,000 people were held in London. Many schools had extended lunch breaks as teachers joined the protest.
Despite the disgraceful TUC instruction that no one should strike without the agreement of the employers, many workers took a half or full day action.
At Sellafield construction workers struck for a day. Durham pits stopped work for half-a-day. There were half-day strikes in several London boroughs, including Camden and Haringey.
Hundreds of local government workers struck in Hackney. Beechams and Pilkington workers struck in St. Helens. Workers at Smiths in Cheltenham and Doughty's in Gloucester walked out. As did 4,000 off-shore workers on Teeside and 4,000 Durham local authority workers.
Gwent County Council workers struck for half-a-day. 1,500 stopped work at Delco Engineering at Kirkby. In Coventry there were strikes at Massey Ferguson and Alvis and the main Post Office sorting office.
Hundreds of workplaces held meetings. Large ones include Rolls Royce in Coventry and Bristol, DSS in Newcastle, Austin Rover in Longbridge and Cowley, Jaguar Cars in Coventry, BAe in Bristol and several major London bus garages.
The protests were big in Scotland as well. More than 10,000 people took part in a rally in Edinburgh and 10,000 in Glasgow. There were demonstrations in Dundee, Aberdeen and Dumfries.
At least 50,000 Scottish workers joined walkouts or factory-gate meetings. In Edinburgh 500 Post Office workers stopped work. On Clydeside workplaces stoppages and meetings included Govan and Yarrow shipyards.
GEC Kelvin Diesel workers took action with direct-works workers in several authorities and workers in several hospitals.
Unfortunately, massive though Tuesday's protest was, it is not enough to win the day for the Ambulance workers.
Popular feeling has been mounting against the government for months over the dispute, but they have not given in yet and they are not about to give in now. There are two years to the next election and they have little regard for public opinion.
Substantial
But the Ambulance workers can win, and last Tuesday points the way to do it. More substantial action would clearly again get massive support if it was called and would hit directly at the principle Tory backers and at an economy already in crisis. This would need an extension of the ambulance dispute, most importantly a national ballot for all out action.
If the TUC is to call further action, it will have to be forced to do so. They fear more substantial strike action and even more they fear the anti-union laws.
Everywhere where the action was strong on the 30th should go back to their union branches and demand that the TUC name the day for another action.
There is another important dimension as well. The vote of the Ford production workers went narrowly against strike action, and even if the continuing action by skilled grades does not force the offer any higher the double figure settlement will set the marker for this year's wage round which is just getting off the ground.
One way to break the deadlock in the ambulance dispute is for other unions to pursue their claims and make sure the ambulance workers are not forced to battle on alone any longer.