IWW Valentine's Day Blood Service protest - 14th Feb 2009

On Saturday 14th February the IWW is taking a mobile protest to hospitals around the city, to inform the public and healthworkers about the looming closure of the Birmingham blood processing lab in March. This vital link in the blood supply chain is to be transferred down to Bristol under a centralisation regime, with the loss of around 70 jobs, leaving local hospitals’ blood supply at the mercy of the clogged motorways of the South-West of England.

The IWW, along with other unions and organisations, has campaigned against this dangerous move during the last few years. Unsurprisingly when management proposed these cuts there was the bare minimum of consultation with hospitals and none with the public. Now that the cuts are happening, the least we can do is take the message to the streets and make sure that Birmingham is well informed of exactly what is happening to our public services.

Show some love for the blood service on Valentine’s Day!

• We need cyclists! Lots and lots of cyclists! - To form the body of the convoy behind a large van with banners.
• We also need car drivers who can carry extra protestors. As many as possible.
The protest will meet at Birmingham Uni North gate turning circle, pass the Blood Centre and the QEH/Women’s hospital in Edgbaston, then call at Selly Oak, City, and end up at the Children’s hospital in the city centre.

Meeting points
@ B’ham Uni North Gate (Prichatts Rd) assemble from 11am
@ Selly Oak Hospital (Oak Tree Lane) approx 12 noon – 12.30pm
@ City Hospital (Dudley Road) approx 1.30 pm – 2pm
@ Children’s Hospital (Steelhouse Lane) approx 2.45pm
Finishing in the city centre on foot at 4.30pm

Please put this date into your diaries, and help us build numbers by letting your friends and family, workmates, neighbours and union contacts know about the event. Leaflets and posters are available now. For more info, to confirm attendance, to book a seat as a car passenger, or to get copies of the pre-event leaflet please contact iww.nbs[AT]gmail.com (replace [AT] with @)

Furious letter from Canadian blood service workers union

Last month the Nova Scotia Union of Public & Private Employees (NSUPE) sent a storming letter to the Canadian Blood Service CEO on behalf of their very frustrated members working in blood collection. Their experiences of the high pressure piled onto them as a result of poor management decisions are shared by donor carers this side of the pond.

Click here to read the letter in full and the response from CBS bosses.