BREAKING NEWS!! Tories forced into a U-turn over train ticket offices closures!! NSSN sends congratulations to rail & transport unions and all those who have campaigned against these cuts
RMT WELCOMES RESOUNDING VICTORY AGAINST TICKET OFFICE CLOSURES (31 Oct)
HALT TICKET OFFICE CLOSURES SAYS RMT (31 Oct)
RAIL TICKET OFFICE CLOSURES AT THE END OF THE LINE – TSSA (31 Oct)
The NSSN bulletin continues to report on the wave of strikes taking place, as workers keep up the fight against the Tory cost of living squeeze. As always, this bulletin reports on current disputes and appeals for solidarity and support for them.
We also continue our campaign against the Tory anti-union Minimum Service Level legislation.
We believe that the TUC must enact its motion agreed at its Congress in September, that stated “Congress pledges 100% solidarity with any trade unions attacked under these MSL laws” and included to “support demonstrations and hold a national march opposing the legislation and calling for repeal of the anti-union laws.”
The motion that was passed at the TUC Congress includes:-
Congress calls on the next Labour government to immediately repeal MSLs, the Trade Union Act 2016 and take urgent steps to remove other anti-union laws.
Congress pledges 100% solidarity with any trade unions attacked under these MSL laws.
Congress agrees we must use all means necessary to defeat the unjust MSLs laws and calls on the General Council to proactively seek to:
- resist any further restrictive trade union legislation and demand:
- the repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016 and all other anti-trade union legislation;
- stronger rights for unions to access workplaces, win recognition, and establish collective bargaining rights; and
- the right for trade union members to vote online during industrial action ballots, and statutory elections for executive committees and general secretaries.
- build coalitions to campaign for non-compliance and against further restrictive trade union legislation;
- build an appropriate industrial response to defend workers’ right to strike;
- implement a campaign alongside others defending the fundamental rights of working people to resist MSLs;
- legally challenge the Minimum Service Levels (MSLs) legislation;
- coordinate demands from affiliates and call on employers, devolved governments, mayors, fire authorities, local authorities and other public bodies to refuse to implement the MSLs legislation and issue work notices and work with the trade union movement to render MSLs inoperable;
- support demonstrations and hold a national march opposing the legislation and calling for repeal of the anti-union laws;
- mobilise support for any affiliate seeking assistance, whose union and members are sanctioned for non-compliance;
- organise a Special Congress, size to be determined, to explore options for non-compliance and resistance.
Over 50 union branches and organisations and trades councils supported lobbying the TUC Congress in September. Send us details if your union also passes our model motion or the updated version below, and/or agreed to support our lobby of the TUC and we’ll include in this list
This is an updated version after TUC Congress:-
This (branch, committee, trades council etc)
· welcomes the TUC decision for a fighting strategy to oppose the Tories’ new anti-strike law, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, which will initially prevent nearly 6 million UK workers in health, education, transport, fire and rescue, and other public services from taking full industrial action;
· recognises the urgent need to build coalitions of non-compliance and against further extensions of the act by creating an appropriate industrial response to defend workers’ right to strike and protect any trade union attacked under this new law;
· supports the TUC call to coordinate demands on employers, devolved governments, mayors, fire authorities, local authorities, and other public bodies to refuse to issue ‘work notices’ under the act, which are discretionary and not mandatory, and will initiate and/or participate in national, local and regional demonstrations and lobbies of such employers in support of this demand.
Public Meetings & Events:
‘Councils in Crisis’ – public meeting hosted by ‘Save Our Services in Surrey’ to discuss how we can defend public services and fight the cuts in Woking. Everyone who wants to stand up for local services is welcome. The meeting will be at 7.30pm on Wednesday 15th November at the Maybury Centre, Board School Road, Woking GU21 5HD
How do we defeat the anti-union laws? –
A public meeting organised by London trade union movement organisations, hosted by Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Council at the Bread & Roses
7pm, Wednesday 29 November
The Bread & Roses, 68a Clapham Manor Street, London SW4 6DZ
Register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-do-we-defeat-the-anti-union-laws-tickets-737898312717?aff=oddtdtcreator/ OR https://bit.ly/29novantiunionlaws
Provisional speakers include (more info shortly):-
• Maria Exall, TUC President 2022-3 and Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) Greater London Combined
• Riccardo la Torre, National Officer and anti-union laws lead for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU)
• Jared Wood, RMT London Transport Regional Organiser
• Maisie Sanders, teacher and National Education Union (NEU) rep, Hammersmith and Fulham
• Plus reps / activists from unions including PCS and Unison
The Workers’ Committee JT Murphy pamphlet launch – Thursday 7 December
Strike Map and Manifesto Press have re-published the famous JT Murphy, The Workers’ Committee. This pamphlet outlines the first ever shop stewards’ movement in the country. The pamphlet will be launched at the People’s History Musuem on 7 December, starting at 7pm.
Book your ticket, which includes a copy of the pamphlet, here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-workers-committee-jt-murphy-pamphlet-launch-tickets-742181223017
Stop the attack on Gaza
Many NSSN supporters have joined marches and protests against the escalation of violence in the Middle East, particularly the daily bombardment on Gaza by the Israeli government
There are national and local protests taking place
A number of unions have issued statements, including: the TUC, FBU, RMT, NEU, Unite, Unison, PCS, ASLEF, TSSA, UCU, EIS, Equity, BMA, NUJ, UVW, GMB, SOR and Mandate (Ireland)
NSSN news
Get your trade union branch or trades council to affiliate to the NSSN – it only costs £50. Already affiliated? Please think about renewing it and/or making an additional donation to help our work. Also, many of our supporters pay a few pounds a month via a standing order.
You can either pay online to ‘National Shop Stewards Network’, HSBC – sort code 40-06-41, account number 90143790.
Or you can pay by cheque to ‘National Shop Stewards Network’ and post to NSSN, PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE.
Feel free to use this affiliation letter.
And if you can, come to one of our regional Conferences. If there is not one in your area, get in touch to either assist in organising or have a speaker at one of your meetings or events. Contact Rob or Katrine on [email protected]
The NSSN is developing a campaign pack for social care, which we hope to make available in the not-too-distant future for supporters to use in their localities. As part of this, communications officer Dave Gorton is keen to hear from supporters who:
(1) work in social care (either local authority, private or independently provided)
(2) represent social care workers for a trade union
(3) are in need of social care provision themselves or act as an (unpaid/underpaid) carer for a family member
Dave can be contacted in the first instance via [email protected]
Union News
You can receive this bulletin via email or you can choose to unsubscribe and stop receiving them. Like everyone else, the NSSN has to adhere to new data protection regulations. Therefore you must click here to subscribe/unsubscribe. Reports from unions do not necessarily reflect NSSN’s views.
RMT
Caledonian Sleeper staff ballot for strike action (30 Oct) – RMT members working on the Caledonian Sleeper service will be balloted from tomorrow (October 31) for strike action over insufficient staffing levels. The ballot for train hosts and train host team leader grades will open on October 31 and close 21 November. Union representatives have accused the company of causing adverse stress and anxiety to the workforce by refusing to crew passenger services adequately. Management has also failed to adhere to a dispute resolution agreement reached in 2019, putting a further strain on industrial relations. Workers will be asked if they want to take strike action and action short of strike, which would include no rest day working and an overtime ban read more
RMT warns against betrayal of rail passengers (28 Oct) – Ahead of the much anticipated reports on ticket office closures from London TravelWatch and Transport Focus next Tuesday, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Around 750,000 passengers have responded to the consultation, making it the biggest ever response to a public consultation with 98% of passengers who have responded opposing the closures. We know that watchdogs, rail companies and government have had behind closed doors discussions in recent weeks. It would be a great betrayal of passengers if the response to such widespread opposition to the closures was a stitch up which still paves the way for ticket office closures and the loss potentially thousands of railway station jobs…” read more
Trainline profiteering from passengers and ticket office closures (27 Oct) – Rail union, RMT hit out today at Trainline for relentless profiteering at the expense of passengers, taxpayers and the ticket office closure programme. The popular train app which allows passengers to book tickets for railway journeys charges a booking fee and a 5% commission on single and return tickets sold. Trainline has admitted that its search criteria does not prioritise the cheapest ticket and does not automatically identify all the fares available for the journey. This means that if a journey is cheaper but departs later, is longer, or requires more changes, it will not be selected to be shown. The latest half year results for 2023/24 show that Trainline is on track to generate revenue of £200m this year from UK ticket sales. Yet train operating companies and the government want to save £100m from the closure of all ticket offices. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Private companies and contractors that are operating within the railways are making a killing while the government is pushing for the closure of all ticket offices…” read more
Support Bidvest Noonan picket lines (24 Oct) – Bidvest Noonan cleaners on the c2c contract are taking one days strike action on 3rd November in pursuit of pay justice. East Ham 08.00 until 11.00 am.
- Fenchurch street 07.30 until 11.00 am.
- Shoeburyness 07.00 until 13.00 pm and for the night workers picket line it will 19.00 until 21.00 read more
RMT secures fresh strike mandate in national dispute (19 Oct) – Rail union RMT has smashed the anti trade union legal thresholds to secure another 6-month mandate for strike action in their long running national rail dispute. Around 20,000 members were balloted across 14 rail companies with all of them individually achieving over a 50 percent turnout and overwhelming ‘yes’ votes for further strike action. Overall 89.9% of members voted ‘yes’ for more strike action on a 63.6% turnout. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “I congratulate our members for delivering a decisive mandate for future industrial action as we pursue a negotiated settlement of jobs pay and conditions…” read more
Defend Jobs, Pensions and Agreements (18 Oct) – Ballot papers have been sent to 10,000 London Underground members in their dispute over Jobs, Pensions and Agreements. Watch as Regional Organiser Jared Wood sets out the issues here
Rail Gourmet staff take strike action (12 Oct) – Contracted out caterers working on TransPennine Express services will take strike action on Friday over poor pay, pensions and sick pay. RMT members working for Rail Gourmet poorer terms and conditions and lower pay than directly employed colleagues who work on the train operator. Rail Gourmet made £1.4 million in profit last year but have refused to meet the expectations of members in terms of a pay offer read more
Royal Fleet Auxiliary opens ballot for strike action (11 Oct) – Seafarers at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) could take strike action later this year, the RMT has warned. On Wednesday a nine-week ballot will open after RMT members rejected a below inflation pay offer from RFA management. RFA have offered a one year deal of 4.5 percent which is unacceptable to RMT members. Over 500 RFA seafarers will now be balloted for strike action with the vote opening Wednesday 11 October read more
ASLEF
ASLEF: Train drivers’ union announces industrial action and asks ‘Where’s Wally?’ (15 Sept) – ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, has today [Friday] announced another two days of strike action – on Saturday 30 September and Wednesday 4 October – and an overtime ban across the UK rail network on Friday 29 September and from Monday 2 to Friday 6 October. The 16 companies affected include: Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; c2c; CrossCountry; East Midlands Railway; Greater Anglia; GTR Great Northern Thameslink; Great Western Railway; Island Line; LNER; Northern Trains; Southeastern; Southern/Gatwick Express; South Western Railway; TransPennine Express; and West Midlands Trains read more
TSSA
TSSA concerned by ‘erosion of the railways’ at hands of Avanti and others (30 Oct) – Rail union TSSA today said it was concerned by the ‘ongoing erosion of the railways’ as a result of cuts to services and job losses. The comments relate to operators Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express both having announced drastically reduced weekend timetables through the month of December. TransPennine Express are set to take about 20 services a day between Leeds and Manchester out of service, this amounts to a 5 per cent reduction in overall seat numbers. Avanti announced last week that it plans to reduce weekend frequency throughout most of December – having recently been awarded a new nine-year contract on the west coast mainline by the government. A follow-up announcement today from Avanti outlined plans to scrap two in five trains between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly, with this reduced timetable starting immediately. The news followed the union’s concerns of “wholly unnecessary safety risks” on the railways as Network Rail announced a cull of almost 500 jobs in cost-cutting measures earlier this month. Network Rail is cutting back on plans to renew life expired rails, increasing the likelihood of catastrophic rail failure due to unaddressed metal fatigue read more
TSSA welcomes agreement to save London Day Travelcards (26 Oct) – Transport for London will keep its London Day Travelcards following an agreement with the Government. Rail union TSSA today welcomed the news that plans to scrap London day travelcards have been axed. London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced the decision to cut the cards after Transport for London (TfL) rail revealed annual underfunding of about £40 million from its travelcard agreement. Last year 12 million cards were sold, offering unlimited travel to passengers on public transport in the country’s capital. Campaigners warned that removing them as an option risked seeing people “priced out of the capital.” A deal has since been agreed between TfL, train operators and the Government that will safeguard the cards, ensuring the public can continue to enjoy a simple and affordable way to travel around the capital by train, tube and bus read more
Unite
Chivas Brothers across Scotland strike ballot to hit festive season supplies (30 Oct) – Hundreds of Unite members balloted over ‘unacceptable’ pay offer. Unite has today (Monday 30 October) confirmed that its membership at Chivas Brothers across Scotland are being balloted on strike action which could hit festive supplies of the company’s premier drink brands. Unite, which is the main union at the company, represents hundreds of members at the company’s Kilmalid, Dalmuir, Beith, Strathclyde Grain and Strathisla distilleries, and Dumbuck warehouse facility among others. Chivas employs around 1,500 workers in Scotland. Unite is warning that if the membership back strike action, then this will ‘hit hard’ supplies of the drinks giant’s premier brands over the festive season. The company produces Scotch whisky brands including Chivas Regal, Aberlour, Ballantine’s, Royal Salute and The Glenlivet. The ballots opens on Monday (30 October) and closes on 20 November read more
Offshore Odfjell drillers balloted on strike action (27 Oct) – Equinor and TAQA installations dispute over working rota and paid leave. Unite, Scotland’s leading offshore trade union, confirmed today (27 October) that hundreds of Odfjell offshore drillers are being balloted in a dispute over working rotas and paid annual leave. The disputes involves crews on Equinor’s Mariner unit and TAQA units including Harding, Tern Alpha, East Brae, Brae Alpha and the North Cormorant. The members involved includes drillers, electricians, mechanics, and materials controllers. The ballot which runs for five weeks opens today (27 October) and closes on 7 December. Strike action could take place early next year if the ballots are successful. The dispute centres on Odfjell’s refusal to reform working rotas and provide paid annual leave. The drillers currently work three weeks on and three weeks off, which leaves them at a disadvantage compared with other offshore workers on the installations operated by Equinor and TAQA. Operator staff, caterers and construction workers all operate on a rota of two weeks on and three off. Odfjell and the operators have stated that any change to the working rotas will result in the drillers having to sacrifice pay read more
