Yesterday I attended the TUC's Lobby promoting the value of public services. The day didn't start well for me as I got locked into my friends house (who I'd stayed with the night before) and ended up having to climb out through the window!
But I made it to the rally not long after it had started, to here a number of General Secretaries and the like making empassioned speeches about defending our services against the dogmatic privatisation and marketisation by the Government. Some were great, some not so great but with every TUC affiliated union speaking it was quite long. I stayed to the end of the rally though as my friend Wes was speaking on behalf of the National Union of Students, unfortunately by the time he spoke the room was a lot emptier than at the beginning when you couldn't get in it was so full.
But I made it to the rally not long after it had started, to here a number of General Secretaries and the like making empassioned speeches about defending our services against the dogmatic privatisation and marketisation by the Government. Some were great, some not so great but with every TUC affiliated union speaking it was quite long. I stayed to the end of the rally though as my friend Wes was speaking on behalf of the National Union of Students, unfortunately by the time he spoke the room was a lot emptier than at the beginning when you couldn't get in it was so full.
I was able to lobby my own MP, Roger Godsiff. We met at 4 and had a good long chat. I'd only met Roger briefly before as I've not that long lived in the constituency. Roger was very supportive of the TUC lobby in general and the more specifics. Having voted against Foundation Hospitals and Top-up Fees he has a decent record as an MP. He also assured me that he had contacted and asked questions of the Department of Health around decisions such as outsourcing primary care services amongst others. We also shared a common belief in the importance of good involvement of front line staff in projects such as Connecting for Health.
Important for our Branch was a discussion on PFI, with our new PFI hospital under construction. Roger and I agreed that we need more creative ways of raising finance, rather than the expensive PFI schemes which are already hitting the NHS hard.
All in all it was a good day. I hope to take forward our relationship with Roger Godsiff as a Branch to build support for our cause locally as well as continuing the pressure nationally.
This sort of event is a great way of ensuring members remain engaged in the bigger picture and take our experience to decision makers, rather than just dealing with the problems that policies create on the ground. I was glad to see young members there and hope that over the coming years we can increase the involvement of young members in these events.
