NHS and Remploy Mobilisations

The date of the big national demonstration in support of the NHS in London this Autumn has been finalised as the third of November. More details from Unison website here.
Now that national Unison are taking this seriously at last it is time for all local health activists, trade unionists, socialists, greens and service users to get organised locally and build this into a massive show of strength. A demonstration is not the be-all and end all of this campaign, but it can be a useful tool for linking together different groups for future action, and establishing the kind of feeling of strength and unity of purpose that is needed (above and beyond the excellent local campaigns that exist in many areas).

Meanwhile, the GMB have announced a "Crusade" (Not sure about that terminology in this day and age, brothers and sisters, - but take it as reference to the Jarrow March, rather than a military religious campaign!) from Aberdeen on Tuesday 28th July to the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth on Monday 24th September, taking in meetings and rallies at all the 43 threatened factories. Take a look at the list of events on the downloadable documents on the GMB Remploy site to see if there is an event in your area.

The following Remploy factories are marked to close: Aberdare, Aberdeen, Abertillery, Aintree, Ashington, Bradford, Bridgend, Brixton (London), Halifax, Hartlepool, Hillington (Glasgow), Hull, Leatherhead, Leicester, Lydney (Forest of Dean), Manchester, Mansfield, Medway, Pinxton (Derbyshire), Plymouth, Poole, St Helens, Southend, Spennymoor, Stockton, Treforest, Wigan, Wisbech, Wishaw (Lanarkshire), Worksop, Wrexham and York.

The following factories are marked to merge with another site: Barnsley, Birkenhead, Brynamman, Jarrow, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Pontefract, Redruth, Southampton, Stockport, Woolwich (London) and Ystradgynlais.