Just before election to Holyrood, she led several victorious strikes against low pay - the most recent involving 300 ancillary workers against the French multinational, Sodexho. As an MSP she was a strong supporter of the Nursery Nurses campaigning for higher pay. On 20 May 2004, after attempting to raise a point of order about the strike at a time that the Presiding Officer determined was inappropriate, she was told to leave the chamber. She was active within the parliament campaigning for an end to the cuts and closures in hospital services across Scotland.