THEY might look cheerful but student nurses Jaqueline Kerr and Anne Gourley were campaigning during a crisis in relations between the NHS and the Government. Taken in 1982, this image shows them handing out leaflets on Buchanan Street in Glasgow as part of their claim for better wages.
NHS workers across the UK were preparing for a 24 hour all-out strike, after unions said that they were “abysmally paid” and “shamefully treated” by Margaret Thatcher’s government. Union leaders in Glasgow also organised a rolling programme of regional strikes to try to encourage the Government back to the negotiating table.
Ballochmyle Hospital in Ayrshire was without catering and porters, while Glasgow’s Southern General faced a continuous strike from laundry workers. By the time the strike came on June 23, NHS staff were joined by miners, electricians and printers in a one-day "sympathy strike".
As a result of the action, the Government offered nurses a 7.5 per cent pay increase, and other workers a rise of 6 per cent. An independent pay review body was also established for NHS staff.
Ultimately, 1982 proved to be the most tumultuous year in the history of the NHS, with all 13 health unions seeking a pay rise. Yet looking at the smiles shared in this picture, it seems that industrial action doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.
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