Unite announces 48 days of Scottish Water strike action (27 Oct) – 500 key frontline workers to down tools in pay and grading dispute. Unite, Scotland’s leading trade union, can confirm today (Friday 27 October) that its 500-strong Scottish Water membership will take 48 days of strike action over three months in a significant development in the escalating dispute. The first round of strike action will begin at 00.01 hours on 10 November and end at 23.59 hours on 13 November with the last round starting at the same time on 26 January and ending on 29 January (see notes to editors). Every round of action begins on a Friday and ends on a Monday evening which represents four full days of action over twelve weeks. The significant escalation in the pay and grading dispute follows Unite’s emphatic mandate for strike action by 89 per cent at Scottish Water. The trade union’s membership includes waste water operatives, water treatment and burst repair operatives, maintenance engineers, electricians and sewage tanker drivers. The dispute centres on Unite accusing Scottish Water bosses of bypassing long-standing collective bargaining processes involving trade unions. This specifically relates to a new ‘reward system’ which Scottish Water bosses are trying to impose on the workforce which is also being tied to the 2023 pay offer read more
Warrington Council’s “lack of urgency” means more strikes (27 Oct) – Warrington council incapable of arranging a meeting. Unite has served a third strike action notice to Warrington council, blaming a complete lack of urgency on the part of council leaders. The strike action which was due to end on Monday 6 November will now resume on Wednesday 8 November ending on 20 November. The 50 plus workers say the national pay offer of a flat rate increase of £1,925 is not good enough. The offer is below the rate of inflation and amounts to a real terms pay cut. But a complete lack of urgency shown by the council towards resolving this dispute is needlessly delaying a resolution read more
Go North East workers to escalate strike action after rejecting “insulting” pay offer (27 Oct) – Unite survey shows members struggling to make ends meet under financial hardship. More than 1,300 Unite members working for bus company Go North East will embark on all-out continuous strike action from Saturday (October 28) in a determined fight for fair pay and conditions. Members overwhelmingly rejected the latest pay offer by 81 per cent on a turnout of 93 per cent. Unite members are angry that they’re being paid up to 20 per cent less than their counterparts working for Go North West in Manchester, who do the exact same jobs working for the very same parent company. Their pay is so low that many members are struggling to meet even a basic standard of living, as a shocking new Unite survey of Go North East members reveals. A strong majority – 60 per cent – of the nearly 1,000 members who responded said they had to cut back on essentials such as food and energy. Nearly a fifth reported being forced to skip meals or not being able to pay their rent or mortgage. Some even said they had to resort to food banks to feed themselves read more
Wrexham Council workers win new deal after 7-week strike (27 Oct) – Following seven weeks of strike action at Wrexham Council, Unite members have voted to accept a deal that improves their terms and conditions in a number of areas. The strike action, which resulted in major disruption to council services, will now end with immediate effect. As a result of intensive negotiations between Unite and Wrexham Council a new 9 point offer was tabled by Local Authority leadership on Tuesday. Following a ballot of all Unite members within Wrexham Council the deal has been now been accepted read more
Unite calls for immediate investigation into potential illegal use of agency workers designed to break Cardiff strike (27 Oct) – Unite the union is calling for an immediate investigation by Cardiff Council into the potential use of agency workers to undermine the current strike action by Unite within the local authority. Unite has found evidence that employment agencies may be supplying labour and advertising positions, to cover work that would normally be undertaken by workers currently on strike. The use of “scab” agency labour to undermine strikes is a criminal offence and carries with it large fines and other punishments, not only for the employment agencies concerned but also Cardiff Council itself read more
Unite says it will ‘’explore every option’ in support of Newman Bonar workers (26 Oct) – Dundee based firm faces closure for third time this year. Unite the union has today (26 October) responded to the news that liquidators have been appointed for the Dundee based firm Newman Bonar saying it will ’explore every option’ available in support of the workers. The manufacturing company with over a 100-years long history in Dundee employs around 50 workers. The Bonar Yarns business was sold to Newman Yarns Limited after it fell into administration in April 2023. The factory again faced closure in June after the company ran into financial troubles relating to energy costs. The new American based owners have now appointed liquidators for the company citing ‘overheads’ including energy costs for the latest decision read more
DuPont Teijin Films workers to resume strike action as Unite warns to disruption ‘last months’ (26 Oct) – Dumfries based plant to be hit by further stoppages in escalating pay dispute. Unite the union can confirm today (Thursday 26 October) that it has served notice on a further round of stoppages to hit the Dumfries based DuPont Teijin Films (DTF) plant. A new round of strike action involving around 100 members of Unite covering all shifts at the plant will start tomorrow on 27 October and conclude on 5 November (see notes to editor). The trade union has warned that unless DTF get back round the negotiating table with a ‘serious offer’ then disruption at the plant could last for months. Unite has accused DTF management of by-passing the agreed collective bargaining procedures, and the workforce’s trade union representatives, to impose a 3.3 per cent wage offer in April. The broader rate of inflation (RPI) hit 11.4 per cent at the time of the pay offer. DTF is a major supplier of polyester films for electrical, medical, photo, print and photovoltaic uses to UK supermarkets, as well as institutional catering for hospitals, schools and home-meals for the elderly…The new wave of strike action follows the stoppages taking place on 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 September. A continuous overtime ban has also been in place since July read more
Winter of industrial action looms over Coventry after refuse workers vote for action (25 Oct) – Winter of industrial action looms over Coventry after refuse workers vote for action. Loaders who empty bins during heatwaves and hailstorms vote for action by a margin of 74%. Coventry Council refuse workers employed as loaders have overwhelmingly voted for strike action and action short of a strike. Coventry council is attempting to impose significant cuts to the workers’ terms and conditions. More than 40 HGV refuse lorry drivers employed by Labour-controlled Coventry council have already voted for strike action read more
Oxfam workers poised to strike for first time over poverty pay ‘hypocrisy’ (25 Oct) – Workers at anti-poverty charity using foodbanks due to low pay. Hundreds of struggling Oxfam workers across the UK are balloting for strike action for the first time after rejecting a substandard pay offer. This is despite Oxfam having huge reserves and its public stance condemning UK poverty and real-terms wage cuts. Oxfam GB office and retail workers, most earning little more than the minimum wage, rejected a pay offer of £1,750 or six per cent (whichever is higher), plus a one-off payment of £1,000. Average wages at Oxfam have fallen by 21 per cent in real terms since 2018. The charity is now seeking to impose the offer and is refusing to engage in further negotiations with Unite, even though the union’s members rejected it by 79 per cent in a ballot. In response, Unite will ballot its members for strike action from 26 October to 16 November read more
Ministers fail to read the room as “abhorrent” bankers’ bonuses are given the green light to let rip at the height of a cost-of-living crisis (25 Oct) – Commenting on the announcement from the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that the limit on bankers’ bonuses will be lifted on 31 October, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is abhorrent that this government is choosing to throw caution aside in order to fuel another bonus bonanza for some of the most highly paid people in the country while millions of ordinary families are struggling…” read more
Northern Ireland: Unite, GMB and SIPTU to ballot passenger transport workers for strike action in pay dispute (24 Oct) – Joint Transport Trade Union side press release:
Representatives and officials of three trade unions representing frontline bus and rail workers met yesterday and agreed unanimously to proceed with an industrial ballot, including for action up to and including strike, of their members over pay. All three unions will ballot their members working in Ulsterbus, Metro and the Glider. GMB and SIPTU will ballot members working in Northern Ireland Rail. All three trade unions have now given seven-day notice of the pending strike ballots to Translink, northern Ireland’s public transport provider and the ballots will open from 30th October closing on 17th November (GMB and SIPTU) and 16th November (Unite). If members of the three trade unions vote for industrial action, the first possible date for strike action on bus and rail would be Friday December 1st. Such coordinated industrial action by members of all three trade unions would be unprecedented in recent years and would bring to a standstill all bus and rail services in Northern Ireland. The strike follows consultative processes in all three trade unions. Unite conducted a full consultative ballot of its bus worker membership which returned a 98% vote rejecting a zero percent pay offer by Translink management and demanding a ballot on industrial action. Management at Translink have indicated that they are unable to offer any pay offer or a timetable for negotiations for an improved pay offer in light of the constrained funding for public transport. The situation has been precipitated as a result of the punitive budget imposed on the Department for Infrastructure by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris in the absence of a functioning Stormont Executive. All three unions are proceeding with an industrial ballot but are due to participate, alongside Translink management, in a crunch meeting with the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Infrastructure in coming days read more
Unite ballots Translink bus workers in pay dispute (9 Oct)
Klarius Stoke-on-Trent strikes intensifies after inadequate sick pay offer rejected (23 Oct) – Workers angry over ‘disgraceful’ fire and rehire sick pay threats. Striking Stoke-on-Trent workers employed by Klarius Products have rejected an inadequate sick pay offer from the company and will intensify their strike action, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Monday). The workers began a series of strikes in September in response to the company’s threats to fire and rehire them in order to drastically reduce sick pay for some of its most long serving and loyal workforce. The problems at the company are a result of the creation of a two-tier workforce. Workers on the traditional contracts receive a very fair company sick pay scheme, while workers on the inferior, newer contracts only receive statutory sick pay (SSP). Klarius’ solution is to introduce a new sick pay scheme, but it would result in many workers experiencing sizeable cuts in their entitlement. The workers have since rejected an offer from the company that would have seen their sick pay reduced over three years to just two weeks from five. This is not acceptable to Unite’s membership as they have sacrificed terms and conditions in previous years in order to retain the original sick pay scheme…The workers have taken 16 days of strike action since 12 September. They will now strike Monday through to Friday every week from 6 November to 1 December read more
NHS Tayside estates workers escalate strike over ‘second class’ pay and conditions (18 Oct) – Dispute escalates as 60 workers intensify strike action at major hospitals across Tayside. Unite, Scotland’s leading trade union, can confirm that NHS Tayside estates workers will escalate their strike action in an ongoing dispute over jobs, pay and conditions. The dispute centres on the failure of NHS Tayside to locally implement recognised national conditions for trades’ persons which is contributing to an ongoing underpayment of wages. The action involves around 60 estates workers including electricians, joiners, and plumbers. The increase in industrial action includes additional strike action beginning at 16.00 hours on Wednesday 1st November, in addition to the ongoing industrial action. This will result in Unite members taking industrial action from late Wednesday afternoons until 08.00 am the following Monday read more
Strikes by Hull and East Riding Citizens Advice workers end in pay victory (18 Oct) – Strikes by more than 60 Hull and East Riding Citizens Advice workers have ended after an improved pay offer was accepted. The offer, secured by Unite, the UK’s leading union, includes a £1,500 consolidated payment across all grades for 2022/23, as well as a £425 non-consolidated payment. For 2023/24, the workers also received a £1,000 consolidated payment across all grades. In total, the workers have received an immediate payment of £2,925. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Well done to our Hull and East Riding Citizens Advice members, who took strike action for the first time in the organisation’s history and won. This is yet another result that shows how Unite’s unrelenting focus on improving jobs, pay and conditions is putting money in our members’ pockets.” The workers, who began strike action in July, will now return to work as normal after voting in favour of the deal read more
Huge rat attending British Ports Association conference due to union-busting by construction company J Murphy and Sons (17 Oct) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, is holding several protests at the British Ports Association conference due to the union-busting activities of J Murphy and Sons Ltd read more
Over 1,000 First Glasgow drivers to be balloted for industrial action (17 Oct) – Unite demands offer comparable to best paid drivers across the UK. Unite the union has today (Tuesday 17 October) confirmed that over 1,000 First Glasgow drivers are to be balloted on industrial action in a dispute over pay. The bus drivers have rejected an unacceptable pay offer by 99 per cent on an 85 per cent turnout on the basis that it falls significantly below the pay levels of other drivers across First Group’s UK operations. The ballot will open today (Tuesday 17 October) and close on 7 November. If the ballot is successful, then industrial action is likely to start during November. The drivers are employed by First Glasgow (No1) and at First Glasgow (No 2). The companies are part of First Group PLCs bus operations in Scotland. The drivers are based in the following bus depots: Blantyre, Caledonia, Dumbarton, Overtown and Scotstoun. There is also a similar dispute brewing involving around 150 Unite engineers at both companies read more
Unite Education Authority workers in work-to-rule in Northern Ireland (16 Oct) – Industrial action to commence Monday 23 October in pursuit of a pay & regrading review. Unite the union’s membership concentrated in school bus transport, catering, admin, cleaning, classroom assistants and other school based members. Members of Unite the union employed by Education Authority will commence a continuous work-to-rule from 00.01am on Monday 23 October. This is the first step in a planned escalation by education workers to secure the implementation of a promised pay & regrading review. The failure to make meaningful progress is a touchstone issue as the commitment to hold the exercise was the primary reason why industrial action by education workers in 2022 was called off. Education Authority managers claim the lack of progress is not of their making as they have repeatedly engaged with the Department of Education without any progress on the matter read more
Unite ballots Oceaneering workers in escalating pay dispute (16 Oct) – Rosyth based company pay offer overwhelmingly rejected. Unite, Scotland’s leading trade union, confirmed that around 90 workers will be balloted on strike action in an escalating pay dispute with the Port of Rosyth based company Oceaneering. Oceaneering International Services Limited has made a 6 per cent pay offer plus a one-off payment which by 84 per cent has been overwhelmingly rejected by the workers. The pay offer rejection follows the workers having received a 1 per cent increase in 2022 which represented a massive real terms pay cut with inflation rocketing to hit 14 per cent last year…The ballot opens on 18 October and closes on 8 November read more
240 craft workers to strike in dispute with West Lothian council (16 Oct) – Unite demands overdue pay. Unite the union confirmed today (Monday 16 October) around 240 craft members employed by West Lothian council will take strike action in a dispute over money-owed to the workforce. Strike action will start tomorrow at 08.00 (17 October) until 19 October when the action stops at 16.30. The members previously supported strike action by 96.3 per cent. The dispute is due to the failure of West Lothian council to pay craft workers carrying out additional tasks under the terms of the existing craft agreement. The workforce includes joiners, plumbers, electricians, plasterers, bricklayers, skilled labourers, blacksmiths, and heating engineers read more
Kaefer contractors at Mossmorran balloted over strike action (13 Oct) – Unite hits out at operator Shell as workers offered ‘nothing’. Unite the union has today (Friday 13 October) confirmed that around 140 Kaefer maintenance and repair contractors based at the Mossmorran Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) plant, in Cowdenbeath are being balloted for strike action. The dispute centres on the contractor Kaefer making no formal cost of living offer for 2023. Unite says it has been left with ‘no option’ but to launch the ballot in response to Kaefer’s failure to make a cost of living payment, and it is blaming the operator Shell for the stand-off. The ballot will open on 16 October and closes on 13 November read more
ShunkFest: Unite steel campaign to address Port Talbot music festival (13 Oct) – Unite campaigning with voters to demand politicians commit to workers’ steel plan. As part of Unite’s campaign to save Port Talbot’s steel industry, steel worker Malcolm Gullam will address festival goers at the town’s ShunkFest event from the stage at 1800 hrs on Sunday (15 October). Unite will also have a stall on it’s Workers Plan for Steel campaign at the popular festival, which begins on Saturday (14 October) and will feature bands, artists and DJs, as well as street food vendors and local distilleries. Unite is campaigning with voters in key steel towns, including Port Talbot, Scunthorpe, Sheffield and Middlesbrough, to demand politicians from all parties commit to the union’s Workers’ Plan for Steel. A petition calling on all UK political parties to support the plan has already reached more than 14,500 signatures read more Sign petition: To all UK political parties – Support the Workers’ Plan for Steel
