Protests at Sellafield Nuclear Plant

Workers' Daily Internet Edition : Article Index :

Protests at Sellafield Nuclear Plant
Low-level Radiation Found to Prompt Genetic Mutation

Medical Secretaries to Ballot for Strike Action over Pay Claim

Letter to the Editor:
A Small Incident in the Health Service

Forthcoming Activities against the "War on Terrorism"

WFTU's Letter to UN Secretary General on US Statements against Iran, Iraq and DPRK

About 200 protesters staged a demonstration at the Sellafield nuclear plant last Thursday.

The protesters, most of whom had travelled from Ireland to the demonstration to highlight opposition to Sellafield's MOX plant, chained themselves together as they stood across the two main roads leading to the Cumbrian plant. The blockade caused six-mile tailbacks in both directions. There was also disruption to train services because signalling staff were held up in traffic queues.

Concerns that the plant was to blame for high levels of child leukaemia and miscarriages on the east coast of Ireland were not being addressed, said the protesters. They also believed the plant was responsible for ruining marine life in the Irish Sea.

Eleven people, all from the Republic of Ireland, were arrested for obstruction during the five-hour blockade, which began at 6 am as thousands of staff began arriving for work.

A secondary school teacher, Róisín Ní Gháirbhith, of Clare Environmental Alliance, said: "We are very wary of Sellafield. There have been too many mistakes. We believe protests like this are the only way of getting people, most importantly politicians, to listen. We want the plant closed."

She said those arrested included a number of students, an engineer, a teacher, a computer scientist and a herbalist. She said the protest was essential to highlight the evils of Sellafield. "It's not just the MOX plant, it's the huge levels of radioactive waste that are being pumped daily into the Irish Sea. People need to be aware."

On Wednesday an all-party group of MPs said the government should encourage the public to take part in finding an answer to the problem of radioactive waste. Britain has a growing amount of intermediate and high-level waste currently stored at Sellafield in Cumbria to await conditioning and final disposal. After several failed attempts to reach a decision about what to do with it, the government last September published a consultation document on the subject This was the start of a process intended to lead to a publicly acceptable solution.

MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee have been looking at the government's consultation process which they fear is too lengthy – it continues until 2007. They also warn that the document is too low profile. The MPs called on the government to carry out a "methodical and transparent" consultation which encourages public participation.

Radioactive fallout from early Soviet nuclear weapon testing doubled the rate of genetic mutation among people living close to the test site in Kazakhstan, according to a study published on February 8 in the journal Science.

Yuri Dubrova of Leicester University worked with scientists in Kazakhstan to analyse DNA from 40 families living downwind of the Semipalatinsk test site. People exposed to fallout during the 1950s had a mutation rate twice as high as a control group who lived in a geographically similar, but uncontaminated area of Kazakhstan far from the site. Mutation rates declined in people born after the 1963 test ban treaty.

The scientists looked for mutations in part of the human genome called mini-satellite DNA, which is naturally variable but has no direct effect on health. No one has looked for radiation-induced medical problems in Kazakhstan – and Dr Dubrova says too few people affected by fallout are still alive to find such problems.

As a result of a mass meeting on February 14, UNISON, which represents 60 medical secretaries on South Tyneside, is to ballot its members for strike action over their pay claim. Medical secretaries at the South Tyneside Health Trust, who are among the lowest paid in the region, have been negotiating with management at the hospital for twelve months to increase their pay.

At present a full time medical secretary with five or more years experience is paid £12,815 per annum with additional proficiency payments if they have them. The claim of the medical secretaries is for a new linked grade scale 3 to scale 4 which would immediately give them £15,546 on the top increment. This claim would retain their proficiency allowances and be backdated to when the claim was initially made in February last year. Many medical secretaries in the region are also on such a linked grade. The Trust's final offer made on October 26 of £13,845 with retention of proficiencies and a separate offer to lead medical secretaries was rejected.

On December 10, 2001, the medical secretaries lodged a collective dispute. This dispute has not been resolved in an acceptable time scale. Medical secretaries feel that they have no choice but to ballot for strike action.

A spokesperson for the UNISON Branch said: "Medical Secretaries, like many others in the health team, have been undervalued for many years. Add to this the recent low pay awards to non-pay review staff over recent years and a bad situation has got worse and they have had enough. It shows how bad the pay and conditions of staff are when such caring section of staff such as medical secretaries are forced to ballot for strike action. This is the so-called 'third way' health policy where, unlike for the staff, millions of pounds in profits are index linked and guaranteed for 30 years or more to private companies under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), which is spreading over the region. Yet staff do not know from one year to the next whether their income will meet the increase in the cost of living."

I should like to inform your readers of an incident which occurred when I picked up a sick patient from Guy’s Hospital recently to take him for convalescence.

The patient, aged 83, had been brought to Guy’s by ambulance with police escort suffering with severe haemorrhaging from the nose. It was a life-threatening condition and he was given emergency surgery which saved him. A week later he was ready to be discharged and taken for convalescence.

I arrived by car at the main entrance car park at 2 pm. I entered the area signposted "Patient Transport Only". I told the car park attendant in his box that I was picking up a patient. He told me to "park at the side not the middle". No time limit was given. I proceeded to the ward. At 2.30 pm the patient was ready to leave but it was then an hour before a porter arrived with a wheelchair. There were no wheelchairs available on the ward for use. When we arrived at the car park I was amazed to find that my car had been clamped. Leaving the patient in the clamped car, I approached the car park attendant and explained to him the delay waiting for the porter. The car park attendant said that what happened in the hospital was totally irrelevant. The hospital was one organisation and the car park another. I would have to pay the £25 fee to remove the clamp. I asked to speak to his supervisor by phone and explained to the supervisor the situation. The supervisor said he would authorise removal of the clamp only if I obtained a letter from the ward confirming the reason for the delay. Explaining that I was looking after a sick and disabled patient I suggested he ring the ward to get confirmation. He said he would only ring the ward and get them to deliver a letter to him. I expressed astonishment at the idea of getting hard-pressed medical staff to spend time in such a way and he said: "Oh! They do it all the time". I then said I would run to the ward myself and obtain the letter, which I did. The patient who was already in a weak state was, as one would expect, highly distressed and disturbed by these events. Later on the journey he was in a state of collapse and did in fact collapse when we reached the place of convalescence.

It seems a sad state of affairs when brilliant work by a team of surgeons and attention by dedicated nursing staff save a man’s life only to have their efforts undermined by a car park organisation!

No doubt millions who are concerned about the state of the NHS would say this incident is typical of the results of privatising much of the hospital services: firms seeking private gain with no responsibility or even callous disregard for the wellbeing of patients. Be that as it may. It is difficult to conceive that a hospital trust would award a car-parking contract to an organisation which allows its staff such an abusive and non-caring attitude to the patients of the hospital it serves. It is difficult to see why there should be clamping of cars at all in an area so vital to patients’ welfare and peace of mind, except in cases of proven abuse. It is clear from the supervisor’s remark that this is not an isolated incident.

A complaint has been made to the Chief Executive.

Concerned Reader

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has sent the following communication to the United Nations Secretary General, February 13, 2002.

Mr Kofi Annan:

The World Federation of Trade Unions and its affiliates in all continents express grave concern at the serious threats to international security implied in the recent statements by the US Administration against three member States of the UN – Iran, Iraq and the DPRK, which are also members of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. There is wide apprehension that the unilateral military actions that were undertaken without reference to the UN Security Council will be further escalated to include these countries.

Several member States of the UN have expressed serious concern at these developments, including the European Union, since the unilateral actions by the US Administration threaten the peace and security of nations and peoples of the world.

The WFTU therefore requests you to urge the UN Security Council to examine these extremely serious threats and take all possible measures to ensure that all Member States respect international law and the UN Charter.

The WFTU appeals to affiliates and friends in all continents to take up this matter with Governments and NGOs and urge them to effectively act at the United Nations and other inter-governmental organisations, in order to uphold respect for international law and principles of the UN Charter.