The Olympics are nearly upon us. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are due to come to the United Kingdom and most will flock to the Capital.
The newspapers are full of it. The media is full of it. The world-wide web is full of it.
The London Mayor is full of it. Parliament is full of it (I am still talking about the Olympics!).
For London it is the Olympics: for the staff of the London Ambulance Service it is the Notting Hill Carnival, New Years Eve, the World Cup, the Royal Wedding and Friday nights in the West End rolled into one, every day, all day, night and day, for two months or more!
Every member of staff, uniformed or not, will be under enormous pressure.
Business as usual? I don’t think so!
There is still a debate ongoing regarding whether the Olympics are worth all the money, effort and trouble, but, that notwithstanding, they are here and we have to deal with all that they bring.
London will not be the same over this period. There will be traffic and transport restrictions. The population, static and transient, will swell. Security measures will be in place throughout the city. You can bet your bottom dollar that there will be sudden price increases also.
I want UNISON members within LASÂ to enjoy the Olympics. I want us all to enjoy the experience and to see our City pull off a safe and successful world event.
I want the Service to be seen for what it is: the best in the world.
However, while the athletes are getting their gold medals; while London business booms; while the London Assembly rakes in a fair penny and while the Coalition Government basks in the golden radiance of it all, I do not think it is right that our staff get absolutely zilch!
Call me old-fashioned! Call me a party pooper! Call me what you like!
It can not be right or fair that London Ambulance staff get nothing extra for the increase in work, pressure and disruption.
This is not normal business. This is over and above normal business.
There is a financial crisis (not of our making) that has major repercussions on the funding for the LAS. A disgraceful £50 million is being sliced off the budget to run the Capital’s ambulance service.
We understand all about the economic restraints, but,  in the Olympic spirit of unity within sport and nations, let us hope that the famous five rings on the Olympic flag don’t come to represent economic chains for our own staff.
Throw in the fact of a pay freeze, pension reforms, funding decreases, recruitment bans and 980Â potential post losses and you have a recipe for failure, not success.
I have written on behalf of LAS UNISON to the Chief Executive calling for talks with us over this important issue.
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The Health and Social Care Bill continues its slow, underhand way onto the statute book with more and more opposition.
Every day brings other organisations, professional bodies and Royal Colleges out into the public domain to denounce this privatisation Bill.
Sixteen months ago UNISON stood more or less alone in outright opposition. Now, I am so glad to say, the vast majority of organisations representing healthcare staff, professionals as well as patient organisations, have heard the penny drop.
The Prime Minister and the Health Secretary held a meeting today (20th February) at Downing Street to discuss the Bill.
The only people invited were those who supported Andrew Lansley. David Cameron was quoted as saying that ” he had no plans to meet health groups opposed to the NHS changes’” That’s the Coalition for you!
They must have met in a very small room for a very short time.
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I don’t normally have positive things to say about the British Monarchy as a whole, but credit where it is due: I did laugh when I read that the Special Branch officers in London who protect the Monarch have a rhyming slang nickname for her – The Baked Bean!
It is good that every group of staff, no matter what they do, have a nickname for their boss.
Don’t tell the Chief Executive ours though! That’s just between us (and Special Branch)!
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 Information of all issues can be found elsewhere on our website.
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Eric Roberts
Branch Secretary.