UK Packaging Awards in London hit by Cepac ‘fire and rehire’ protest (12 Oct) – Unite demands Darlington-firm Cepac nominations rescinded over shocking dismissal of workers. A demonstration will be held outside of the UK Packaging Awards in London this evening (Thursday 12 October), over nominee Cepac’s attempts to fire and rehire workers striking over pay. The workers, who are based at the company’s Darlington factory, have been on strike over pay and the slashing of terms and conditions since Monday 14 August, with industrial action set to last until 6 November. Rather than enter into negotiations, Cepac threatened headcount reductions and fire and rehire for the remaining workers. On 6 October, the company issued redundancy notices for the striking workers with the intention of making them sign new inferior contracts read more
Striking Cornwall GRS drivers London protest at British Construction Industry Awards (12 Oct) – GRS-owned Maen Karne concrete mixer drivers striking over pay and union-busting. A protest by striking ready-mix concrete HGV drivers employed by GRS-owned Maen Karne in Cornwall was held at the British Construction Industry Awards in London last night (Wednesday 11 October). Photos are available on request. The drivers, who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, are striking over vastly inferior pay rates. They currently earn just £12.30 an hour, even though the industry standard hourly rate for their role is around £14.42. The all-out strikes, which began on 18 September for 12 weeks, are also over the company’s complete refusal to recognise the right for the workers to unionise or to engage with Unite for talks. The protest at the British Construction Industry Awards targeted GRS, a nationwide group that supplies aggregates and building supplies of which Maen Karne is part. The company was nominated for an award for its Let Talks mental health initiative, which it did not win read more
Unite suspends planned industrial action at Luton Airport (11 Oct) – Due to the serious fire at Luton Airport, Unite has suspended planned strike action by cleaners and parking attendants. Planned action by cleaners employed by Sasse scheduled between Saturday 14 October and Wednesday 18 October will be suspended as will the action by parking attendants employed by APCOA which was due to take place between Friday 13 and Friday 20 October read more
Strikes to go ahead at Cambridge University (11 Oct) – Facilities, library and IT staff to walk out over lack of improved pay offer. Essential workers at Cambridge University are to strike after the university cut their pay in real terms. The university, one of the world’s most prestigious institutes of learning, is only offering between a five and six per cent increase. With RPI currently sitting at nine per cent that represents a real terms pay cut of at least three per cent. Unite’s members are demanding above-inflation rises to cope with the cost of living crisis in one of the most expensive parts of the UK outside London. Over 450 members working in the university library, the department of engineering, estate management, the Fitzwilliam Museum, information services and many other departments are to take strike action, likely resulting in building closures and repairs not taking place. Strikes will take place on four days: 24, 26 October and 1, 7 November read more
Workers launch campaign against low pay and zero hours at Greenwich Leisure Limited (10 Oct) – Workers in Bromley have voted for strike action by a margin of 86%. The controversial social enterprise Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) is back in the spotlight after workers at Bromley libraries voted for a campaign of industrial action. The workers are fighting against a race to the bottom in local government by campaigning for better pay and an end to zero hours. The workers in Bromley voted for strike action by a margin of 86 per cent and Unite representatives will be meeting in the coming week to agree strike dates. GLL has a window of opportunity to avoid strike action read more
Collapse of Mechanical SEO opens door to industrial action (10 Oct) – Unite warns employers against attempting to cut pay and conditions. Trade union Unite, which represents workers throughout the construction and mechanical sectors, today (Wednesday) warned employers that any attempt to cut pay and conditions following the collapse of the Mechanical Sectoral Employment Order is likely to be met by industrial action. The state today accepted the argument of small contractors’ association APHCI that pension contribution provisions housed in the SEO are unconstitutional. The collapse of the Mechanical SEO means that the dispute resolution procedures provided for in the SEO, which could take between six and nine months to work through, have also collapsed. This means that workers can take industrial action after conducting a ballot and serving notice as required by industrial relations legislation read more
Council workers across Haringey prepare for strike action (9 Oct) – Haringey director of housing services admits workers are underpaid. Housing repair workers employed by Haringey council are preparing for a winter campaign of strike action in a dispute over pay. One senior director has even admitted neighbouring boroughs are “offering a higher salary and are poaching our staff.” 130 housing repair workers from Haringey have rejected the national pay offer of a flat rate increase of £1,925. The offer is below the rate of inflation and amounts to a real terms pay cut. The council is also refusing to increase the London weighting for 2022 and 2023 and increase annual leave for housing repair workers in line with other council workers. The workforce will take strike action for six days in November (1,2,3 and 15,16, 17 November) and from 18 December until 24 December. The workers already took strike action on 25 September and 2 October read more
Industrial action brewing across 21 UK ports (6 Oct) – Unite, Britain’s leading union, is warning Associated British Ports (ABP) that strike action could be brewing across its 21 ports which handle around a quarter of the UK’s seaborne trade. Unite has lodged a dispute concerning maritime pilots who safely navigate ships in and out of the UK’s waterways and ports. Ships cannot leave or enter the UK’s ports without these skilled workers. Last July without any consultation, which is required under health and safety legislation and Unite’s recognition agreement, ABP introduced increased medical standards. Unite has no objection to improving standards but there has been no negotiations and no detail about how these medical tests will be done or what happens if a member fails. This is a serious concern as ultimately members’ jobs could be at stake. The main bulk of Unite members are in South Wales (Swansea, Port Talbot, Barry, Cardiff and Newport), Southampton and the Humber (Port of Hull and Immingham) although the dispute could be wider and impact all 21 ports operated by ABP read more
PPG automotive paint workers in Suffolk head to picket line over low pay (5 Oct) – Stowmarket manufacturer offering real-terms pay cut will see workers walk out. Workers at the Suffolk factory of international paint manufacturer PPG Industries are to strike over pay, Unite the union announced today (5 October). Over 200 members of Unite, Britain’s leading trade union, have voted for industrial action over the low pay offer made by PPG. The employer has made an offer of just five per cent, but with inflation currently at 9.1 per cent this represents a real-terms pay cut for workers. PPG Industries is a worldwide paint and coatings conglomerate and the Stowmarket factory has many high-profile customers that include the Williams Formula One team, Lamborghini and Lotus…Strike dates are yet to be confirmed but are likely to be throughout the autumn read more
Unite announces escalation in A.G. Barr strike action (4 Oct) – Soft drinks giant pre-tax profits up 12.6 % to £27.8 million over first 6 months of 2023. Unite, the UK’s leading union, has today (4 October) announced an escalation in strike action as part of a long-running pay dispute with the soft drinks giant A.G. Barr. Unite represents truck and shunter drivers who are essential to the supply of the company’s world-renowned products including Irn-Bru – one of the nation’s most popular soft drinks. Unite’s members have overwhelmingly rejected the company’s five per cent pay offer for 2023. Unite can confirm that talks are scheduled with A.G. Barr tomorrow (Thursday 5 October) through the auspices of the conciliation service Acas in a bid to make a breakthrough in the pay dispute. If there is no breakthrough in these discussions, Unite has stated that its members will participate in further stoppages on 13 and 16 October, and then from 20 to 30 October. The workers are already scheduled to resume strike action from midnight on Friday (6 October) read more
Mitie healthcare workers in Dudley balloted over refusal to pay lump-sum (4 Oct) – Staff who work for NHS outsourcing company denied money owed to them. Unite, Britain’s leading trade union, announced today (4 October) that it is balloting its membership at NHS outsourcing company, Mitie, in its campaign to get the company to pay its workers the lump sum payment they are owed. Many of the Mitie workers were previously in the NHS and were transferred across and promised the same pay and conditions. But the “COVID payment” lump sum of up to £1,600 that NHS workers received as part of the NHS pay award this year has not been paid by Mitie to its workforce. Mitie’s staff work alongside the NHS workforce in the Dudley group of hospitals in the West Midlands…The Mitie staff work across three hospitals, Russell Hall, Corbett and Dudley Guest, and perform vital estate management services…Other private sector outsourcing companies including Equans and Skanska have paid their health workers the lump sum payment and Unite is fighting to get Mitie to do the same. 70 Mitie workers are being balloted. The ballot opens on 9 October and runs until 23 October. If the ballot is successful, industrial action is likely to take place from next month read more
NHS Confederation workers to strike over pay (3 Oct) – Unite members in London and Leeds to take industrial action after poor pay offer. Staff at the NHS Confederation, the membership body for organisations that commission and provide NHS services, are set to take industrial action over cuts to pay. Unite, Britain’s leading trade union, announced that its NHS Confederation staff members will walk out on Thursday 5 October. They work in policy, communications, managerial and administrative roles within the organisation. The strike, the first in the Confed’s history, coincides with a meeting of the organisation’s Board of Trustees. Following the introduction of a new pay structure which saw one-in-five staff hit by a take-home pay cut and opportunities for pay progression curtailed, Unite members will head to the picket line as part of a campaign to reinstate staff pay and progression opportunities. Nearly 90 per cent of members taking part in the ballot voted to take strike action. A Unite survey of all staff, before the pay cut was imposed, found 60 per cent already said they were struggling with the cost of living read more
Unite to hold fresh strikes and protests at NHS London trusts during pay and staffing strikes (29 Sept) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, is undertaking a wave of fresh strikes and demonstrations in London next week as part of its campaign to increase pay and end unsafe staffing afflicting NHS workers. Over 1,000 workers at Barts Health NHS Trust are in dispute over pay, safe staffing levels, bank rates and lump-sum payments. Workers are experiencing staff shortages, which have reached such a level that they risk the health of patients and threaten staff welfare. Staff at Barts and Synergy (an outsourcing company providing linen services) taking industrial action includes nurses, biomedical scientists, clinical engineers, porters, cleaners and auxiliary staff are striking in a wider dispute over pay and safe staffing levels. They are being joined by members at East London Foundation Trust who are also taking part in a one-day strike over pay and safe staffing levels. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our NHS members are fighting for fair pay and to protest at the dangerous problem of staff shortages – something that puts patients in danger and which the government wants to ignore. It is intolerable that our members at Barts, who are some of the lowest paid staff in the NHS and who are living hand to mouth, have been denied the one-off payment they fully deserve.” The Barts and Synergy workers will be on strike on 2, 3, 4 October. East London Foundation Trust workers will be on strike on 4 October. Unite members will be on a picket line at all Barts Hospitals (except Mile End) on all strike dates and Mile End hospital on 4 October and will be joining the Junior Doctors, Consultants, Barts Unite Branch, TFL staff and train drivers for a day of action and protest beginning at 10:30am on 4 October at Royal London Hospital read more
Fresh Imperial College strikes after ‘abysmal’ pay offer rejected (29 Sept) – Imperial College offers pay cut but has £1.7 billion reserves and paid president record salary. More than 200 Imperial College workers, who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, will strike over pay next week. The workers have rejected an ‘abysmal’ pay deal of 5.5 per cent, which is a real terms pay cut when the real rate of inflation, RPI, stands at 9.1 per cent. Imperial College’s latest financial figures shows it brought in an income of over £1.2 billion for 2021/22 and had cash reserves of £1.7 billion. Further, Imperial College has a record of being one of the best paying universities for senior leadership staff. Until July 2022, the university employed the UK’s highest paid executive leader with an annual pay package worth £714,000 – a massive increase of 35.5 per cent on the previous year…The workers, including technicians and maintenance and security staff, will strike on Monday 2 October, Tuesday 3 October and Wednesday 18 October. They are striking alongside colleagues who are members of the UCU and UNISON unions. More strikes will be scheduled if the dispute is not resolved read more
Workers at BOC to strike over pay with workers demonstrating at the company’s Worsley site (29 Sept) – Workers employed by BOC, will begin strike action next week in a dispute over pay. There will be a picket line at the company’s Worsley site in Manchester. The strike will involve over 80 workers at BOC, who are employed in sales and marketing roles and are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union. The strike is a result of the workers having rejected a pay offer of 7.6 per cent for 2023. This is in effect a real terms pay cut, after suffering a nine per cent pay cut between 2018-2022 compared to other workers at the company. The pay increase was due to be made in April this year when the real inflation rate (RPI) stood at 11.4 per cent. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “BOC is a fabulously wealthy company. Giving our members a fair pay increase would barely scratch the surface of its huge profits. BOC’s failure to do the right thing is all about greed not need.” The initial strike action will last for 10 days beginning at 04:00 on Friday 6 October and ending at 03:59 on Monday 16 October. The strike action is the first time this group of workers have ever taken industrial action. Tensions have increased as it has taken three years for the workers to secure recognition, during which time the wages of the striking workers has fallen by 20 per cent compared to the RPIX inflation rate. BOC is part of Line PLC which is the largest provider of industrial, medical and specialist gases in the world. It is incredibly profitable. Its most recent accounts revealed it recorded a profit of £6.4 billion last year, a 10 per cent increase on the previous year. Linde PLC has been able to significantly increase shareholder dividends and take in a shareholder buy back. BOC’s customers who will be affected by the strike action include GSK, Astra Zeneca, Ineos, Nissan, the MoD Coca Cola and the National Grid. There will be other picket lines in around the UK including but not limited to : Margam, St Helens, Motherwell, Teesside, Thame, Bristol and Wolverhampton read more
Deca Workers To Strike Following a Decade of Pay Erosion (28 Sept) – Unite members working for Defence Equipment & Support Deca at Sealand in Flintshire and Stafford have voted to strike over an imposed two per cent pay award for 2022. A series of 24 hour strikes will commence on Tuesday 3 October. Workers at DECA have endured over a decade of stagnant wages and extremely low pay increases. Pay restraint has seen wages fall significantly in real terms. Defence Equipment & Support Deca, is wholly owned by the MOD. The workforce is highly skilled and provide a vital role in maintaining military, avionic and electronic equipment read more
Willenhall steel coil workers strike over low pay (26 Sept) – ArcelorMittal workers reject real terms pay cut as firm brings in millions. West Midlands workers making steel products for the automotive and construction industry at the ArcelorMittal factory in Willenhall are striking over low pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Tuesday). The workers earn an average of £11.24 per hour, with some receiving just the national minimum wage. They have rejected a pay rise of seven per cent. This is a significant, real terms pay cut when the true rate of inflation, RPI, stood at 11.4 per cent when the rise was due to be implemented in April of this year. The low wages at the factory stand in stark contrast to the money being made by their employer. ArcelorMittal Distribution Solutions latest available financial returns show it had a turnover of £267.5 million and operating profits of £33.1 million in 2021 read more
