Jonathan Neale writes: One chapter on the 1982 hospital workers strikes in Britain from a book I wrote many years ago seems very relevant now. I hope it will be useful, in different ways, to university workers and hospital workers. You can download the chapter here.

I was an occupational therapy technician in a geriatric hospital during the 1982 strikes, and a shop steward in the National Union of Public Employees. Reading what I wrote back then, I can feel my pride in my fellow workers and my rage at the leadership of our unions. I was angry because our leaders were introducing what was then a new strategy – one day strikes, two-day strikes, five-day strikes, regional rolling strikes, and so on.