Stroudwater 1825 and Gloucester 2025
The spring and summer two hundred years ago
Saw a sustained strike by the Stroudwater weavers
To protect their standard of living
In the face of wage cuts and price rises.
Two hundred years later, in Gloucester,
Phlebotomists have been on strike
For over two hundred days:
The longest strike in the history of the NHS.
Skilled workers but the lowest-paid in the NHS,
Women asking for fair pay for their care and service,
And with every day that passes in this campaign,
Prices in the shops keep on rising.
You can show your support for them today
By emailing or writing to your MP;
Making space and time to visit the picket line
Up the road and railway line at Gloucester Hospital,
Or digging deep in your pocket if you can
To contribute to their strike fund.
So let us remember the Stroudwater weavers
With a show of solidarity with the Gloucester phlebotomists:
This is an act of appropriate commemoration
That will stir the waters of the mill ponds,
And send a message of unity through space and time:
Stroudwater and Gloucester conjoined:
Victory to the Phlebotomists of Gloucester!