Mass demonstrations at Norwich NHS AGM following Norse pay betrayal (22 Sept) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, will stage a major demonstration at the AGM of the Norfolk Community and Health Care Trust (NCH&C), in support of its members employed by Norse who are striking over pay. The workers, who are employed by Norse Commercial Services but contracted to undertake critical maintenance on all of NCH&C’s hospitals and health centres, began strike action last month after only being offered a four per cent pay increase, which is a substantial real terms pay cut with the current true rate of inflation (RPI) standing at 9.1 per cent. Gambling Close, Norwich NR6 6EG…the Unite members at Norse will be striking on 26 September and 5 October then for a further week from Monday 9 October, which will result in disruption to patients and staff at NCH&C NHS Trust read more
Pay strikes at Kings Lynn’s largest social housing provider escalate (22 Sept) – Freebridge housing workers on poverty pay despite £3.6m surplus and huge executive salaries. Strikes at Freebridge Community Housing over poverty pay will intensify from next week, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Thursday). Many of the workers, who perform a variety of roles, including in cleaning and maintenance, are paid little more than the national minimum wage and many are struggling to pay their bills. They are angry that Freebridge, the largest social housing provider in Kings Lynn and West Norfolk, has offered them a five per cent increase and a £500 non-consolidated payment, despite the association’s robust financial health. This is a significant, real terms pay cut when the real rate of inflation, RPI, stands at 9.1 per cent. The workers are asking for a seven per cent pay rise. Freebridge had a total turnover of £32 million and a surplus of £3.57 million in 2022 and increased its rents by seven per cent this year read more
Glasgow rally for Scottish university and college workers (18 Sept) – Around 1,000 Unite members on strike this week. A rally in Glasgow will be held tomorrow (19 September) in support of Scottish university and college workers on strike in disputes over pay read more
Heathrow baggage carousel workers to strike over poor pay offer (13 Sept) – 170 workers to walk out and bring baggage services to a halt. Unite, Britain’s leading trade union, has announced today (Tuesday 12 September) that its members at Vanderlande Industries are to strike over pay, bringing travel disruption to Heathrow Airport this autumn. Around 170 workers who conduct high-end maintenance and servicing of baggage carousels, ensuring passengers’ luggage is delivered into the terminal buildings safely and on time, are to walk out in October following a failure by the employer to improve their derisory pay offer. Vanderlande Industries has made two below-inflation pay offers of just five per cent and 2.5 per cent that have been roundly rejected by Unite members. Vanderlande is pleading poverty and yet their last accounts at Companies House show profits of £3.7 million. Its parent company has increased revenue by 32 per cent to €2.4 billion. Industrial action will take place in two waves on the following dates:-
- 17:30 on 6th October – 06:00 on 9th October
- 05:30 on 20th October – 06:00 on 30th October read more
GH London strikes at Luton Airport suspended for last minute talks (12 Sept) – Strike action involving ground handlers employed by GH London at Luton Airport due to take place tomorrow (Wednesday 13 September) has been called off to allow last minute peace talks to take place. The workers, members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, who undertake the ground handling functions at the airport for the airline Wizz, have already staged two days of strike action because of a complete breakdown in industrial relations at the company. However, following a last minute offer of talks by GH London, Unite has called off tomorrow’s industrial action, as an act of good faith read more
Manufacturing workers in Chesterfield to strike over parity pay and real terms pay cuts (8 Sept) – 100 per cent of the workforce voted for action. Skilled manufacturing workers based in Chesterfield undertaking repairs for companies ranging from British Steel to Thames Water will begin strike action this Monday in a dispute over pay. The action being taken at ERIKS Industrial Services will have a dramatic effect, causing delays for customers. 8 days of strikes will take place on Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 September, Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 September, Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 September and then on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 October read more
Unite urges employer to pay a fair wage and avoid nuclear plant shutdown (6 Sept) – Electricians who certify tools for use in nuclear power stations are taking strike action. Unite, the country’s leading trade union, announced today (Wednesday 6 September) that its members at Altrad Babcock Ltd are taking strike action following a dismal pay offer from the employer. Electricians at Altrad Babcock, based in Tipton in the West Midlands, are responsible for certifying that electrical tools are safe to use in nuclear facilities across the country. Yet this safety-critical role is not being valued by the employer, with some members earning as little as £13.62 per hour. Members ensure that equipment including welding machines, compressors, winches and even site vehicles are certified as electrically safe to use in potentially hazardous environments. Failure to have such certification will mean that the tools and machinery cannot enter the nuclear plants to maintain the facility. Eventually, this could lead to nuclear power plants having to shut down. Strikes are likely to take place in waves across the autumn and into winter, just as demand for nuclear power stations increases. Dates are as follows: Wednesday the 20th /Thursday the 21st September at 08:00am until 16:00pm then Monday the 25th & Tuesday the 26th September followed by every Monday: October 2nd 9th 16th 23rd 30th, November 6th 13th 20th 27th, then December, 4th 11th and then on Tuesdays October, 3rd 10th 17th 24th 31st October, then November 7th 14th 21st 28th then December 5th 12th read more
Westminster libraries workers to strike in pay dispute (4 Sept) – Members of Unite, employed by Westminster City Council across the borough’s libraries, will begin strike action this Wednesday (6 September) in a dispute over pay. The workers have rejected the national pay offer of a flat rate increase of £1,925. The offer is below the rate of inflation and amounts to a real terms pay cut. The workers will initially take four days of strike action on 6th, 8th, 13th, 15th September. Strike action will disrupt services across the borough read more
North Tyneside council workers to strike in pay dispute (30 Aug) – Members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, employed by North Tyneside council will begin strike action next month in a dispute over pay. The 260 plus workers have rejected the national pay offer of a flat rate increase of £1,925. The offer is below the rate of inflation and amounts to a real terms pay cut. The workers will initially take strike action on Wednesday 6 and 13 September. Strike action will affect services across the council however, Unite members are predominantly in building trades, health visitors, school and nursery nurses, admin roles and bereavement services read more
Carey Glass must intervene to resolve Lurgan Vista Therm dispute (25 Aug) – Nenagh-based Carey group warned dispute may shatter ‘Best in Glass’ claim. Unite highlights reputational risks to group if dispute not resolved. Unite members in dispute with Vista Therm travelled to Nenagh, headquarters of the Carey Glass group of companies, today (Friday) to highlight Vista Therm’s refusal to talk to workers about a cost-of-living pay increase. Vista Therm workers set up stalls in Nenagh town centre and gathered signatures for a petition asking people to support the workers’ demands that management recognise their union Unite, negotiate a cost-of-living pay increase, and treat workers with dignity and respect. Unite is calling on Carey Glass to intervene and resolve the long-running dispute which has seen production at the Lurgan plant severely curtailed read more Sign the Vista Therm solidarity petition!
Chesterfield council housing workers strike over pay (25 Aug) – Over 100 housing maintenance workers employed by Chesterfield council will begin strike action next week in a dispute over pay. The workers who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, will take strike action next week on Tuesday 29 August and Wednesday 30 August. The dispute is a result of the workers not having received a pay rise for 15 years…The Chesterfield strike is part of a wider local authority dispute over pay, Unite has industrial action mandates for 23 councils across England and Wales. The union has rejected this year’s local government pay offer of £1,925 as it amounts to a real terms pay cut read more
Rail network facing signalling shortages as Unipart workers in Crewe strike over pay (25 Aug) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, has warned rail companies including Network Rail to be braced for a delay in the supply of signalling equipment as workers at Unipart Rail strike next week in a dispute over pay. The workers have rejected a 4.75 per cent pay increase, which is a sizeable real terms pay cut with the true rate of inflation (RPI) currently standing at nine per cent. The workers will take strike action beginning at 00:01hrs on Tuesday 29 August and continuing until 23:59 on Friday 1 September. An overtime ban will also be in place beginning today (Friday 25 August)and ending on Monday 4 September read more
Drivers at Greater Manchester Accessible Transport forced to strike over ‘poverty pay’ (22 Aug) – Industrial action to take place over failure of company to improve pay offer or sign up to Good Employment Charter. Bus drivers in Greater Manchester who transport the elderly and disabled have been forced to take strike action over the low pay by Greater Manchester Accessible Transport (GMAT). Members of Unite, the country’s leading trade union, are paid just minimum wage to do a physically and mentally demanding job. They provide an invaluable service, transporting the elderly, infirm or disabled from their homes across Greater Manchester to vital medical appointments, for essential shopping or for leisure and entertainment. GMAT pays the lowest wages of all bus companies in the region and the registered charity has not signed up to the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, despite being run by Transport for Greater Manchester and owned by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), both of whom are members of the charter. The charter aims to raise employment standards across Greater Manchester through factors like security of work and fair pay – including a commitment to the real living wage. Around 7000 users depend on the service and Unite has encouraged the employer to come back to the negotiating table with improved terms above the below-inflation offer made to-date. Currently drivers receive just £10.42 per hour. Following a successful industrial ballot, members will be taking strike action in the coming months with dates to be announced in due course read more
Strike action targets penny-pinching Porsche and Audi deliveries firm (16 Aug) – A miserable 3.2 per cent is to blame for months of strikes. Deliveries of VW vehicles including, Audi, Porsche and Skoda models will face significant delays for months to come unless the profitable GBA Group improves its miserable pay offer of just 3.2%. The strike will mean new VW car deliveries in the Southeast, London and beyond face significant delays as workers at Sheerness Docks prepare to strike for two weeks, beginning the 17 August and then in September and October read more
Tesco facing dirty Didcot depot as Atalian Servest caterers and cleaners strike over pay (14 Aug) – Workers based at Tesco’s depot in Didcot have been warned to be braced for a dirty depot and canteen closures as workers employed by Atalian Servest have announced strike action over pay. The dispute involves cleaning and catering staff employed on an outsourced contract and is a result of Atalian Servest refusing to even negotiate over a pay increase. The cleaners are on pay rates of as little as £11 an hour, which includes weekend and bank holiday work at no additional rate, they operate in the main Tesco warehouse which is only heated to one degree. Meanwhile the catering staff are paid the minimum wage of £10.42 an hour. The workers who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, have announced two initial 24 hour strikes beginning on Friday 1 September and Thursday 7 September, followed by a three day strike beginning on Friday 15 September and a further three day strike beginning on Thursday 21 September. Atalian Servest is very financially healthy; its latest accounts for 2021 reveal that it made gross profits of £84 million read more
Glasgow Parking wardens and Emirates Arena workers strike over poor pay (2 Aug) – Disruption set to impact Cycling World Championships and traffic enforcement across Scotland’s largest city. Around 70 Unite members employed by Glasgow Life at the Emirates Arena and City Parking are set to take strike action tomorrow (Thursday 3 August). Unite members will walk out across both organisations at 7.30am to begin 48-hour strike action over the current local government pay offer. There will be pickets held outside the Emirates Arena and Cadogan Square Car Park to coincide with the strike action. A rally involving both groups of workers is also being held at midday at the Donald Dewar statue on Buchanan Street read more
Kings Lynn Cooper Roller Bearings workers to strike over pay (2 Aug) – Profitable company offering strings attached deal that amounts to ‘pay cut’. More than 100 workers employed by Cooper Roller Bearings in Kings Lynn are to strike over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Wednesday 2 August). The workers have rejected a 5.5 per cent pay offer. With the true rate of inflation, RPI, standing at 10.7 per cent, this is a real terms pay cut. The offer also comes with a ‘strings attached’ performance related bonus of up to six per cent. Cooper Roller Bearings made a profit before tax of more than £7 million in the year ending 31 December 2022…The workers will strike for one day on 21 August. After that a continuous overtime ban will commence, with strike days doubling every week until the dispute is resolved read more
Irish Water: Lack of engagement by employer representatives’ forces dispute escalation (1 Aug) – Unite the union seeks engagement with LGMA over shortcomings in proposed Framework. Pickets set for eight local authorities from 00.01 Wednesday [2nd August] to 23.59 Friday [4th August]. Unite members working in water delivery services for eight local authorities around the country will escalate their industrial action this week with a further three days of stoppages. Water workers will take strike action at Carlow County Council, Cork City Council, Cork County Council, Fingal County Council, Kerry County Council, South Dublin County Council, Tipperary County Council and Waterford County Council. The action is due to the continued refusal of local authorities and its representative body, the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) to meaningfully engage with the union over its members’ concerns regarding shortcomings to the ‘Framework for the Future Delivery of Water Services’ document put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission last year. The Framework document was rejected overwhelmingly by Unite members employed in water services delivery as essential workers, as it failed to address their concerns read more
CWU
Capita pay up after VMO2 and Tesco Mobile contract members accept CWU-brokered deal (30 Oct) – Members across Capita’s VMO2 and Tesco Mobile contact centre operations who are covered by the CWU collective bargaining agreement have voted by more than four-to-one to accept a pay deal that delivers a £1,400 flat rate pay rise that will be paid pro-rata for those working more or less than 37.7 hours per week read more
Redundancy mitigation tops CWU agenda at VMO2 as bosses confirm 450 more job cuts (27 Oct) – Every possible way of avoiding compulsory redundancies is being forensically explored at VMO2 following the company’s announcement last Friday of its final round of organisational changes for 2023. Ever since VMO2 revealed in July its intention to make up to 2,000 job cuts this year the union has been striving, with some success, to challenge the need for compulsory job losses in the comparatively small number of areas within the union’s collective bargaining unit that have been identified for headcount reductions read more
BT agrees to further talks over Alness jobs threat as political pressure mounts (26 Oct) – The campaign to persuade BT Business to maintain desperately needed high quality employment in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands has taken a new turn, with the company agreeing to further talks despite its rejection last week of job-saving proposal that was tabled by the union earlier this month read more
Capita’s ‘final’ pay offer to VMO2 and Tesco Mobile contract members out to ballot (19 Oct) – Members across Capita’s VMO2 and Tesco Mobile contract centre operations who are covered by the CWU collective bargaining agreement have two weeks to deliver their verdict on a belated pay proposal that delivers some but not all of the union’s negotiating objectives. Thrashed out against the difficult backdrop of large-scale redundancies that are looming across the VMO2 contract, management’s ‘final’ offer – which comes a full six months after the pay review’s due date, reflecting the challenges and complexity of the negotiations – comprises a £1,400 flat rate pay rise (pro-rata for those working more or less than 37.5 hours). The proposed deal, which is now the subject of a consultative e-ballot that commenced on Tuesday, is fully consolidated for all those earning less than £30,000 pa – fulfilling, for around 70% of the workforce, one of the CWU’s key negotiating aims that any settlement should flow through to redundancy entitlements. Despite intensive pressing by the union, however, Capita has steadfastly refused to consolidate the rise for those earning more than £30,000, proposing instead that, if accepted, it will be paid in two lump sum instalments – the first in November’s wages and the second in the January 2024 pay cycle read more
Protections for all and big wins for some in Santander harmonisation deal (16 Oct) – Comprehensive safeguards and a number of important gains have been secured for nearly 1,000 CWU-represented employees across what was formerly known as Santander Technology in a new agreement aligning terms and conditions across the bank’s IT operations with those in the rest of the Bank read more
