We marched for Our Public Services
April 1, 2011 Leave a Comment
On Saturday the 26th March along with up to 500,000 others, 8 Occupational Therapists from our Branch woke early on their day off to catch the coach to London.
In preparation for the days even members had been encouraged to read the information on the Branches website, and signposted to the British Association of Occupational Therapy for advice and guidance to prepare them for their first time marching. The information also helped people to prepare, if they found themselves being interviewed by any press at the event.
On the journey up to London, as the Acute OT services Steward I ensured my colleagues had the chance to talk through any anxieties about the day. I requested that people buddy up in pairs for the march, to ensure that should the group become separated at any point, they were never on their own. I also issued out a leaflet provide by Thomson�s solicitors with advice on what to do if they found themselves witnessing any problems on the march.
For at least half of the people on our Branches coach, it was the first time they had attended any kind of March or rally
Once dropped of in London, we took a nice stroll to the starting point for the March at the Embankment. When we arrived we were face with a fantastic sea of green and purple. Big bold balloons with the unison logo, and banners, whistles, off duty ambulance crews, police, Nurses Etc.
As we found space in the queue with our Hertfordshire Community Healthcare Branch banner, we collected our free Unison T-shirts, Horns, ponchos, banners, and baseball caps, banners and tabards.
Waiting for the march to start was great fun, so many people behind us, bands and drums sounding, people blowing their whistles and horns �It definitely got us all in the festival spirit, we couldn�t wait to set off, and with a great sense of pride we set off at around mid day.
We slowly and loudly made our way past Big Ben, up Whitehall past Downing Street (where the noise level raised to fever pitch!). Next we were up to Trafalgar square, from there along to Hyde Park.
Once in the park we sat and had our lunch whilst listening to the Rally speakers. There were so many people there, it was amazing to be apart of it.
Amongst the speakers, The TUC general secretary Brendan Barber spoke about an alternative to the “brutal” spending cuts. He states that the government are threatening the NHS and destroying communities with the scale of the job cuts:
�No part of our public realm is to be protected. And don’t believe it when ministers say that the NHS is safe in their hands. With over 50,000 job cuts already in the pipeline – nurses, doctors, physios, midwives – in the name of so-called efficiency savings of �20 billion, the NHS as we know it, is already in intensive care�.
Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, “Every day when they discuss squeezing NHS budgets I want them to remember the nurses here on the march, the paramedics – workers who keep our NHS going. Workers who see every day the effect of the cuts on patients who are having vital pain-relieving operations cut or delayed�
All the members who attended the March said how they wished their colleagues had joined them on the day. All of the Therapist thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being on the march and for having such a carnival experience whilst expressing their right to mark their protest at the thought of the heart being ripped out of the NHS.
The chat over Lunch this Monday was the desire to share with colleagues what an enjoyable experience they had on Saturday, and others saying “I wish I’d have gone now. Let’s hope those people will be joining the Branch on Marches in the future”.maybe this clip might help the undecided members:
