Personally, I am as far removed from a Scrooge figure as you can get (I’m not talking to you Cratchit, carry on doing those accounts, and do put that crust of bread down, you are requested, and expected, to work through your meal break) but at the moment life in Britain seems to mirror a Charles Dickens novel!
I like Christmas time but, at the moment, it does feel like we are living through a Dickensian, Victorian retro period!
I don’t know what makes me more depressed: the millionaires in Parliament showing complete contempt for the British people, or, the fact that many in Britain voted to elect those very same millionaires!
Working people struggling while nothing changes for the wealthy.
You could say, Victorian values for the masses – Victorian splendour for the asses!
More homeless people on the streets. More children in B&B accommodation. More unemployment. Thousands of job losses. More elderly in fuel poverty. Soup Kitchens. Food banks!!
We have Food banks throughout Britain in 2012! Supermarket chains are asking customers to donate food to a Food bank!
This is not Oxfam asking people to donate food for starving children in some remote part of the globe, but British supermarkets asking customers to donate food to starving children and families here!
In the worst excesses of the Thatcher years I can only remember Food banks being set up to help striking miners’ families. They were the exception, not the norm.
They are the norm today and the Coalition Government boast that they are a sign of the ‘Big Society’ as if they are a good thing!
They push people to the point of desperation and then hand them over to charities and Food banks, while washing their hands of them and moralising about Broken Britain! You couldn’t make this utter hypocrisy up.
If that isn’t sending us back in time to a Dickensian Britain, I don’t know what is! Workhouses for the poor is not very far behind!
Our country doesn’t need to play Scrooge. We are a rich country. We create enough wealth between us to feed everyone, clothe everyone, house everyone, look after every child, look after every old person, give everyone a job and pay a proper wage.
The trouble is that the wealth is in the hands of the few and not the many.
I know it is easy to exaggerate how bad things are when we get into our nice cars, drive to our mortgaged houses while thinking of our second holiday in the sun but……those material things quickly dissolve if you don’t have a job and you are not part of the wealthy few!
Colleagues who still think that they don’t need to be in a union (those people we all know who benefit by other people being in the union, while playing that ignorant card of “what’s the union ever done for us”! ) should think twice.
The union is a protection. The more of us in it, the stronger the protection.
We are all three or four pay packets away from severe hardship and in a lot of cases, destitution.
Remember that as you kick away Tiny Tim’s crutch!
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Ambulance Services don’t exist in a bubble of course (although sometimes it feels like it) and any political decisions regarding NHS funding cuts will also affect us.
We don’t have to wait for them, they are already here! Across Britain, Ambulance Services are being made to make savage cuts to their staffing and funding levels.
London Ambulance is no different, in fact, it seems worse for us being in the capital city.
We can dress it up how we like. We can be stoically professional as we like. The fact remains that these cuts to Ambulance Services are placing both patients and staff at risk.
The use of private ambulance companies as well as St Johns, Red Cross and volunteers to try to plug the hole, is not a sign of a changing Service meeting the patients’ needs, but a sign of a Service desperately trying to stop the whole thing from collapsing around our heads.
It is not the fault of the London Ambulance Service. It is not the fault of the Chief Executive (past or present) and it is certainly not the fault of staff, although certain managers would like you to think otherwise.
UNISON looks forward to the result of the LASÂ Capacity Review.
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The consultation over the proposed changes to the Agenda for Change national agreement starts now.
Please follow the links below to read all the information and particularly the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/UNISON_Briefing_AfC_proposals.pdf
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/AfC_FAQs.pdf
If you are covered by Annex E within the national agreement regarding unsocial hour payments then FAQ 24 will be of interest. The majority of LAS staff are covered by Annex E.
Station and workplace representatives will also have the information.
Please get involved. We want your views. We have set up a Branch AfC email account so that you can email in your views, comments and thoughts (but please try to keep them short!).
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2012 has been a tough year for all of us. We know that 2013 will also bring tough times and tough decisions. We will get through the difficult periods together and come through the other end together.
We will not let anyone, either from within, or without, distract us from doing the right thing in supporting the NHS and public services.
I send solidarity on behalf of LAS UNISON to all ambulance workers and staff within ambulance services.
I would like to wish all our members, all our Stewards & Representatives and all the Branch Committee a very merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and safe New Year. Thank you for all your work.
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 Information of all issues can be found elsewhere on our website.
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If you are reading this, work for the London Ambulance Service or are eligible to join, and are not yet a member of UNISON Join Today!
 I Am Frontline You Are Frontline We Are All Frontline
We are stronger together.
Eric Roberts
Branch Secretary.