PCS
You can show your support to the strikes by PCS members by:
- Making donations to the PCS Fighting Fund Levy account, sort code: 60-83-01, account no. 20331490
- Sending solidarity messages to [email protected]
Unacceptable pay talk delays in EHRC (30 Oct) – Members in the Equality & Human Rights Commission are becoming frustrated at the lack of progress in the 2023/24 pay talks. PCS submitted initial views on the allocation of the 2023/24 pay remit on 24 August 2023 and were assured that dates for negotiations would be agreed shortly. A delay occurred due to the unavailability of one of the EHRC pay team and key members of the PCS team in September. Further dates were then offered, and 26 October was agreed. At the last minute this was cancelled due to the unavailability of an EHRC pay team member. When PCS requested that the negotiations take place with a replacement or without this person present, we were informed that they could not supply a deputy. It is concerning that dates can only be agreed on the basis of the availability of one person in the management team, and suggests a lack of confidence in senior management reps to lead pay negotiations. Management has apologised and said that they will look to agree a further date as soon as possible, but apologies do not pay the bills read more
Strikers at The Pensions Regulator remain angry and determined (30 Oct) – Frustrated by the continued intransigence of The Pensions Regulator, who recently attempted to impose an unagreed pay offer, PCS members are determined to keep fighting for a fair deal. Over 300 PCS members working for The Pensions Regulator (TPR) in Brighton took strike action on 11, 12 and 17 and 18 October, as well as from 23 to 27 October. The final week of this latest phase of strike action starts today (30) and continues until 3 November. This round of action builds on the strike taken by members between 5 and 18 September in pursuit of our national campaign demands. TPR is only offering a pay rise of 3% while other civil service employers are paying a minimum of 4.5%, with an additional 0.5% of the overall pay pot to be targeted at the worst-paid staff. Members are frustrated with the continued intransigence of TPR and their insistence in imposing an unagreed pay offer during this phase of strike action read more
Outsourcing chaos spells debt and financial hardship at Christmas for PCS members (30 Oct) – Facilities staff transferring from one outsourced company to another will face seven weeks without pay in the run up to Christmas because their new employer has decided to change their pay date and frequency. Outsourced cleaners, catering, maintenance and facilities staff employed by Mitie at the Cabinet Office, Downing Street, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Canary Wharf civil service hub, are facing these changes when their employment transfers to outsourcing giants ISS and OCS on 1 November. Some members have been told they will have to wait until December 14 for their first pay cheque from their new employer. Others who rely on Universal Credit to top up their wages will have their benefit payments disrupted as their pay frequency will change from monthly to fortnightly. These plans will plunge the lowest paid staff in government offices into unnecessary debt and financial hardship during a cost-of-living crisis – right before Christmas read more Sign the petition against low paid key workers facing hardship this Christmas
Health secretary calls for halt on recruitment into equality roles (24 Oct) – Steve Barclay, UK health and social care secretary, has written to NHS chairs telling them to cease recruitment for specialist roles. In a letter of 19 October, health secretary Steve Barclay wrote to chairs of integrated care boards in England. In it he calls for them to scrap recruitment into specialist equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) roles, which Barclay claims are not “value for money” read more
Strike action to escalate at ISS (20 Oct) – Members working for outsourced company ISS at three government departments plan to take a further 36 days of action in their dispute. PCS members working for outsourced company ISS provide cleaning, security and support services at The Department for Business and Trade, The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in London. Strike action impacts those departments and the staff who work there. The members are in dispute over pay, terms and conditions and are demanding recognition of PCS as their trade union. ISS have made a pay offer of just 2.2%, well below the current rate of inflation. The low-paid workers have already taken ten days of well-supported strike action in September and October. The 36-day strike will start on 1 November and continue until 15 December and comes because of the employer’s failure to enter into meaningful negotiations. PCS industrial officer Kim Lowes said “Escalating the dispute and taking this amount of strike action was not an easy decision but members want to make it clear to ISS that the current offer is simply not enough read more
Parliamentary security action suspended (19 Oct) – A strike by House of Commons security guards planned to take place on 31 October and 1 November and 6 and 7 November has been suspended. Management have withdrawn their proposal to introduce an imposed roster, due to begin on 1 November, which would have seen our members work extra night shifts. PCS and management will now enter negotiations to seek to create a revised roster that members can accept. These discussions will continue until 31 January 2024 read more
HMRC Inland Pre-Clearance: Industrial action ballot result (11 Oct) – Inland Pre-Clearance members meet the legal threshold and vote overwhelmingly for action. PCS continues to hold talks with HMRC and will keep members informed read more
OCS strike: severely disrupted courts lead to meeting with employer (3 Oct) – PCS members in OCS forced closures and caused severe disruptions in courts across England and Wales during a hugely effective four-day strike action over pay. Security officers in 149 courts across England and Wales took this action for four days (22, 25, 27 and 29 September) after being offered just 38p above the National Living Wage. They are currently paid the national minimum wage of £10.42 by OCS, an outsourced contractor. Due to the action undertaken by members, OCS has agreed to meet with the union to discuss pay next week read more
Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime to strike over pay (7 Sept) – Nearly 100 PCS members working for MOPAC will take five days of strike action later this month. PCS members at the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) will strike on 20, 21, 22, 25 and 26 September after management refused to negotiate on their pay, pensions, job security and redundancy terms. MOPAC staff are responsible for the London equivalent of a regional Police and Crime Commission. They oversee financial scrutiny of the London Metropolitan Police and are directly accountable to the mayor, Sadiq Khan read more
Prospect
Prospect members at AWE vote for industrial action (23 Oct) – Prospect union members at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) have voted strongly in favour of industrial action in a dispute over pay. Headquartered in Aldermaston, Berkshire, AWE supports and maintains the UK nuclear deterrent. 67% of respondents voted in favour of strike action, with 33% voting against. 82% voted in favour of action short of a strike, 18% voted against. Turnout was 61%, well over the legal threshold…The exact nature and timing of industrial action will be determined after consultation with members read more
GMB
600 Safestyle jobs disappear overnight (30 Oct) – A crunch meeting takes place today [Monday] after 600 Safestyle jobs disappeared overnight. Hundreds of workers at the double-glazing firm’s Barnsley site were told to down tools and marched off site at 5pm on Friday [October 27]. At the same time, Safestyle suspended its share trading, locked its gates and told staff that it intends to file for administration. Sources say the company received more than £10 million in orders last month, while thousands of pounds were spent on social media advertising on Friday alone. Staff have been invited to a meeting on site at Valley Road, Wombwell, Barnsley, S73 0BS at 1pm on Monday read more
Flogas workers strike in pay dispute (30 Oct) – Flogas workers at the Llandarcy depot have begun a five-day strike in a dispute over pay. Up to 20 workers at gas giant’s depot in South Wales have downed tools following this year’s below inflation pay offer. After months of negotiation, workers voted to strike with a majority of more than 80 per cent. The following day, Flogas announced redundancies at the site read more
Protest over outsourcing in Ards and North Down (27 Oct) – Workers, unions and members of the public staged a mass protest in opposition to outsourcing of leisure services at Ards & North Down District Council. Dozens joined the demonstration at Bangor Castle over the decision of Ards & North Down District Council to hand over leisure services to the private management company Serco. GMB, Nipsa and Unite unions have warned a similar scheme in Belfast City Council where leisure services have been outsourced has led to a huge hike to user charges and attacks on workers’ rights read more
Croydon Hospital strike suspended to allow ballot over pay offer (27 Oct) – Cleaners employed by G4S were due to be taking 48 hours of action on Monday and Tuesday of next week. GMB, the union for NHS and healthcare workers, has today suspended the strike action due to hit Croydon University Hospital next week. Cleaners employed by G4S were due to take two days of action on Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 October, but the union has suspended the action in order to ballot members on a pay offer from the company. The offer consists of a 10 per cent pay rise, increase of sick pay from 8 days to 4 weeks and a £200 bonus read more
1000s of NI school staff being industrial action (24 Oct) – Cooks, cleaners, drivers and classroom assistants and other staff began taking action short of strike on Monday [23 October]. The action includes overtime bans, the removal of goodwill and the refusal of work outside of job descriptions. Thousands of workers employed across 1,800 schools are in dispute with the Education Authority over pay and grading. A majority of 92 per cent of GMB members backed strike action, with 94 per cent backing industrial action short of strikes. If the dispute Is not resolved, industrial action will be stepped up, with prolonged period of all out action potentially closing most schools read more
Net-A-Porter faces Christmas strike (23 Oct) – GMB, the union for retail and distribution, has this morning announced that luxury fashion brand Yoox Net-a-Porter will be rocked by twenty-two days of strike action at their Charlton depot. As previously announced, GMB members are in dispute with their employer about pay, with current proposals leaving members without a pay rise for the first six months of the financial year. Hundreds of workers are now set to take a total of 22 days of action over November and December, which will affect the distribution of online purchases in the run up to Christmas:-
- Tuesday 7 November 2023 from 0630am until Saturday 11 November 0800am
- Monday 20 November 2023 from 0630am until Saturday 25 November 0800am
- Monday 4 December 2023 from 0630am until Saturday 16 December at 0800am read more
Wiltshire Traffic wardens to strike over fire and rehire (19 Oct) – GMB, the union for Wiltshire Council, has issued further strike action for traffic wardens who have previously taken action over their employer’s controversial ‘fire and rehire’ plans. Wiltshire traffic wardens took ten days of action in 2022, before suspending the dispute when the employer agreed to shelve plans to cut their pay by up to 20 per cent. The council has now resumed their plans to use the controversial practice and GMB members will be taking strike action on Saturday 4 November, with further strike dates not ruled out read more
Amazon faces black Friday strikes as industrial action escalates (12 Oct) – Amazon faces the biggest day of strike action in company history, GMB Union warns
Amazon faces Black Friday strike action as GMB members announced four fresh industrial action dates at Coventry. More than 1,000 Amazon workers are set to walk 7, 8 and 9 November, as well as Black Friday – 24 November. GMB yesterday criticised the retail giant’s pay offer of just £1, after Amazon spent millions fighting their own workers over union rights at the company read more
Thousands of energy construction workers vote to strike (17 Oct) – Thousands of construction workers at energy sites across the UK have voted to strike. The action could include up to 3,000 workers at Stanlow, Fawley, Valero, Grangemouth and Mossmorran Oil Refineries, as well as at Sellafield Nuclear Facility have voted in favour of industrial action. Strike votes are also expected at Drax and Hartlepool nuclear power station in the coming days. The workers, who are covered by the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI), voted to turn down a pay deal 8.5 per cent for 2024 and 3.5 per cent for 2025. More than 50 GMB and Unite reps from across the industry will now meet to discuss next steps read more
GMB welcomes important first step towards Birmingham pay justice (13 Oct) – Today’s decision by councillors on a process for job evaluation is the first step on a journey to ending discrimination and delivering pay justice read more
GMB union writes open letter to Swindon council cabinet members over crisis in emergency social work provision (5 Oct) – We need Swindon Council need to meet us for constructive talks because the service is struggling after the loss of highly skilled, specialist mental health practitioners, to the detriment of clients and service users, says GMB. GMB, the union for the Emergency Duty Service (EDS) in Swindon has written an open letter to Swindon Councillors over the ‘crisis’ within the service, which the union is blaming on the council’s ‘confrontational’ approach. The union is in dispute with the council over the removal of the unsocial hours allowance paid to workers on the team, who provide emergency out-of-hours social work support to some of the most vulnerable people in Swindon. GMB members had previously been on strike over the contract changes, but had to suspend their industrial action on safety grounds, as they felt Swindon had not provided adequate emergency cover read more
Local Government and Schools Pay Ballot 2023 (29 Sept) – The ballot is well underway – let us know when you vote or if you haven’t received your ballot in the post read more
Quarter of a million Nottinghamshire homes hit by refuse chaos as Veolia strike action begins (26 Sept) – Neighbouring Derbyshire risks becoming Nottinghamshire’s waste bin, says GMB. Members of GMB Union have today began five days of strike action at Veolia waste and recycling plants across Nottinghamshire. The industrial action comes after service provider Veolia refused to negotiate a pay offer that reflects the cost of living crisis. Mansfield’s Materials Recycling Facility, Ashfield’s Welsh Croft Close site and Bassetlaw’s Claylands Avenue site will all be impacted by strike action. These plants process household waste and recycling for over 250,000 homes in north Nottinghamshire. Refuse collections for Mansfield, Ashfield and Bassetlaw are now being forced to make a gruelling 50 mile detour to drop off sites in Derbyshire. GMB and local residents have also raised alarm at the prospect of Veolia using temporary agency staff to cover the impact of the dispute read more
Penrith faces bin chaos as workers vote to walk out (25 Sept) – Refuse workers in Penrith will down tools for two weeks in a dispute over pay. Dozens of staff at Urbaser, who hold the contract for refuse collection, will take industrial action from October 2 to 13. Workers including drivers, loaders and cleaners are calling for a pay rise to help ease the cost-of-living crisis read more
Northern Ireland faces ‘Winter Disruption’ as strikes begin (22 Sept) – GMB Union has warned of ‘winter disruption’ as civil servants and health workers being strike action. Up to 1,000 GMB members across working within the Road Service, Rivers Agency, Forest Service, Environment Agency and Driver Vehicle Agency are now on strike until Wednesday 27 September. Health workers will be on strike 21 and 22 September. Workers have walked out after the UK Government failed to address their 2023 pay claim. Civil Servants across all departments in Northern Ireland have been offered just £552, while health workers have yet to get anything unlike their colleagues in England and Wales read more
Man Utd, Subway and Five Guys face food shortages (20 Sept) – Manchester United, Subway, Five Guys and Stonegate pubs face food shortages as workers begin a strike vote. Thousands of staff at Bidfood – a company which also delivers food for P&O Ferries, Haven holiday sites and German Donner Kebab – will begin voting on industrial action in the coming weeks. The strike vote comes after pay negotiations broke down. Any industrial action will also lead to schools and prisons not having food delivered and will raises further safety concerns following the escape of Wandsworth prisoner, Daniel Khalife, under a Bidfood lorry read more
Manchester tram workers vote for strike action (19 Sept) – Manchester faces travel chaos after tram workers voted for strike action. Dozens of GMB members working for Great Manchester’s Metrolink service delivered a unanimous yes vote for industrial action. Workers will take industrial action on Strike 29 September and 6,13 and 20 October. Workers are angry about the erosion of their terms and conditions since the contract, currently operated by Bidvest Noonan, was outsourced read more
Social housing giant slammed for ‘strike breaking’ as workers down tools over low pay (15 Sept) – Staff at social housing provider Grand Union Housing are struggling to pay their own rent, says GMB union. GMB Union have today announced strike action at Grand Union Housing, provider of 13,000 social homes across Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. The strike will see maintenance staff down tools on 22, 25 & 29 September and 2, 6, 9, 13 & 16 October. The action comes after the company refused to negotiate on a pay offer to staff of just 2.1%. Grand Union Housing has come under fire after confirming in an email to staff that contractor FSG Property Services LTD will be used to cover the work of striking workers read more
WATCH: Southampton bus drivers poised to strike over ‘dangerous’ diversion (15 Sept) – Question of when, not if, a serious incident happens, warns GMB Union
Southampton bus drivers are poised to strike over a ‘dangerous’ diversion route. GMB members working for Unilink – Southampton’s bus service provider – has today [Friday] begun a consultative industrial action ballot over management’s insistence on the enforced use of an unsafe diversion route which could endanger staff, passengers and the public. The change to the U6 route now means a dangerous sharp right turn for buses at the city’s Six Dials junction, causing buses to cross two lanes of fast flowing oncoming traffic to gain access to the bus lane heading into the city centre read more
North Bristol NHS maternity staff to take strike action (7 Sept) – Fed up with being treated and told that they are ‘second-class’ employees, GMB Midwifery support workers have voted for strike action. Maternity support staff in working in Southmead Hospital have voted unanimously for strike action. GMB members working in the Women’s and Children’s Division will walk out on September 14th and 15th for 2 days of strike action. The moves came after North Bristol NHS trust refused to provide Midwifery support workers, housekeepers and receptionists the same shift enhancements that their colleagues in the same department have been given. For 10 months GMB has been trying to seek a fair resolution, with the trust agreeing to pay enhancements back in June – only to then u-turn read more
Durham aviation manufacturer strike hits sixth week (22 Aug) – A Durham factory that finishes parts for the aviation and automotive industries faces its sixth week of strike action. Dozens of GMB members will walk out on Thursday [24 August] and Friday [25 August] after turning down the company’s pay offer of 6.7 per cent and a one-off. The industrial action the first time workers at Nicholson’s Sealing Technologies, in Stanley, have walked out in the company’s 100 year history read more
Scotland school staff to walk out for two days (17 Aug) – Parents and pupils have been warned of disruption after GMB Scotland announced essential staff in schools and early years will strike for two days next month. The industrial action will affect almost a third of councils across Scotland and comes after local authority workers overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer. GMB members in Scotland’s councils voted to support industrial action after Cosla, representing local authorities, refused to revise the offer or ask the Scottish Government for support. The union, which represents more than 21,000 workers across Scotland’s 32 councils, today served notice on ten local authorities telling them staff in schools and early years working across catering, cleaning, pupil support, administration and janitorial services will strike next month. Industrial action involving the staff but not including teachers will take place on Wednesday 13 September and the following day, in Aberdeen, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, Dundee, East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk, Glasgow, Orkney, Renfrewshire and South Ayrshire. Sister unions are also likely to call strikes in schools and early years in September with the members of one already voting for industrial action while another is currently balloting members. The ballot came after 94 per cent of the GMB Scotland’s members rejected the councils’ offer of 5.5% in April branding it unacceptable when inflation has surged triggering a cost-of-living crisis. The union said the Cosla offer would mean a rise for the lowest-paid workers in Scotland’s councils £700 less this year than that offered to colleagues in England and Wales read more
Unison
Donate to support striking workers – As UNISON members continue to take strike action, the union is asking for donations to its strike fund
Rotherham cemetery staff secure major pay victory (26 Oct) – Acceptance of a new offer ends long-running dispute with the private contractor. Cemetery maintenance staff in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, including gravediggers, have accepted a pay offer from their employer, UNISON announced today. The workers, who are employed by private contractor Glendale Grounds Maintenance, have been involved in a long-running dispute over pay, but the company has finally put forward an offer that the staff have accepted read more
More Scottish schools to close as UNISON sets further strike dates (25 Oct) – Four more local authorities will be affected in second wave of action over pay. UNISON has today served notice of further strike action in the dispute over local government pay, to South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh and Fife councils. Staff working in schools, and early years establishments linked to schools, within those four local authorities will walk out on Wednesday 8 November. This will be the second week of a rolling programme of action that will take place. UNISON has already notified Glasgow City, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde councils, that staff working in schools, and early years establishments linked to schools in those authorities will be taking strike action on Wednesday 1 November. Further strike dates involving other councils will be announced in due course read more
UNISON issues strike action notice for the next 5 months! (24 Oct) – Today, UNISON sent the strike notification letter to Barnet Council laying out the dates of strike action to be taken by Mental Health social workers starting in November right through to March 2024. The first day of strike action will start Tuesday 7 November 2023. We are pleased to report that Brighton UNISON Adults social workers will be taking strike action on the same day (Tuesday 7 November 2023) Barnet UNISON Mental Health social workers are taking strike action. Their demand is similar to our demand, they want parity for Adults social workers with Family Services social workers who have retention payments. Barnet UNISON has proposed a solution to this dispute which is based on rates (7.5% to 25%) that are already paid out to other social workers in Family services. According to evidence seen by Barnet UNISON, the numbers of staff leaving Mental Health social work teams exceeds those leaving Family Services social work teams who are all receiving recruitment & retention payments. Barnet UNISON is clear that recruitment & retention payments are likely to help stabilise the high turnover of staff across Mental Health social work teams and help retain existing staff. The strike timetable for the next FIVE months is as follows:-
- 7/8/9/14/15/16 November 2023.
- 4/5/6/7/8/ December 2023.
- 15/16/17/18/19 January 2024.
- 5/6/7/8/9 February 2024.
- 4/5/6/7/8 March 2024 read more
Picket line – 2 Bristol Ave, London NW9 4EW. Send messages of support to [email protected]
Support staff to strike at 17 universities this week over pay (2 Oct) – Coordinated action in England over ongoing dispute. Support staff at 17 universities in England are striking today and tomorrow in an ongoing dispute about pay, says UNISON today (Monday). Cleaners, IT technicians, administrators and library staff will be among those walking out in coordinated action aimed at disrupting the start of the new academic year, says the union. Staff rejected a below-inflation pay deal in February and voted to strike. They are yet to receive a better offer and say they have little alternative but to take industrial action. More than 5,000 staff are expected to walk out over the two days, as the pay row escalates. There are also demonstrations and rallies taking place across the country read more
Health members in Northern Ireland to strike over lack of pay parity (19 Sept) – Two-day action this week comes as members have yet to be made pay offer in absence of devolved government. UNISON health members in Northern Ireland will be taking strike action over two days this week, in protest at the continued lack of a pay offer for 2022/23. The walk out, over the 48-hour period of Thursday 21 and Friday 22 September, will involve ambulance crews, nurses, health care assistants, pharmacists, radiographers, porters, admin and technical staff, and domestic assistants. Payroll staff will strike for a shorter period, to ensure their co-workers receive their pay on time – a decision commended by their union colleagues. The action is due to increasing frustration that NI health workers are falling behind their colleagues in England and Wales, who accepted an NHS pay offer from their employers in April. That offer included an extra lump sum for 2022/23 and a new offer of a 5% increase for 2023/24. However in the absence of a devolved government in Northern Ireland, and without funding being made available by the secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris, no offer has been made to health workers there read more
Support Wirral NHS clinical support workers: Let’s stick together to win the proper pay for the job (12 Sept) – ‘Wirral NHS clinical support workers just want to be paid the proper rate for the work they do and the responsibilities they take’. Christina McAnea on the picket line with striking clinical support workers at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Across every UNISON region, we’ve got live campaigns to get health workers the fair pay they deserve. Dedicated staff have been regularly performing important duties above the level of responsibility their employers pay them for. This expectation has been put on them for years, but the salary they should be earning has been held back for years too. Today in Liverpool, clinical support workers went on strike at Arrowe Park Hospital read more
South Gloucestershire workers continue strike dispute (31 May) – Social workers and occupational therapists are taking their fourth and fifth days of strike action this week. Social workers and occupational therapists (OTs) working for South Gloucestershire council are to strike twice this week. Staff will walk out for two days of action, today (Tuesday) and again on Thursday (1 June) after voting overwhelmingly for industrial action in a dispute over pay. UNISON has been in dispute with the local authority since last summer. The new dates follow three days of strike action in April read more
Sign petition: Stop the closure of the Peak District National Park visitor centres! – The Peak District National Park Authority are considering closing all four of its visitor centres, making the staff redundant. Councillors will be asked to endorse the chief executive’s ill-thought out ‘money-saving plan’ which will not only affect staff but could very much harm the local economy. The visitor centres are not just shops. They are a key contributor to visitors being able to experience a safe and enjoyable time in the Peak District. This is especially the case with first-time or infrequent visitors. Far from being underused, the centres deal with around 400,000 visitors a year. Unless there is a public outcry, we will lose these centres from our national park, at a time when other national parks have rejected such ideas. Decisions will be taken from as early as May. Help Derbyshire UNISON stop them!
Protest as Hackney Unison chair amongst those handed compulsory redundancies in libraries shake-up – Council staff staged a protest on 17th May after several library staff, including Hackney Unison Branch Chair Brian Debus, have been handed compulsory redundancy notices. Hackney Unison have said it was “registering our disgust that three library workers including Hackney Unison Branch Chair Brian Debus are due to be made compulsorily redundant. This despite there being more than enough posts available in the restructured library service.” Read more on Hackney Citizen website
NIPSA
DAERA picket lines information (27 Oct) – See the list below of the picket lines information for the DAERA selective strike action next week, which commences on Sunday Night and finishes on Friday 3rd November at Midnight read more
Education members to protest at Secretary of State offices (25 Oct) – NIPSA Education members to protest at Secretary of State’s Office Erskine House 20-32 Chichester Street Belfast BT1 4GF Wednesday 25th October – 12:30pm. NIPSA, the largest union from the non-teaching workforce in Education, representing over 8,000 members across the Education Service will take part in a protest today to highlight the impact of the austerity budget imposed on the Department of Education and Education Authority and call for an immediate resolution of their Industrial Disputes read more
NIPSA, UNISON, GMB and Unite announce protest over education industrial action dispute (24 Oct) – The Joint Negotiating Trade Union Side consists of NIPSA, UNISON, GMB and UNITE representing over 20,000 Support Staff employed across the entire Education Sector, are to hold a protest on Wednesday 25th October at the offices of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Erskine House, Belfast read more
Royal College of Nursing
Urgent investment in the nursing workforce needed as waiting lists look set to soar (27 Oct) – Patients will only get the treatment they deserve when there are enough nursing staff to care for them, the RCN says read more
Sexual harassment in health care: ‘We can’t have slogans, we’ve got to have action’ (25 Oct) – RCN tells MPs how sexual misconduct affects nursing staff in the NHS workforce, during evidence session in Parliament read more
General practice nursing staff in England should receive pay increase (23 Oct) – The RCN is demanding all GP practice employers provide their staff with pay increase now funding has been confirmed read more
Royal College of Nursing members employed by the Care Plus Group vote for industrial strike action (27 Jul) – The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) balloted members employed by the Care Plus Group in July on whether they would be willing to take industrial strike action for better pay and parity with nursing staff employed by the NHS on Agenda for Change terms and conditions of employment. A majority of RCN members who responded to the ballot voted in favour of strike action with 93% of those who voted, voting ‘yes’ read more
Majority of Manx Care nurses vote to strike and reject latest pay offer (23 Jun) – Eighty per-cent (80%) of Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members who responded to the ballot for strike action, have voted in favour read more
RCN opens donations to strike fund in response to public desire to support striking staff – We’ve launched a donation page for people to financially help nursing staff on strike read more
Royal College of Midwives
Maternity staff fight for fairness and safety as they take to picket lines across Northern Ireland (22 Sept) – Midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) across Northern Ireland will be taking to the picket lines this morning (22 September), as the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) takes strike action in frustration at the ongoing political stalemate read more
CSP
Northern Ireland trust CEOs demand action on pay (17 Oct) – The chief executives of Northern Ireland’s six health and care trusts have appealed to the UK government for improved pay for Health and Social Care staff read more
Striking CSP members in Northern Ireland make their voices heard (21 Sept) – CSP members working for Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI) turned out in big numbers today for their first ever strike over pay read more
BMA
Support the Junior Doctors strike read more
Donate to support striking junior doctors
Tackling public health issues head on (25 Oct) – Funding, training, pay, burnout and rest facilities – all matters your public health medicine registrars subcommittee will deal with read more
RCN and GPCE joint statement on GP practice staff pay uplift 2023/24 (23 Oct) – The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and BMA General Practitioners Committee England (GPCE) have issued this joint statement to alert their respective members to the details of the recently announced pay increase for salaried general practice staff. We welcome the increase, but it does not go far enough to address the impact of the current cost of living crisis and workforce attrition across General Practice. We are committed to working together to achieve better for the general practice workforce read more
Government agrees to return to SAS doctors’ pay talks (20 Oct) – BMA ballot overwhelmingly affirms members’ willingness to strike. The Government will resume talks with the BMA on improving pay and conditions for SAS doctors, after an indicative ballot resoundingly backed the possibility of strike action. The association’s specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors committee announced on 20 October it will enter negotiations with the Department of Health, following the decisive passing of an indicative ballot for possible industrial action by SAS doctors in England. The ballot, which ran between 25 September and 16 October, resulted in 88 per cent of respondents affirming they were prepared to go on strike over worsening pay and working conditions. Emphasising that SASC would return to the table in ‘good faith’, committee chair Ujjwala Mohite (pictured above) warned that failure to make meaningful progress would see SAS doctors move to a formal ballot on strike action from 6 November read more
‘We shall fight on’ (18 Oct) – Consultants and junior doctors came together to show their commitment to pay restoration and to urge the Government to resume talks. Ben Ireland reports. Doctors have sent the strongest warning yet to the Government that they intend to continue striking up to the next general election as the fight for fair pay intensifies. Thousands of doctors gathered in Manchester as the Conservative Party conference took place in the city this month, with consultants and junior doctors travelling from all corners of England on buses provided by the BMA. Health secretary Steve Barclay made no mention of plans to resolve the strikes in his speech to his party’s conference on the same day and has not met with either consultants or junior doctors for months. BMA consultants committee chair Vish Sharma wrote to prime minister Rishi Sunak to say no new strike dates would be announced for four weeks from the latest three-day joint action, which took place from 2 to 5 October, because the Government has refused talks as long as strike dates have been called. Dr Sharma also urged the involvement of arbitration service ACAS read more
SAS doctors in Wales, the time for action is now (10 Oct) – We need to act now to put a stop to pay erosion, writes BMA Wales SAS doctors committee chair Ali Nazir read more
Junior doctors in Wales announce dates of industrial action ballot (6 Oct) – Junior doctors in Wales are to be balloted for industrial action from next month. The six-week ballot by BMA Cymru Wales will run from 6 November to 18 December. If members vote in favour of industrial action, it will lead to a 72-hour full walkout by participating doctors. Junior doctors in Wales have experienced a pay cut of 29.6 per cent in real terms over the last 15 years. This year, they received another sub-inflationary pay offer from the Welsh Government. The 5 per cent offer is below the recommended amount made by the DDRB, and lower than that rejected by junior doctors in England read more
Doctors in Northern Ireland to be balloted on industrial action (4 Oct) – Consultants and junior doctors to vote after devolved government denies pay uplift. Consultants and junior doctors in Northern Ireland will be balloted on industrial action, the BMA has confirmed. The Department of Health in Northern Ireland, which has essentially been left to run the health service since the collapse of devolution in February 2022, said there would be no pay awards at all this year as a result of funding shortfalls. This is despite the Doctors and Dentists Review Body recommending a 6 per cent uplift, which has been offered to colleagues in England. As a result, both groups of doctors will be balloted over whether to take industrial action. A date for the ballot has not yet been set. An indicative ballot of consultants in Northern Ireland found 77 per cent were willing to take industrial action read more
Society of Radiographers
Video: Striking radiographers protest outside Belfast City Hall (22 Sept) – SoR’s Northern Ireland national officer Cora Regan gives powerful speech at union rally. Northern Ireland’s striking radiographers joined a union rally outside Belfast City Hall on the second day of industrial action in their fight for improved pay and conditions’ read more
New pay offer for radiographers in Wales – SoR members asked to vote now (8 Aug) – SoR recommends acceptance of improved offer following earlier strike threat. New pay talks with the Welsh government have resulted in a revised package around non-pay elements of the original offer to radiographers. SoR members in Wales had rejected that offer by an overwhelming number and called for a ballot on strike action. The Welsh government then agreed to re-open talks with the SoR on the proviso that the Society paused balloting. These talks have resulted in a new offer around non-pay elements of the original offer with the aim to improve Terms and Conditions of Service within the NHS in Wales and for radiographers read more
NEU
Teachers in independent schools face further pensions threat (27 Oct) – The NEU will robustly support our members to take all necessary action to defend their terms and conditions. Responding to today’s announcement of a 5% increase to the employer’s contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), the National Education Union has vowed to provide robust support to members working in the independent sector, whose pensions might be threatened as a consequence of the rise. The cost for teachers working in local authority and academy schools will be paid by the government for 2024-2025; independent schools will have to meet the rise in full. Some private schools will seek to leave the scheme, which would lead to their teacher staff having significantly worse pensions. Others may seek ‘phased withdrawal’, ostensibly protecting teachers currently in the scheme while putting new teachers on inferior defined contribution provision. The TPS has a valuation every four years read more
NEU Cymru members at Caldicot Comprehensive to take strike action over school’s inability to tackle student behaviour (24 Oct) – NEU Cymru members at Caldicot Comprehensive school will be taking strike action on Wednesday 25th October following concerns over violent and abusive behaviour by pupils towards staff, which the school has not dealt with appropriately. Discussions between the school and both the NEU and NASUWT have failed to make any progress in addressing the school’s approach to behaviour, and addressing the adverse management practices that are affecting the health, safety and welfare of their members and the pupils they have a duty of care towards read more
Support strike action at Connaught School Leytonstone Waltham Forest – the 6th week of Connaught strike is on again this week over proposed job cuts and forcing them into a MAT. Send messages of support to Paul Phillips – [email protected] and Sandra Faria [email protected]
NASUWT
Members at Cambridgeshire school to strike over behaviour policies and management practices (30 Oct) – Members of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union at St Ivo’s Academy in Cambridgeshire are due to begin the first of five days of strike action on Wednesday over working conditions, adverse management practices and behaviour policies adopted by the employer, Astrea Academy Trust. Contrary to assertions from the employer, the NASUWT does not endorse the approach to managing pupil behaviour adopted by St Ivo Academy. NASUWT supports its members who are in dispute with this and other policies implemented centrally by Astrea without consultation read more
NASUWT comments on Teachers’ Pension Scheme valuation (28 Oct) – Responding to the 2020 Valuation of the England and Wales Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), which was published on 27 October 2023, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, said: “The Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) is an immensely valuable element of the reward system for teachers. The importance of a defined benefit, inflation-proofed, pension scheme during a teacher shortage should not be underestimated. For many teachers, the TPS is a key reason why they remain in the teaching profession. The Government is well aware that the cost of teachers’ pensions, since 2012 onwards, is lower than previous predictions, partly because of worsened life expectancy arising from the coronavirus pandemic. The Government needs to take this into account and should confirm now that it will not raise the pension age for working people any further…” read more
Failure to fund education reform is Guernsey Government negligence, says NASUWT (26 Oct) – Responding to the news that the States Assembly has voted to push ahead with secondary education reform but not provide any funding, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – the Teachers’ Union said: “The States Assembly has failed yet another cohort of children, young adults and their teachers and lecturers by refusing to give education the investment it so desperately requires. This decision sends the simple message that the States of Deliberation does not value children’s education, which is an utter disgrace…” read more
Caldicot School faces a third day of strike action as NASUWT calls on the Local Authority to intervene (24 Oct) – Members of NASUWT – the Teachers’ Union will take strike action at Caldicot Secondary School in Monmouthshire on Wednesday 25th October. This is the third day of strike action by NASUWT members at the school. Industrial action at Caldicot Secondary School has been ongoing throughout September and October as NASUWT members urgently seek safe working conditions read more
New industrial action campaign at schools and colleges in England (18 Sept) – The NASUWT is instructing members to take part in a programme of action short of strike action following ballots for industrial action last term. The action is part of the Union’s campaign to secure real terms improvements to pay and bring downward pressure on workload and working hours. The NASUWT National Action Committee is initially instructing members in schools and colleges to limit their working time by working to rule from today. These include instructing members to refuse to undertake extracurricular activities, midday supervision, working during lunch breaks, being directed to work on weekends or Bank Holidays, not doing other tasks during PPA time and refusing to take part in mock inspections read more
NAHT
Teachers’ Pension Scheme 2020 Valuation Report published (30 Oct) – Most public service pension schemes are unfunded defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, meaning that members’ pension benefits are guaranteed by the government and there is no fund of assets from which pension benefits are paid read more
School leaders to strike for first time on Jersey (11 Sept) – School leaders’ union NAHT will join teachers in a day of strike action across Jersey’s schools tomorrow, Tuesday 12 September, after it said that revised proposals aimed at resolving the dispute were too little too late. Late last week, the States Employment Board (SEB) agreed to backdate its previous 7.9% pay offer, which NAHT members had overwhelmingly rejected in a ballot, to January. But NAHT said that was not enough and put its own proposals on the table on Friday designed to end the dispute. Today, the Government tabled alternative proposals which NAHT said fell well short of resolving the dispute read more
EIS
City of Glasgow College lecturers deliver overwhelming mandate for continuing industrial action (24 Oct) – College lecturers at City of Glasgow College (CoGC) are set to continue their programme of industrial action, following the closure of a statutory industrial action ballot yesterday. In the ballot, organised by the Educational Institute of Scotland – Further Education Lecturers’ Association (EIS-FELA), a massive 87% of members voted in favour of continuing their programme of industrial action in a long-running dispute over redundancies and working conditions, with 81% backing continuing strikes as part of the industrial action read more
EIS-FELA Raise concerns over the potential discriminatory nature of redundancies at City of Glasgow College (11 Oct) – EIS-Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA) representatives have raised concerns over what is believed to be the discriminatory nature of redundancies taking place at City of Glasgow College. Redundancies are decided using a scoring-criteria based on gathering evidence such as continuing professional development, industry links and other work which highlights a lecturer goes ‘above and beyond’. However, staff who have been absent due to maternity leave are not having this considered when the management of the college are looking at the past three years of evidence. This has been reported by the EIS-FELA Branch as a potential breach of the Public Sector Equality Duty to the Equality and Human Rights Commission read more
Lecturers Commence Targeted Strike Action in Constituency Areas of Key Scot Govt Ministers (2 Oct) – Lecturers in three Scottish colleges will start three days of targeted strike action, in colleges based in the constituencies of key Scottish Government decision makers. The targeted action is the latest step in a national industrial action campaign in a long-running dispute over pay and job security. The action will take place at Glasgow Clyde College, Fife College and Dundee & Angus College, which sit within the constituency areas of the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and the Minister for Further Education read more
INTO
UNISON Action Short of Strike (17 Oct) – INTO Member Update:-
INTO is aware that members of the UNISON Union will be engaging in action short of strike (ASOS) from Monday 16th October 2023.
- INTO reminds all members that they should refuse to accept any direction to undertake any additional work that may arise from the industrial action of another trade union.
- INTO reminds school leaders that they should not direct staff to undertake any duty that would normally be carried out by a colleague who is taking part in legal, legitimate industrial action.
- INTO would further remind school leaders of the previous communication from Management Side in relation to strike action which stated read more
UCU
Strikes set to go ahead next month at 30 English colleges (26 Oct) – Three consecutive days of strike action are set to start on Tuesday 14 November at 30 colleges across England unless employers raise pay, announced UCU today. The full strike days are:-
- Tuesday 14 November
- Wednesday 15 November
- Thursday 16 November
The strike is over pay and working conditions and a commitment to binding national pay negotiations. It comes after an overwhelming 90% of voting members backed the action. UCU is demanding a pay offer in excess of RPI inflation, a national workload agreement and a new negotiating settlement for FE. UCU said it wants employers to negotiate before staff are forced to strike, and that it has already settled disputes at 15 colleges, avoiding strike action, after receiving pay offers of up to 8.5%. Employer representative, the Association of Colleges (AoC), has recommended a pay uplift of 6.5% but colleges do not have to follow it, and many have failed to do so in previous pay rounds read more
Staff to strike at five North East colleges over low pay (24 Oct) – Staff at five colleges in Stockton on Tees, Redcar and Cleveland will begin strike action next month as part of an ongoing dispute over low pay unless management make a realistic pay offer, the University and College Union (UCU) announced today. UCU urged management to quickly return to the negotiating table so that vital GCSE resits aren’t impacted. Three days of strikes will take place at Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy and Redcar and Cleveland College, all of which are part of employer group Education Training Collective (ETC). UCU members at all five college will take strike action on:-
- Tuesday 7 November
- Monday 13 November
- Tuesday 14 November
The action follows a strike ballot in which an overwhelming 95% of those that took part, voted for industrial action. The dispute is over the employer’s 22/23 pay award of 3% which was rejected by UCU members. The college then offered to add an additional 1% from May and to remove the bottom point of the lecturer pay spine, which UCU members again voted to reject read more
Strike action at Tyne Coast College off after management agree to ACAS talks (19 Oct) – Strike action at Tyne Coast College has been called off after the employer agreed to enter talks with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), UCU announced today. Staff took a day’s strike action last month and had been due to walk out on Monday 23 October as part of a long running dispute over pay. The action came after management imposed a paltry pay award of just 3%, which staff had overwhelmingly rejected read more
Strike on tomorrow at University of the Highlands and Islands in dispute over cuts and job losses (16 Oct) – UCU members at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) will begin the first of six days of strikes tomorrow. The strike is over £4 million cuts the university is making, including £3 million from the staffing budget meaning that up to 44 roles are being made redundant. In the ballot approving strike action, turnout was 86% with 77% of UCU members backing going on strike to defend jobs and oppose cuts. The union said the high turnout showed the strength of feeling against the cuts and redundancies read more
Ten days of strikes set to hit the University of Sheffield over pay docking row (15 Sept) – Staff at the University of Sheffield will strike for ten days beginning on Monday 18 September in a dispute over 100% pay deductions following the marking boycott, the University and College Union (UCU) confirmed today read more
Strike to hit all further education colleges in Northern Ireland (11 Sept) – Staff at all six Further Education colleges across Northern Ireland will strike for five days next week and continuously for the next three months in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions. UCU said it has been forced to take action after a decade of their members being subject to pay freeze, followed by pay restraint, which has seen lecturer pay awards limited to between 1 % and 2% per year read more
Four days of strikes set to hit Kirklees College in pay dispute (8 Sept) – Staff at Kirklees College will strike for four days beginning on Monday 11 September in a long running dispute over low pay, announced the University and College Union (UCU) today. The full strike days are:-
- Monday 11 September
- Tuesday 12 September
- Wednesday 20 September
- Thursday 21 September
The strikes will hit the first teaching week of the new academic year. Staff will be on picket lines at the Huddersfield Centre in Huddersfield and the Pioneer Higher Skills Centre in Dewsbury from 8am till 12pm on all four days. Staff at the college have already taken six days of strike action across May and June but management has refused to budge from a pay award for 22/23 of just 1% plus a £500 non-consolidated lump sum. To add insult to injury college management unilaterally imposed a ‘cost of living’ pay award of just 2.5% for 23/24 during pay talks for 22/23. The college’s financial accounts show it has over £10m cash in the bank yet is hiring teachers for as little as £25k (full time equivalent salary). UCU Branch Officers made themselves available over the summer break to meet with college management to find a way to resolve this dispute but management was not interested read more
Strikes set for Liverpool John Moores University over pay docking (13 Jun) – Staff at Liverpool John Moores University will down tools on Friday in the first of eight days of strike action in response to the university’s enforcement of 50% wage deductions for staff taking part in the marking boycott. Friday’s strike will hit a key university open day, and staff will rally outside Metropolitan Cathedral, next to the university’s John Foster building from 1pm. The full days of strike action are:-
Week 1: Friday 16 June
Week 2: Thursday 17 and Friday 18 August
Week 3: Monday 18, Tuesday 19, Wednesday 20, Thursday 21 and Friday 22 September.
Management at John Moores has started docking the pay of staff who are boycotting marking by 50% despite the fact that staff continue to teach, support students, write references, provide pastoral care, undertake research and attend public events read more
Indefinite strike action to hit University of Leeds over 100% pay docking (2 Jun) – Over 1,800 staff at the University of Leeds will begin indefinite strike action from Thursday 15 June after management confirmed it will be deducting 100% of the pay of staff taking part in the marking boycott. The strike could continue for months unless management stop docking staff pay. UCU said pay deductions of up to 100% are utterly unacceptable as staff taking part in the marking and assessment boycott continue to teach, lecture and support students as normal read more
UCU fighting fund: the link is here and donations to the fund are spent on supporting members involved in important disputes.
FBU
FBU National Rally: ‘Join the Fight For Our Future’ – 12pm Wednesday 1st November, Westminster Central Hall London – On Wednesday 1 November, firefighters will come to Westminster for our national rally. We will be unveiling The Firefighters’ Manifesto to demand a resilient service with the resources it needs. Check out the campaign here
Labour ‘government in waiting’ must reverse 13 years of austerity to flood defences, says union (28 Oct) – The Fire Brigades Union has said that Keir Starmer must restore fire and rescue service funding to 2010 levels, as floods strike across the UK. In a challenge to Starmer, the Labour-affiliated union is demanding the reversal of all austerity imposed during the last 13 years of Tory rule “in the infancy” of Labour’s first term. Firefighters are on the front line of flood response, including in seats Labour is targeting. The move comes ahead of the launch of The Firefighters’ Manifesto next week, which will set out a vision for the future of the fire service. FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said that in the wake of its by-election wins in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth that Labour was now a ‘government in waiting’. But he said that Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves must ‘step up’, warning that unless funding was restored, communities could be “failed by another generation of politicians.” Read more
‘Dangerously overstretched’ fire service unable to respond to emergency calls during Storm Babet (26 Oct) – The Fire Brigades Union is calling for urgent investment to ensure the “dangerously overstretched” service is prepared for flooding in future, following the devastation of Storm Babet. Storm Babet brought severe weather and heavy rainfall to areas across the UK, leading to life-threatening flooding across widespread areas of Scotland and England. Firefighters led critical rescue operations and safely evacuated homes read more
Firefighters’ union to consult members in Scotland on strike action over cuts (13 Oct) – The Fire Brigades Union has today announced its intention to begin consulting firefighters across Scotland on strike action in opposition to a devastating package of cuts imposed by the Scottish government. A projected five-year flat cash budget until 2027 has already removed 10 wholetime fire engines, whilst 150 retained fire engines are regularly unavailable due to significant recruitment and retention issues. The Scottish Fire and Rescue service has announced that its own projections mean it will need to save a minimum of a further £14 million next year, which would result in the loss of a further 339 firefighters and 18 fire engines, with more to come. Scotland has lost 1200 frontline firefighters since 2012. The move marks the first formal step towards firefighters taking strike action. This was agreed unanimously by the union’s Scottish committee this week. A formal strike ballot could follow read more
Firefighters vow to fight cuts to Avon’s fire and rescue service (5 Oct) – Yesterday, Avon Fire Authority voted through proposals to cut 40 wholetime (full time) firefighter posts and reduce fire engine crews from 5 firefighters to 4 across the service. Representatives of the Fire Brigades Union condemned the cuts as ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ in an address to the Fire Authority, with firefighters attending in opposition to the plans. The recommendations passed by vote are the result of Avon Fire and Rescue Service commissioning a project seeking to make budget cuts read more
TUC backs campaign of non-compliance with new anti-strike laws (11 Sept) – The Trade Union Congress (TUC), which brings together 5.5 million workers in 48 trade unions across the UK economy, has today adopted a motion committing it to a strategy of resistance against the new anti-union laws. The Minimum Service Levels Act passed into law into law in July. Under it, employers in fire and rescue, health, education, transport, nuclear decommissioning, and border security will be able to require named workers to work on strike days – despite a democratic vote for strike action. The motion states: “We have no choice but to build mass opposition to the MSLs laws, up to and including a strategy of non-compliance and non-cooperation to make them unworkable, including industrial action.” A link to the full text is here. It passed overwhelmingly
Merseyside fire control staff vote to strike as firefighters vote for continued industrial action (Aug 21) – Today, 21st August, results from ballots for industrial action in Merseyside fire service have gone live, with FBU members voting in response to a reduction in night-time staffing numbers in fire control, and attacks on terms and conditions. FBU members in Merseyside fire control have voted overwhelmingly for strike action, with 100% voting Yes on a 92% turnout. Fire control are the team who answer calls from those who need the fire and rescue service and make sure firefighters and appliances get to the right place read more
POA
National Chair Update October 2023 read more
NAPO
Unions register formal NNC dispute on ‘One HMPPS’ (9 Oct) – At last week’s engagement meeting with HMPPS management, the Probation trade unions announced that they would need to carefully reflect on the disappointing outcomes and the worrying lack of clarity that has emerged from the consultative process so far, and that we would be revisiting our position of a pre-dispute. Since then, the unions have met and discussed a number of other concerns and have now decided to formally register a dispute under the NNC Dispute Resolution Procedures. This was submitted to the Head of HMPPS Employee Relations on the 4th October 2023 read more
Probation Unions lodge formal dispute on ‘One HMPPS’ (6 Oct) – This week Napo, UNISON and GMB formally lodged a dispute with HMPPS over the ‘One HMPPS’ programme read more
CAFCASS Pay Ballot 2023/2024 (6 Oct) – Napo members employed by Cafcass have the opportunity to vote on the employers pay offer which was sent out to preferred e-mail addresses a fortnight ago. If you have not voted yet please ensure that you do so and return your electronic ballot before next Thursday 12th October read more
BFAWU
Support the campaign to unionise Samworth Brothers – get organised, sign the petition read more
NUJ
Palestine: IFJ responds to accusations that Israel is targeting journalists in Gaza (27 Oct) – NUJ joins concerns as the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) hears reports from Gaza that Israeli forces are targeting journalists. Allegations have been made in several personal testimonies from journalists on the ground, as well as reports from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), and from news platforms such as Al Jazeera and The New Arab. The death toll among journalists in Gaza is already extraordinarily high for a conflict that has lasted only three weeks, since 7 October. Were it true that this was the result of an intentional policy, then each death would constitute a war crime read more
National World dispute: action postponed (17 Oct) – Next week’s five-day strike has been put on hold. Members of the NUJ’s group chapel working for National World have voted to suspend five days’ strike action due to begin next week, following the flat refusal of the management to hold talks with the union. The union’s national executive council had called on the general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, to seek the urgent intervention of the conciliation service ACAS with a view to encouraging the management of National World to agree to urgent negotiations to spare further damage to the business. However, the company has categorically refused to hold further talks with the union. The members working for the publisher of the Scotsman, Yorkshire Post, Portsmouth News, Sheffield Star, Belfast Newsletter, Derry Journal and 100-plus regional titles took part in three days of strikes last month (September) after the company refused to implement improved minimum salaries, address pay disparities and imposed a below-inflation pay rise. The dispute brought together the members across the UK concerned about pay unfairness, low pay and the refusal by management to listen to staff about a whole range of issues within the business read more
Find out more on the campaign and sign the NUJ’s petition read more
Send your messages of support to journalists at National World striking for fair pay to #NationalWorldStrike or email [email protected] read more
NUJ starts formal ballot for industrial action over compulsory redundancies at the BBC (29 Sept) – The NUJ has voted to move to a formal ballot of all members at the BBC for industrial action in opposition to any compulsory redundancies at the corporation. There are currently NUJ members facing the prospect of compulsory redundancy in the World Service, the News Channel, and across England at BBC Local. The NUJ believes with redeployment and flexibility these can be averted read more
BBC journalists vote to renew their industrial action mandate over cuts to local radio (10 Aug) – The union now has a mandate for strike action, but will continue talks with management. Under the UK’s onerous and restrictive legislation governing industrial action, the NUJ was required to have another ballot to keep the action alive – members at BBC Local in England, in local radio, regional TV and online, have taken strike action on three occasions and are continuing to operate a work to rule. On a turnout of 64 per cent, 70 per cent said they were prepared to take part in strike action and 83 per cent said they were prepared to take part in industrial action short of a strike. This positive result was despite many members being away over August and means the work to rule will seamlessly roll on until a resolution is reached. The BBC’s plans will cut local content by almost half read more
Equity
Equity demands answers from Scottish Government at debate
Equity secures debate at Scottish Parliament where politicians from all parties question shock Creative Scotland cuts (26 Oct) – Following the announcement that £6.6 million in funding cuts to Creative Scotland are to be reimposed in a shock Government u-turn, this week Equity secured a debate at Scottish Parliament where politicians from all parties questioned the Government’s decision to renege on their prior commitment made earlier this year read more
Community
General Secretary meets Port Talbot steelworkers following bad deal for steel (26 Sept) – Community General Secretary Roy Rickhuss CBE will meet with steel union representatives and officials at Port Talbot today (26 September 2023) following the bad deal for steel agreed by the UK Government and Tata Steel on Friday 15 September. The UK Government’s deal with Tata for £500 million takes an unnecessary electric arc furnace-only approach to decarbonisation, which could cause the loss of 3,000 jobs across Tata Steel UK and have drastic consequences for the wider UK Steel industry and economy. Roy Rickhuss is expected to reaffirm Community’s support for the steelworkers, and that Community will do all it can to stop this bad deal read more
IWGB
RSA staff vote overwhelmingly for first ever strike in the organisation’s history (5 Sept) – Staff members at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), represented by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) have voted to go on strike for the first time in the charity’s 270 year history. With a 78.95% turnout and 93.33% vote in favour of striking, staff have given notice of strike action for Tuesday 19th and Thursday 21st of September, which will see the RSA host its president, Anne, Princess Royal, for its Design For Life awards ceremony, celebrating 100 years of the RSA Student Design Awards read more
UVW
“A transformative experience”: disciplinary against exemplary outsourced Chanel cleaner QUASHED (27 Oct) – “This has been a transformative experience. I now feel very powerful… I feel different. I see my bosses just like anyone else” – Hiywot Feyssa Bedaso, outsourced migrant cleaner and UVW member. Ethiopian-born Hiywot Feyssa Bedaso came to the UK seven years ago and for the last six had happily worked as a full-time outsourced janitor for cleaning contractor Bayleaf Facilities Management Ltd (Bayleaf), at one of the sites of the Chanel luxury fashion retailer in central London. She’s been a member of United Voices of the World (UVW) for many years. “I love my job. I’m very happy there, and get on well with everybody. I had never had a problem before, quite the opposite, I’d been repeatedly congratulated for the quality of my work.” Read more
SIPTU (Ireland)
SIPTU calls for change to Jobseeker’s Benefit as Tara Mines workers face poverty (26 Oct) – SIPTU has called for the immediate introduction of pay-related Jobseeker’s Benefit to prevent workers like those in Tara Mines “falling into poverty.” At a well-attended meeting of Tara Mines workers in SIPTU’s Dan Shaw Centre in Navan on Wednesday, 25th October, public representatives – including councillors, Oireachtas members and the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee – heard about the hardship faced by many workers and their families since the lay-offs began read more
SIPTU members in local authorities demand talks on public service pay (25 Oct) – SIPTU’s Local Authority Sector Committee have condemned the ongoing failure by the Government to engage with the Public Service Unions in relation to a successor agreement to Building Momentum, which expires at the end of the year. While the Government pat themselves on the back for growing exchequer finances, they have ignored the requirements of our members, who are amongst the lowest paid public servants and are struggling to make ends meet in the middle of the ongoing cost of living crisis read more
SIPTU radiographers in Galway vote for industrial action (9 Oct) – radiographers in University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park University Hospital have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action up to and including strike action in a dispute over safe staffing levels. The result follows months of frustration over recruitment and retention issues at the two hospital sites which have left SIPTU members facing a significant extra workload amid a 20 percent staffing deficit read more
SIPTU and other trade unions threaten strike action over Translink funding fears (3 Oct) – SIPTU and other trade unions at Translink have written to Denis McMahon, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Infrastructure, to express the union’s concern over the financial sustainability of Northern Ireland public transport company. The move comes after Translink management indicated that, due to the company’s poor financial position, they would be unable to table a pay offer for 2023/24. This, the union warned the Permanent Secretary, “may force us to initiate an industrial ballot” unless meaningful discussions were forthcoming. SIPTU, along GMB and Unite with its sister unions in Translink, also expressed fears that the company may have difficulty sustaining the operation of public transport in Northern Ireland without departmental funding read more
Other news
Book launch: Betteshanger Colliery – ‘They didn’t take it off the wind!’ by Terry Harrison
Tuesday 7th November 7pm at The Betteshanger Sports & Social Club, Cavell Square, Deal CT14 9HR Reserve your place via Eventbrite
Affiliate with STAMMA – STAMMA’s Employment Support Service helps people who stammer as well as those who don’t around issues related to stammering in the workplace. Union branches and regions can affiliate with STAMMA to access a range of services and support at a reduced rate.
- £75 for branches and regions
- £125 for national unions with under 400,000 members
- £200 for national unions with 400,000+ members
Fight blacklisting and victimisation of union reps
UCU condemns ‘baffling’ dismissal of University of Sussex lecturer (25 Aug) – UCU has today condemned plans by the University of Sussex to make a member of teaching staff redundant after having advertised a new permanent post that includes all his current duties. Philosopher Lecturer James Furner has been employed at the university on consecutive fixed term part-time contracts since 2021, but on 22 August the university wrote to him to say that his employment will come to an end this month. Yet on July 7 it advertised a new full-time post of Lecturer in Philosophy stating that the post-holder ‘will be expected’ to teach the same four undergraduate modules that James taught in 2022-3. A petition has been launched in protest against the plans read more
Sign petition: Reinstate Anne Howie RMT Activist – Anne Howie RMT activist at Manchester Piccadilly is facing dismissal with no due process
UVW to sue LSE for disability discrimination and trade union victimisation after sacking strike leader (24 Aug) – “My condition has got something to do with it, but I think there’s more to it. I’ve always been at the forefront of the fight… because I consider myself a union leader” – Geovanny Moreno Buitrago, LSE cleaner and UVW member. UVW strike leader Geovanny Moreno Buitrago, a migrant cleaner from Colombia at the London School of Economics (LSE), was sacked after being off sick with a herniated disc as he tried to return to work. UVW is appealing and suing for his dismissal on grounds of disability discrimination and trade union victimisation. In spite of two expert medical opinions, Geovanny’s willingness to come back to work, his own recommendations on what he is capable of doing, and LSE’s own health policies, LSE sacked him read more
Support Lee Fowler – Another blacklisted construction worker sacked after making complaints about safety on site read more about Lee’s case
Support the ‘Murphy 4’ Campaign to reinstate sacked Unite members read more
Felixstowe 4’ protest demands justice at CK Hutchison AGM (18 May) read more
UK facing taps and pipes shortage as Warrington based GXO drivers strike over sacking of Unite rep (12 May) read more
Protest as Hackney Unison chair amongst those handed compulsory redundancies in libraries shake-up: 6pm Wednesday 17th May Hackney Town Hall Read more on Hackney Citizen website
#SPYCops Inquiry exposes state surveillance of workers movement
Construction blacklisting: Evidence sought in union officials’ collusion inquiry (11 Apr) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, is stepping up its search for information into the possible collusion by trade union officials into the blacklisting of construction workers. In April 2022 Unite established an independent inquiry into allegations that some union officials may have colluded with the blacklisting of construction workers. Unite has instructed a legal team of Nick Randall KC (Matrix Chambers), John Carl Townsend (33 Chancery Lane Chambers) and Paul Heron from (Public Interest Law Centre), to examine and investigate whether any union officials from Unite or its predecessor unions (T&G, UCATT, Amicus, AEEU or MSF), were involved in the blacklisting of construction workers. The inquiry is now entering its next stage and an online portal has been launched to allow anyone who has any information relating to the inquiry to submit information read more
Builders Crack: The Movie
In the current situation, this long lost film from the 1990s about rank and file union organising in the construction industry is intended to lift the spirits, but also to spark a debate in our movement. Hope the youngsters in this film put a smile on your face.
Watch – Share – Discuss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VZ-QMA1FMg
Blacklist Support Group
Book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklist-SG/
Blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog
Blacklist Support Group financial appeal: the Blacklist support group is desperately short of funds, to continue the incredible work we need more finance, would you please consider making a donation, raise it at your branches and trade councils. Please make cheques payable to Joint sites committee and send to 70 Darnay Rise Chelmsford Essex CM1 4XA. Please forward onto your contacts many thanks Steve Kelly (JSC Treasurer)
Blacklisted t-shirts available at: https://shop.hopenothate.org.uk/component/hikashop/product/78-blacklisted-t-shirt
Keep an eye out for other Facebook and social media groups and pages that are being created. You can catch up on disputes at Strike Map UK. Also, check out Organise Now! – Support for new worker organising.
International
USA: read the latest about the ‘Stand Up Strikes’ at the ‘Big 3’ car companies on the UAW website here
From the NUJ website:-
Philippines: student journalists harassed by army (4 Oct) – NUJ supports call for an investigation into actions by armed forces threatening press freedom read more
Diary
2024
June
22 2024 NSSN Conference – 11am Conway Hall, Holborn, London
CONTACT US
PHONE 07952 283 558
EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/NSSN_AntiCuts
FACEBOOK NSSN GROUP or STOP The CUTS Likes page
ADDRESS NSSN, PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE
