What kind of strikes are occurring at the moment?
Let’s be clear about their nature. The hospital workers’ strike is even more bureaucratically controlled than in 1982. The fact that they can have different days in London, in the north west and in Scotland shows to what extent the union bureaucracy is in charge. The number of people involved up till now is much lower and it is more passive than in 1982. At the same time the depth of feeling is much greater than in 1982 – for one main reason. In 1982 the fight was about wages and conditions; in 1988 it is a fight for the National Health Service as well as for wages and conditions. The things are related, so the appeal is much wider. People think, if they’re fighting perhaps we can also fight. In terms of workers’ perception (and we have to deal with workers’ consciousness) the NHS is much more important than Fords. The majority of workers don’t give a damn about Fords. Workers care about the NHS, they have a stake in it. Fords was not a case where workers won bands down. It will give a
