Lynch received a standing ovation when he told the crowd that ‘change is coming’.
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch received a standing ovation while giving a rousing speech at the British Medical Association last week, as he expressed solidarity with striking consultants, junior doctors and NHS staff.
Lynch used his speech to highlight how in many respects the RMT and BMA faced a shared struggle, warning that the attacks you will face during these campaigns ‘will be very similar to what we have had to put up with’.
He told those in attendance: “Our system, like your system is a comprehensive system that covers the country, it needs an army of people to work in it, from the cleaners, the support workers, your nurses, your doctors, everybody even the maintenance teams in all those hospitals, we need each other to run the health service, we need each other to run the rail services and of course we need each other to run this society in a decent way.”
Lynch also thanked the Tories for helping to unite workers from different backgrounds and sectors. He said: “We should congratulate the government, in so many ways. They have brought so many people together from diverse backgrounds across the country, and across every sector. I bet you medical students never thought you’d be striking with horrible people like me!”
The General Secretary of the RMT also attacked growing inequality in the country, as he condemned the ‘transfer of wealth from what we call the working class or the ordinary people of this country’.
He said: “Our wealth is being transferred to the super rich, the oligarchs are running the country right now and they’re running it for their benefit.”
Lynch received a standing ovation when he told the crowd that ‘change is coming’.
He said: “A change is coming in this country. They told us that everyone will hate us a year ago they told us that we’d be beaten in a fortnight.
“Well we haven’t won but we’re far from being beaten, we are determined to get a deal for our people, I hope the BMA is determined to get a deal for their people, and sees this dispute through to the bitter end if necessary and fights for the future of our people and fights for our society because that change is coming and part of that change is getting rid of this corrupt, rotten government, they need to go as quickly as possible.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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