Link to this page: https://secure.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1146/32977
From The Socialist newspaper, 8 September 2021
Workers shouldn't pay for health and social care plans
Glynn Doherty, union organiser in social care
As The Socialist goes to press, the Tories are in open warfare over Boris Johnson's plans on funding social care and the NHS in England.
In the 2019 Tory manifesto, Johnson said: "I guarantee extra funding for the NHS, with 50,000 more nurses. We will not raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance".
Nearly two years on and they're still almost 40,000 short of that growth promise, and the second appears in grave danger. Vacancies within social care are predicted to rocket to 170,000 - an increase of over 40% - by the year end, vastly increased by the inept law change on vaccinations. With press reports of the vaccinations law being extended into the NHS, the small growth in nurses' numbers could be halted and start to decline dramatically.
An increase in NI contributions would be significantly weighted against the youngest and lowest paid in the workforce, and many Tory MPs are fearful it would lead to an enormous working-class backlash against not only them, but their capitalist system.
At last, Labour's Keir Starmer has voiced his party's opposition, just over a month after shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth answered a question on TV about the government introducing a new tax to fund social care with "Why would we oppose that?"
For a worker on average earnings of £30k a year, a 1.25% increase in National Insurance would cost them £255 annually. This would equate to a huge chunk of the 3% pay rise for NHS workers. Most social care workers rely on the annual minimum wage uprating to get a pay increase. Thousands more care workers will leave the profession to go and work in Amazon warehouses. Joined-up thinking is not a strongpoint of this government!
Social care needs huge investment so where should the money come from? The top three owners of care homes in the UK are private equity companies, solely operating to accumulate profit. Social care should not only be planned as part of a national set-up with the NHS but it should be nationalised.
If tax or NI increases for ordinary workers are proposed by Johnson, the TUC should be calling for united trade union opposition through action, to add to its words of opposition. If the TUC fails to act, the left - particularly in Unite and Unison, the two largest health and care unions - should be meeting jointly to map a way forward.
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- We must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 8 September 2021:
NHS and social care
NHS and social care - make the rich pay, not the workers
Workers shouldn't pay for health and social care plans
End service cuts and care charges
Families demand rights for care home residents
Whipps Cross hospital workers reject the 3%
What we think
A pivotal moment for the trade union movement
Socialist Party news and campaigns
Socialist Party national council - members enthused by excellent in-person meeting
Why I joined the Socialist Party
Education
Union action needed to make schools Covid safe
Fighting NEU leadership needed to tackle school funding crisis
Schools funding crisis fails vulnerable children
University bosses push through pension cuts proposal
9/11 twenty years on
9/11 and the 'War on Terror' twenty years on
Workplace news
Bexley bin workers win big gains after six-week strike
Equity protest to save arts centre forces talks from Newham Council
DWP: Demand safe working and more jobs
DHL workers to strike against wage theft
Youth Fight for Jobs
Organising to defend our future: 9 October- Youth fight for jobs day of action
Building Youth Fight for Jobs in the South West
International news
Libya - ten years after Gaddafi's overthrow
US Supreme Court refuses to challenge Texas abortion ban
Keep fascists out of Portland: Build a mass movement to fight the right
Readers' opinion
Socialist change, not climate change
Vigil: A nuclear sub murder mystery
Obituary
Obituary: Roger Henshaw, comrade and class fighter
Home | The Socialist 8 September 2021 | Join the Socialist Party
Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook