Date for your diaries!! 2024 NSSN Conference – Saturday 22nd June, 11am-4.30pm, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL Facebook event
Support the Junior Doctors Strikes
The NSSN sends solidarity to junior doctors and their unions after strikes last week in Wales and this week in England and action to come in March in Northern Ireland.
BMA
Junior doctors strike for better pay in Wales (22 Feb) – Unacceptable pay offer forces overworked staff to walk out. Junior doctors who are striking in Wales this week have a strong sense of solidarity, even stronger resolve, but frustration runs deep. It’s not just Australia they’re competing with now, in their bid to retain colleagues: it’s England and other parts of the UK which are luring the workforce away, with the promise of better pay and conditions. The Welsh Government’s offer of a sub-inflationary 5 per cent last August was lower than any other offer made to junior doctors anywhere in the UK. That was hurtful but also damaging, according to junior doctors braving heavy rain at the demo outside University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff yesterday read more
Junior doctors in Northern Ireland vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike action (19 Feb) – Junior doctors in Northern Ireland have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action in their fight to restore 16 years of pay erosion. 97.6% of those balloted voted yes to a full 24-hour walkout that will take place in hospitals across Northern Ireland from 8am on 6 March 2024 to 8am on 7 March 2024 read more
Junior doctors in England announce new strike dates after Government rejects ‘gesture of goodwill’ by the BMA (9 Feb) – The BMA’s junior doctors committee (JDC) has announced further strike dates in England, from the 24th February to 28th February, after the Government failed to meet the deadline to put an improved pay offer on the table. In a show of goodwill, the BMA provided the Health Secretary with an option to delay further strike action. She was asked to extend the current strike mandate for a short period – and thus allow talks to continue with the aim to achieve a resolution for this year’s dispute. Disappointingly, she declined to agree to extending the mandate. However, the junior doctors committee believes the forthcoming strikes can still be called off if a credible offer is made read more
Donate to support striking junior doctors
HCSA
HCSA junior doctors announce five-day strike in February (9 Feb) – Junior doctors from HCSA – the hospital doctors’ union will strike for five days across England in February in the latest step in their pay dispute. This follows the government’s ongoing failure to address pay erosion, which has seen junior doctors’ pay fall by more than a quarter since 2008. Junior doctors will walk out from 7am on Saturday 24th February until 7am on Thursday 29th February read more
After Welsh #SaveOurSteel demos, steel unions ballot for action
On 17th February, the NSSN marched alongside steel unions Unite, Community and GMB and hundreds of steelworkers and their families and supporters in Port Talbot and Newport.
The demonstrations were called against Tata Steel intention to make 75% of the 4,000-strong Port Talbot workforce redundant. This would also result in thousands more losing their jobs at other Tata steel plants, contracting companies, and threaten related jobs such as on the rails and the wider local economy.
From the rally platforms, union general secretaries Sharon Graham Unite and Roy Rickhuss Community announced industrial action ballots in opposition to the jobs massacre.
The NSSN stands in solidarity with steelworkers and their unions and will support any action that they take. And as we did in 2016, when the steelworks were under the same threat, we continue to demand the works be nationalised to save jobs and working-class communities. We will support and publicise all demonstrations, protests and industrial action called to save steel jobs and defend communities, in Port Talbot and in other steelmaking areas.
Unite leader Sharon Graham’s speech at Port Talbot steel rally (17 Feb)
Unite announces strike ballot dates for 1,500 steel workers at Tata (16 Feb)
Community: Rallies for steel in Newport and Port Talbot (17 Feb)
Community confirms intent to ballot for industrial action over Tata job cuts (16 Feb)
Don’t sack UK Steel protests (called by Unite):–
Port Talbot: demonstration against job cuts at Tata Steel – 1pm-2pm Wednesday 28th February Jobcentre Plus, 64-66 Station Road, Port Talbot SA13 1LX Facebook event.
Scunthorpe: Demonstration to defend the steel industry in Scunthorpe – Wednesday 28th February 1-2pm Jobcentre,17 Laneham Street, Scunthorpe DN15 6JT
Sign the petition: https://surveys.unitetheunion.org/233412289055859
Fight the Tory attack on our #RightToStrike
About 5,000 trade unionists marched in Cheltenham on 27th January in opposition to the new Tory anti-union Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 (MSL), and to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Thatcher’s banning of union rights at GCHQ in the town.
It was just days after the U-turn by the state-owned LNER train operating company that was reported to have signalled its intention to have used the MSL against ASLEF. The union had reacted to this threat by putting in 5 additional strike days. This apparent retreat was a defeat not only for LNER bosses but for Sunak’s Tory Government.
It showed that workers’ action can smash this vicious Tory attack on our right to strike.
It is now vital that the statement that was passed at the Special TUC Congress in December – setting out a campaign of defiance and non-compliance – is implemented and built upon:-
- We will develop practical solidarity plans for unions actively engaged in strategies of non-compliance.
- Support any worker subject to a work notice, including with support from across the trade union movement, if their employer disciplines them in any way.
- Ensure that where any affiliate is facing significant risk of sanctions because of this legislation, we convene an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee to consider options for providing practical, industrial, financial and/or political backing to that union.
- Call on all employers and public bodies with oversight to oppose this counterproductive legislation. Employers and public bodies from across the public sector and the country have already signalled their opposition to the Strikes Act. All employers and public bodies must reject it
- Refuse to tell our members to cross a picket line.
- Call an urgent demonstration in the event a work notice is deployed and a union or worker is sanctioned in relation to a work notice.
This is the basis for the fighting strategy that workers and unions need and now needs to be enacted.
Stop the attack on Gaza
Many NSSN supporters have joined marches and protests against the escalation of violence in the Middle East, particularly the invasion and bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli government
See Stop the War website for info on protests.
- Rally to Stop the Genocide: Demand MPs vote for a #CeasefireNow as they vote in Parliament – Weds 21 Feb 5pm, Old Palace Yard, Parliament, London
- Workplace day of action in support of Palestinian women – Friday 8th March
- The next national demo in Central London is Saturday 9th March
A number of unions have issued statements on the situation in the Middle East, including: the TUC, FBU, RMT, NEU, Unite, Unison, PCS, ASLEF, TSSA, UCU, EIS, CWU, Equity, BMA, NUJ, UVW, GMB, SOR, RCM, RCN, IWGB, Prospect, CSP, NAPO, INTO (Ireland), SIPTU (Ireland) and Mandate (Ireland)
NSSN sends solidarity to UCU and its members at Queen Mary University in London after security broke into the Queen Mary UCU office in order to remove posters expressing solidarity with Palestine. For developments, follow Queen Mary UCU on X/Twitter @qm_ucu
(From Novara Media) Indian Port Workers Refuse to Handle Israeli Weapons (20 Feb) – An Indian trade union representing more than 3,500 workers at 11 ports has called on its members to refuse to handle military equipment being sent to Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza. In a statement from 14 February, the Water Transport Workers Federation of India said it will “refuse to load or unload weaponised cargoes” from Israel or any other country which could handle military equipment for the war in Palestine read more on Novara Media
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
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RMT
Railway workers to lobby Scottish Parliament over railway cuts (27 Feb) – RMT will hold a ‘Rail Cuts Cost Lives’ rally and lobby MSPs at Holyrood on Thursday. Total renewals expenditure for Scotland over the next 5 years is £315m or 13% lower than in the previous funding period. The renewals will cover track, off-track, signalling, level crossings,earthworks, drainage, buildings, electrification and fixed plant, and telecommunications read more
RMT responds to potential re-introduction of Super Puma in the offshore sector (22 Feb) – Offshore workers union, RMT has criticised the possible re-introduction of the Super Puma helicopter by Airbus to offshore oil and gas operations. Last year was the tenth anniversary of the last fatal Super Puma incident in the UK sector, which claimed the lives of four offshore workers, including RMT member Sarah Darnley. 33 offshore workers and helicopter crew died and 65 were rescued from the North Sea as a result of Super Puma helicopter accidents between 2009 and 2016 read more
Railway workers to lobby Parliament over rail cuts (21 Feb) – RMT will hold a ‘Rail Cuts Cost Lives’ rally and lobby MPs at Westminster next Wednesday – 1pm Old Palace Yard. The event will begin at 1pm and will see railway workers bring pressure to bear on the government to ensure our railway has the funding it needs to run safely and effectively. Network Rail intends to make £1.2bn worth of cuts over the next 5 years to renewals expenditure which will have a negative effect on safety and performance read more
RMT responds to Rail Reform Bill (20 Feb) – Responding to the government’s draft Rail Reform Bill, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “This bill in its current form will do nothing to address the 30 year long decline in our railways since privatisation. The government’s priority is to support privatised companies so they can continue to extract huge profits and pay dividends to wealthy shareholders. We will continue to protect our members jobs, terms and conditions while campaigning for a fully integrated publicly owned railway that works in the interests of all passengers.” Read more
Gateline workers at Northern to take strike action (19 Feb) – Contracted out gateline workers at Northern will take strike action this week in a dispute over pay. Strike action will take place from Wednesday just after midnight for 48 hours. RMT is also wants to see the ending of zero hours contracts and the removal of the Timegate app which has failed to accurately calculate pay and leave allowance. Carlisle Support Services who runs the contract for gateline workers at Northern do not provide sick pay, holiday pay and provide significantly lower wages to their staff compared with the rest of Northern read more
Hitachi Rail strike spreads from East Coast to Great Western Mainline (17 Feb) – RMT members at Hitachi Rail will take 48 hours strike action at the end of the month over a pay dispute. Workers who maintain rolling stock and the signalling system will take the stoppages between Thursday 29 February and March 2. The depots that will be taking action are the London North Pole, Doncaster Train Maintenance and Bounds Green and Craigentinny Train Maintenance. Hundreds of workers will join the action which follows a referendum where Hitachi workers rejected a pay offer from the private company. Strike action will now be taking place on depots on the East Coast and West Coast mainlines read more
London Overground strikes suspended after progress (15 Feb) – Workers have suspended their strike next week on London Overground, after the union received an improved pay offer. RMT members working for Arriva Rail London on London Overground were due to take strike action on Monday and Tuesday. An e-referendum on the new improved offer will begin next week read more
ASLEF
ASLEF announces strikes on LNER and Northern trains (14 Feb) – ASLEF, the train drivers’ trade union, has announced strikes and an overtime ban at two train companies – LNER and Northern – for their persistent failure to comply with existing agreements. ASLEF, the train drivers’ trade union, has announced strikes and an overtime ban at two train companies – LNER and Northern – for their persistent failure to comply with existing agreements. Members at LNER will take strike action on Friday 1 March for a failure by the company to adhere to the machinery of negotiation (‘regarding London North Eastern Railway’s abrogation of the diagramming and rostering agreements, and continued failure to adhere to the agreed bargaining machinery’). Members at Northern will also take strike action on Friday 1 March for a failure by the company to adhere to existing agreements. And members will take action short of a strike (a ban on non-contractual overtime) on LNER and Northern from Thursday 29 February to Saturday 2 March read more
TSSA
TSSA criticises unambitious ‘local transport fund’ (26 Feb) – TSSA rail union has accused the Conservative government of ‘totally lacking ambition’ after it was announced that £4.7bn of the money saved from scrapping the northern legs of HS2 will be spent as part of a ‘local transport fund’. The Department for Transport claim that this money will be spent on transport projects in smaller towns and cities in the Midlands and North of England. Such projects may include filling potholes and refurbishing bus stations. TSSA, the recognised union for directly employed HS2 staff, believe that high speed rail is the only clean and green way to support our local, regional, and national economies in the decades ahead read more
TSSA condemns draft Rail Reform Bill (21 Feb) – TSSA responds to the Government’s draft Rail Reform Bill. TSSA has condemned the Government’s ‘completely inadequate’ draft Rail Reform Bill. The draft legislation, published yesterday by the Department for Transport, sets out the Conservative government’s plans for Great British Railways. With a general election due this year, it is unlikely that the bill will be put forward for legislation read more
TSSA to ballot London Underground members (19 Feb) – TSSA rail union is set to ballot members working as Customer Service Managers (CSM) at London Underground. TSSA rail union is set to ballot members working as Customer Service Managers (CSM) at London Underground in a dispute about changes to working practices. TSSA members are extremely concerned about London Underground’s ‘Station Changes’ proposals which will dramatically reduce the number of CSM roles, changing their terms and conditions, pay and potentially work locations. TSSA has been to ACAS to try and resolve the dispute and to seek assurances regarding the proposed changes. When the dispute was not resolved through these channels TSSA was left with no option but to ballot for industrial action. Ballot papers will be sent to TSSA members on 22 February and must be returned by 7 March. TSSA are encouraging members to Vote Yes to “strike action” and “action short of strike action” read more
Unite
Unite secures Stand Scotland and Newcastle comedy club workers 19% pay rises (26 Feb) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, has secured bumper pay rises for over 100 Stand Comedy club workers in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle. The one year pay deal, negotiated without the need for industrial action, will see the lowest paid receive pay rises of 13.6 per cent. Some workers will receive pay increases of 19.3 per cent due to their pay bands being regraded read more
Vital Derby rail maintenance workers to strike over failure to make pay offer (26 Feb) – Safety critical workers responsible for maintaining and preparing trains across the East Midlands are to begin strike action next month after their employer failed to make any form of a pay offer, Unite announced today (26 February). Around 70 Unite members at Alstom Engineering based in Derby are taking strike action on four days beginning on Wednesday 6 March. The workers are responsible for service and preparation of trains and carriages, fault finding and logging of incidents online and general problems with the fleet for East Midlands Rail and industrial action is likely to create a shortage of available rolling stock. Alstom has failed to make any pay offer despite the pay anniversary being 1 December with the real rate of inflation (RPI) running at above five per cent at the time adding to a cost-of-living crisis… Initial strike dates are set for 6, 7, 10 and 11 March but further dates are likely to be announced if Alstom fails to return to the negotiating table with an offer read more
Abellio London bus controllers to take further strike action (26 Feb) – Bus company staff in London are to escalate strike action next month after their employer failed to make an improved pay offer, Unite confirmed today (26 February 2024). Around 40 staff who work in the control rooms for Abellio buses (to be known as Transport UK from 2 March) and who control the bus routes, instruct drivers on traffic jams or accidents and ensure overall safety on the routes are to take a further 9 days of action beginning on 7 March… Controllers, managers and supervisors based at both Battersea bus garage and Twickenham bus garage are staging walkouts on the following dates: 7, 8, 9, 17, 19, 22, 27, 28 and 29 March read more
Unite celebrates win for onshore oil and gas workers at St Fergus Gas plant (26 Feb) – Collective bargaining agreement secured for 100 contractors at Wood and Kaefer. Unite, Scotland’s leading trade union for the oil and gas industry, has signed a new collective bargaining agreement involving contractors based at the St Fergus Gas plant near Peterhead. The union has negotiated a collective bargaining agreement involving around 100 contractors employed by the Wood Group and Kaefer at the Ancala Midstream Scottish Area Gas Evacuation (SAGE) pipeline and terminal. Workers employed by the contractors on the SAGE system provide maintenance and site support at the gas plant. The collective bargaining agreement covers various groups of workers including scaffold inspectors and supervisors, riggers, forklift drivers, along with mechanical, production and electrical technicians read more
Unite wins West Midlands Metro tram drivers 13.5% pay rise (26 Feb) – Union has ensured Metro driver wages have increased by 33.6% since June 2022. Unite, the UK’s leading union, has secured a 13.5 per cent pay deal for West Midlands Metro’s tram drivers. The one year pay deal will come into effect on 1 April 2024 and was negotiated without the need for industrial action. Separate to the current pay deal, Unite West Midland Metro members took strike action in 2022 that secured a 20.1 per cent pay increase for tram drivers with over a year’s service and 13.7 per cent rise for those with less than a year’s service. This means that since June 2022, wages for time-served West Midlands tram drivers have increased by 33.6 per cent from £22,000 to £30,100 read more
Unite London underground workers accept pay deal but transport issues remain in capital (26 Feb) – Members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, employed on London Underground have accepted an improved pay offer. The deal which members overwhelmingly accepted will see pay for 2023 increase by between 5.8 per cent and 11 per cent, with the lowest paid grades receiving the largest increases. Despite the resolution of the London Underground pay dispute, there remains significant industrial issues on London’s transport network. Unite is involved in several disputes on behalf of workers employed by Transport for London (TfL) who are suffering a pay disparity after having a 4.4 per cent pay increase imposed on them. Unite is also looking for action to be taken to ensure that the pay disparity between London underground staff and surface operatives is addressed, tackled and eventually eradicated read more
Unite Northern Ireland health reps recommend acceptance of pay offer ensuring parity with NHS workers in England & Wales (25 Feb) – Unite the union’s workforce representatives have voted to recommend acceptance of a pay offer made by the department of health in negotiations. These resulted from industrial action taken by health workers in Northern Ireland who sought to maintain pay parity with NHS workers in England and Wales. Unite members will now be balloted on the offer which, if agreed, will settle industrial disputes for both 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years read more
Translink unions to ballot members on improved pay offer (25 Feb) – Joint trade union press release: Planned 72 hour strike action due to commence midnight on Tuesday is suspended by all three trade unions. Following an improved pay offer by Translink the three public transport trade unions (Unite, GMB and SIPTU), will suspend the forthcoming strike action and will ballot their memberships on the new offer. Pay negotiations between the transport unions and Translink management were reconvened today (Sunday) following the rejection of an initial pay offer by management on Thursday (22 February). Following the receipt of an improved pay offer for all Translink employees workforce reps suspended the planned 72-hour strike action set for 00.01 on Tuesday (27 February). Workers in all three trade unions will now be balloted on the offer read more
Inadequate pay offer by Translink rejected by public transport unions (23 Feb)
Unite secures West Mids NX Ring and Ride workers 13% pay rise (23 Feb) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, has secured a 12.8 per cent pay rise for around 500 National Express Ring and Ride workers across the West Midlands. The one year pay deal will be backdated from 1 January 2024 and was secured without the need for industrial action read more
Sainsbury’s Birmingham and Essex lorry drivers strike threat over outsourcing (23 Feb) – Anger that transfer to Wincanton will deprive 500 drivers of significant benefits. Around 500 Sainsbury’s lorry drivers based in Essex and Birmingham are being balloted for strike action over attempts to outsource their jobs. The workers, members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, are directly employed by Sainsbury’s. The company, however, plans to transfer them to Wincanton at the end of April. The transfer would result in the workers no longer being eligible for benefits they receive as Sainsbury’s employees. These include a 15 per cent Sainsbury’s discount card worth up to £1,600 a year in savings, as well as share save and incentive schemes. In November last year, Sainsbury’s upgraded its profits forecast to between £670 and £700 million for 2023 having raked in £340 million for the six months to 16 September 2023… The ballot for strike action opens this Monday (26 February) and closes on 11 March. Industrial action will cause severe disruption to deliveries from the distribution centres in Coleshill, Birmingham and Waltham Abbey, Essex to Sainsbury’s stores read more
Profiteering from a “price cap”: energy companies’ dirty secret revealed (23 Feb) – Commenting on the Ofgem price cap announcement today (Friday), Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Ofgem’s price cap might have fallen slightly but hard-working people are still paying through the nose while the energy profiteers laugh all the way to the bank. Centrica, which earlier this month reported £2.8 billion profits, has even publicly celebrated Ofgem’s complicity. Its CEO bragged that its huge profits last year were boosted by an additional fee Ofgem added to the price cap. Everyone except the energy barons can see the system is broken. The need for public ownership has never been more pressing. It is time our politicians made the right choices.” Read more
SQA set to be hit by strike action in escalating pay dispute (22 Feb) – 400 Unite members taking industrial action over three months at nation’s education qualifications body. Around 400 Unite members will take 24-hour strike action tomorrow (Friday 23 February) as part of an escalating pay dispute at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). The union can confirm further talks were held this week which led to no substantive change in the pay offer by the SQA. Unite members will hold the first of two 24 hour strikes on Friday with the next strike scheduled to take place on 29 February.
Picket Lines: Scottish Qualifications Authority –
Glasgow – The Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow. Pickets will be present from 09:00 until 11:00.
Edinburgh – 24 Wester Shawfair, Danderhall, Dalkeith, EH22 1FD. Pickets from 08.30 until 10.30.
An overtime ban, a ban on weekend working and a ban on accruing time-off in lieu also came into effect on 16 February. This action short of a strike will continue until 10 May. Unite members supported strike action by 72 per cent on an 80 per cent turnout read more
Grangemouth workforce slate politicians on government ‘failure’ and ‘empty promises’ over just transition (21 Feb) – Hundreds of refinery workers respond to Unite survey. Workers based at the Grangemouth oil refinery have slated the Scottish and UK governments over their failure to jointly develop proposals which could help protect hundreds of jobs at the complex. Unite has released details of a survey involving hundreds of refinery workers, including contractors, in advance of an expected Scottish government ministerial statement on the Grangemouth Refinery tomorrow (Thursday 22 February). The survey strongly indicates that the workforce believe there has been a collective failure to support them following the announcement by Petroineos in November last year to begin transitioning its Grangemouth refining operations read more
Health visitors in Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board to take historic industrial action over unsustainable workloads (21 Feb) – Unite the union has today (21 February) announced its health visitor members at Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board will take industrial action. The health visitors at the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board (CTM), have had their request for accurate job descriptions denied on multiple occasions and are faced with increasing and unsustainable demands for their specialist knowledge and expertise. The service is struggling under a tsunami of demands post-Covid alongside the impact of the ongoing economic crisis on families. The 67 workers, who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union recorded a 100 per cent yes vote in favour of industrial action. This action short of a strike, includes no unpaid overtime, no statistical reporting for the Welsh government and no covering for vacant caseloads. Action will begin on 26th February and continue until late July. This is the first time health visitors have taken industrial action as a distinct group of workers in Wales read more
Barts NHS workers demonstrate at Department of Health over missing Covid payments (21 Feb) – Low-paid facilities staff from across London working for Barts NHS Trust demonstrated at the Department of Health in Westminster today (Wednesday 21 February). Around 100 Unite members took to the streets of Westminster to highlight the failure of Barts Trust to honor its commitment to pay NHS a lump sum “thank you” payment for working during the pandemic. Unite’s members at the time worked for an outsourcing company, Serco, before transferring back into the NHS just after the imposed deadline for staff to receive the payment. So far NHS bosses have rejected their demands and refused to ask the Treasury for additional funding to cover the payment read more
London Sanctuary Housing workers strike for first time (21 Feb) – Housing association repair workers angry over pay and lack of union recognition. London Sanctuary Housing workers are to strike for the first time, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Wednesday). Around 50 repair workers, who are based in Hackney but carry out repairs on Sanctuary Housing stock across London, are angry about a four per cent pay rise imposed in 2023. This was a significant pay cut, as the real rate of inflation, RPI, at the time was 11.4 per cent…The workers will strike on 29 February and 1 and 4 March. Industrial action will escalate if the dispute is not resolved. The strikes will impact scheduled and emergency repairs to Sanctuary Housing’s stock in London read more • Pickets from 7.30am 9A Kingsmead Way, London E9 5QG 29th February, 1st March and 4th March
Slough facing chaos as Saba Park Services to strike over pay (21 Feb) – Over 30 of Saba Park Services parking enforcement officers in Slough will take strike action following a dispute over pay, according to Unite. The UK’s leading union said industrial action will take place from 26 February to 10 March – leaving the council without parking attendance, back office support, CCTV monitoring or enforcement in bus lanes read more
Strike action at Newtownards factory to severely impact Lakeland dairies profits (19 Feb) – Workers determined to defend £1 pay an hour differential between skilled grades and bare legal minimum. Strike will bring production to a standstill. Unite the union members working at LE Pritchitt & Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lakeland Dairies, which operates the company’s Global Logistics Centre in Newtownards will take a first week of strike action (beginning on Wednesday 21 February) in a mounting pay dispute. Negotiations ended last week without agreement after management refused to provide an increase which maintained a £1 an hour pay differential with the minimum wage for fully trained production operators read more
M25 disruption looms as road maintenance workers ballot for strike (19 Feb) – Balfour Beatty workers angry over profitable firm’s below inflation pay offer. Around 150 M25 maintenance workers employed by Balfour Beatty are being balloted for strike action over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Monday). The workers, who are responsible for the maintenance of the entire M25, are angry at Balfour Beatty’s pay offer of 3.4 per cent. With the real rate of inflation, RPI, at 4.9 per cent this is a real terms pay cut. Increasing tensions, is the fact that the workers also received a below inflation pay rise last year. Balfour Beatty’s latest financial report said the company brought in revenues of £4.5 billion during the first half of 2023, with underlying profits increasing by 12 per cent to £95 million…The workers will begin balloting this week and the vote will close on 12 March, with industrial action expected soon after read more
Strikes by hundreds of Ford white collar workers on cards (14 Feb) – Attend Acas talks or face industrial action proceedings Ford told. Ford is facing the prospect of strikes across its UK sites by salaried and managerial staff, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Wednesday). The company has been told it must attend negotiations with the conciliation service Acas or Unite will begin preparing to ballot its members for industrial action. Offers put forward by Ford for over 3,000 salaried staff and managers have been rejected by over 90 per cent by both sets of workers. The offer for many of the salaried staff is an unconsolidated one-off payment of five per cent of their salary for 2024, meaning their actual wages will not increase this year. Management grades, who have recently organised and achieved union recognition, have been offered a performance related bonus payment, which provides no guarantee of a cost-of-living increase. In addition, the company has proposed changes to the current absence processes, despite acknowledging there is no issue with staff attendance read more
Gloucestershire Lucozade workers to strike over pay (2 Feb) – Over 180 members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, employed by Suntory Beverage & Food in Coleford, Gloucestershire, will begin a week of strike action on Monday 5 February after management failed to address the cost-of-living crisis. Workers received a two year pay deal effective from April 1 2022, with a commitment from the employer to review the second year’s increase, should inflation exceed five per cent between January to June 2023. The inflation rate far exceeded this but the one-billion-pound Suntory Beverage & Food, which produces household name drinks including Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport and Ribena, has not met expectations in relation to this commitment read more
DHL workers at East Midlands Airport to strike over poor pay offer (31 Jan) – Members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, employed by DHL Aviation at East Midlands Airport have announced strike action over a low pay offer. The 180 workers who undertake ramp duties, provide aircraft handling and oversee the tower at the airport, are paid as little as £10.96 an hour. Industrial action was called after the workers rejected a pay increase of 9.8 per cent, in effect a real terms pay cut – as the real rate of inflation (RPI) stood at 11.3 per cent in April 2023, when the increase was due. Strike action will begin on Friday 9 February and continue until Monday 19 February. The workers are particularly incensed as the pay offer is less than their counterparts at Bristol and Gatwick airports received- despite DHL Aviation reporting gross profits of £66 million last year read more
Security guards to strike at London’s Guys and St Thomas’ hospital (30 Jan) – Unite the union today (Tuesday) announced that 30 security workers at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital will take part in discontinuous industrial action from 07:00 Thursday 1 February after the NHS Foundation Trust refused to negotiate on several areas. The UK’s leading union said that its members will strike for a week until Thursday 8 February at 06:59 read more
Escalation in industrial action at Cambridge University (29 Jan) – Vital workers at Cambridge University are taking to the picket line in an escalation of strike action over the low pay they are receiving and the refusal to offer a fair increase. Despite being one of the world’s most prestigious institutes of learning, the university is trying to force through a real terms pay cut. Workers have only been offered an increase of between a five and six per cent increase. The pay award was due to come into effect in August last year when the real inflation rate (RPI) stood at nine per cent. Unite’s members, some of whom earn under £23,000 are demanding above inflation rises to cope with the cost of living in one of the most expensive parts of the UK outside London. 450 members working in the university library, the department of engineering, estate management, the Fitzwilliam Museum and information services will be taking strike action from Wednesday 31 January until Friday 2 February 2024 read more
Gillingham workers to picket at PHINIA over removal of paid lunch break (26 Jan) – Unite the union today has announced that 60 Gillingham-based PHINIA employees will take part in discontinuous industrial action from 07:30 on Monday 29 January, as the company plans to remove staff member’s paid lunch break. Unite, the UK’s leading union, will be fully supporting workers throughout industrial action with the first strike beginning on Monday 29 January and running throughout February, with a total of seven days of strikes already announced. PHINIA features on the New York Stock Exchange as PHIN and recently reported a net revenue of approximately $800 million. Now the fuel systems company is seeking to revoke a contractually binding paid lunch break that was secured as part of negotiations 20 years ago…In a deplorable development, PHINIA has threatened to fire and rehire the entire workforce to try to force through its planned change read more
Mid Ulster District Council Leisure workers to continue all-out strike for improved coaching payments (26 Jan) – Strike by leisure workers continues at both Cookstown and Greenvale Leisure Centres. Approximately 30 members of Unite the union employed at both Cookstown Leisure Centre and Greenvale Leisure Centre are taking strike action in demand of improved payments for coaching duties. The all-out (indefinite) strike commenced on Monday [22 January] and in the absence of movement by council management is set to continue into a second week. The industrial action follows a ballot of the workers which returned an 80 per cent mandate for strike action. The workers are seeking improved payments for coaching duties which are outside their standard contract of employment read more
Offshore working rota disputes widen to cover chemists, heating and ventilation engineers (23 Jan) – Unite the union confirmed today (Tuesday 23 January) that it is balloting over 50 members in the offshore sector including chemists, heating and ventilation engineers. The union is holding industrial action ballots at IES Callenberg and SGS UK Limited for the failure by both companies to improve the jobs, terms and conditions of the workforce. The IES Callenberg dispute involves over 40 offshore workers who provide heating, ventilation, and air conditioning services on offshore platforms operated by BP, TAQA, CNR, Repsol, Serica and CNOOC. Chemists who provide services to the offshore oil and gas industry employed by SGS UK Limited are also being balloted on industrial action. The dispute exclusively centres on chemists servicing BP’s platforms the Clair, Clair Ridge, ETAP and Glen Lyon. The ballots which are now open both close on 22 February read more
Kaefer contractors resume strike action at Mossmorran gas plant (22 Jan) – Around 90 Kaefer maintenance and repair contractors based at the Mossmorran Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) plant will resume strike action this week as part of an ongoing payment dispute. A 24 hour stoppage starts tomorrow (Tuesday 23 January) with a further round scheduled to start on Thursday (25 January) morning. There will then be further strikes next week and into February. Strike action took place between 27 November to 4 December last year in relation to the dispute. Picket lines will be held outside the Mossmorran plant from 07:00 on both mornings. The dispute centres on the contractor Kaefer not making a cost of living payment for 2023. Unite says its membership has been left with ‘no choice’ but to resume strike action. The union has taken aim at the operator Shell for the impasse stating it is refusing to support any negotiated deal with Kaefer at the Mossmorran plant read more
400 Unite members at bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis start two weeks of strikes (14 Jan) – Around 400 Unite members employed by Alexander Dennis will start a two week strike today (15 January) as part of a bitter pay dispute at the Falkirk based bus manufacturer. The strike action will continue until 29 January when the action will conclude. Unite represents coach builders and spray painters at the Camelon factory. The union’s members previously took two weeks of strike action between 4 to 17 December 2023… In December 2023 Alexander Dennis offered a penny-pinching additional 0.5 per cent on its original four per cent wage offer (4.5 per cent), and four per cent for 2024. The pay offer was emphatically rejected by the workforce read more
Long running Cardiff bin strike to extend into February (12 Jan) – Strike action by Unite members working within Cardiff council’s refuse and recycling department is being extended by a further four weeks. The current strike action which started on 28 December, was due to end on Thursday 25 January will now continue until Thursday 22 February. The fresh strike dates are in response to Cardiff council’s failure to make any progress in relation to Unite’s concerns on a number of local issues. The most prominent of these being the widespread bullying culture within the refuse and recycling department alongside the ingrained use of agency labour. Unite is concerned that Cardiff council are showing no desire to resolve the dispute, indeed the council leadership have disgracefully announced they intend to attack the annual leave accrual of striking workers read more
Drax canteen workers serve up more pay strikes (12 Jan) – Power station’s Baxter Storey food and drink facilities now at risk of ‘health hazard’. Strike action by Drax canteen workers employed by Baxter Storey has intensified, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Friday). The predominantly women workers began strike action in early December over poverty pay and a lack of union recognition. Since then, Baxter Storey has agreed to negotiate a voluntary recognition agreement and enter pay talks. The extremely profitable company’s offer of a one-off payment of £380, however, has been rejected as completely inadequate…The workers began their current round of industrial action on 8 January and will strike until 14 January. A further 14 days of strikes will begin on 22 January, with industrial action intensifying further if the dispute is not resolved read more
Bedford warehouse workers at Movianto head to picket line over trade union recognition (9 Jan) – Workers at Movianto, a specialised medical warehousing company in Bedford, are striking from Monday 8 January after their employer refused to recognise Unite for collective bargaining purposes. Over 85 Unite members have been campaigning for their union to be officially recognised but Movianto has strongly resisted such moves. Workers voted in favour of industrial action by nearly 80 per cent read more
300 craft workers resume strike action in dispute with ‘Scrooge’ West Lothian Council (15 Dec) – Unite demands overdue payments and COSLA pay rise. Unite the union confirmed today (Friday 15 December) around 300 craft members employed by West Lothian Council will take several rounds of strike action in an increasingly bitter dispute over money owed to the workforce. Strike action will take place on 19, 20 and 21 December followed by a further two days of action on 3 and 4 January 2024. The membership supported strike action by 96.3 per cent, and previously took strike action from 17 until 19 October. The dispute centres on the 2007 agreement covering craft workers employed by local authorities and outsourced workplaces who maintain council buildings and housing. The agreement covers a range of trades including joiners, plasterers, bricklayers, labourers, painters, and electricians. West Lothian Council, to date, has refused to apply arrangements that ensure pay progression for craft workers who have undertaken, and continue to undertake, additional tasks which they entitled to under the terms of the agreement. Industrial action will directly impact housing services and council buildings. Council house repairs will be significantly delayed, and empty houses will remain unfit to be let out read more
West London Christmas bus misery as strikes intensify (11 Dec) – RATP-owned London Transit workers anger worsened by ‘insulting’ new offer. Christmas bus strikes in West London will now begin a day earlier following an insulting new offer from RATP-owned London Transit, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Monday). Strikes by the 350 drivers and engineers will now begin on 21 December, as well as on 22 and 23 December, as previously scheduled. Industrial action will intensify if the dispute is not resolved. The workers are striking after they rejected a 6.8 per cent pay offer. This is a significant real terms pay cut as the real rate of inflation, (RPI), stood at 11.4 per cent when the pay increase was supposed to be applied in April. The dispute is also over the company’s attempt to reduce terms and conditions, including removing a longstanding £500 meal relief payment and attacking arrangements for how workers take days off in lieu. The company’s latest offer only included extremely minor changes that did not include an increase in hourly pay. Furthering bad feeling at the company is the fact that it takes workers seven years to reach the full rate of pay, even though at most other bus companies it only takes three years of service read more
Maintenance workers at Crawley Borough Council to strike over pay (7 Dec) – Unite members who maintain and repair social housing for Crawley borough council will begin strike action this month as they step up their battle for better pay and conditions, it was announced today (Thursday 8 December). Twenty plumbers, electricians, gas engineers, painters and other craftworkers who are employed by two subcontractors – Mears and Liberty Gas – are requesting a 10 per cent pay increase on their hourly rates to reflect the rate of inflation over the last year and the ongoing cost of living crisis. Instead Mears has merely offered a lump sum payment that equates to just a five per cent, one-off increase, which is even below the seven per cent National Joint Council (NJC) local council workers offer. Liberty Gas have made no pay offer at all. Liberty Gas also gives fewer holidays to its employees than the other contractors and Unite is calling for harmonisation for all contracted workers. Given the reluctance of the contractors or Crawley Borough Council to improve the offer, workers will head to the picket line on Wednesday 11 December 2023 and 8 January 2024 read more
Iceland warehouse workers to walk out as South West face store shortages (4 Dec) – Warehouse workers in Swindon announce strike dates – threat of empty shelves at supermarket. Warehouse staff in Wiltshire working on behalf of the Iceland supermarket chain have announced dates for strike action, it was revealed today. Unite members employed by the logistics contractor, GXO, work in the cold storage warehouses that supply Iceland supermarkets across the South West of England. The majority earn the minimum wage and have rejected a below-inflation two-year pay deal offered by GXO. Despite further negotiations by Unite, GXO has refused to offer a fair pay rise to workers who endure sub-zero temperatures throughout their shifts. Close to 150 Unite members across two sites in Swindon will now walk out on the following dates: 14 December – 18 December and then 27 December – 30 December. The industrial action will cripple GXO’s ability to transport stock to Iceland supermarkets and could see a shortage on shelves and freezers in the run-up to Christmas read more
Striking Haringey council workers protest at cabinet meeting (4 Dec) – Striking housing repair workers will stage a protest on 5 December during the Haringey council cabinet meeting tomorrow, ahead of renewed industrial action over pay later this month. Haringey council’s leadership is falsely claiming it is not possible to open pay talks as rates are agreed nationally. While the national bargaining agreement for local government sets out minimum standards, local authorities can agree better terms and conditions for workers if they wish. Unite has already agreed deals with a number of local authorities including three other London councils (Newham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets) this year…The workers began striking in November, with the next phase of industrial action beginning on 18 December and ending on 24 December. More strike action will be scheduled if the dispute is not resolved read more
Strikes impacting Christmas Amazon, Cadbury and Direct Wines deliveries to intensify (4 Dec) – DS Smith drivers delivering cardboard packaging striking over pay. Strikes by a fleet of DS Smith LGV drivers delivering packaging cardboard and paper to major retailers, including Amazon, have escalated to cover the entire Christmas period, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. The strikes will compromise the ability of DS Smith clients, which also include Direct Wines, Cadbury and Haribo, to package items for mail order delivery to customers during the festive season. The drivers, based in Launceston in Cornwall, Sittingbourne in Kent, Avonmouth in Bristol and Tuxford in Nottinghamshire, have rejected a five per cent pay offer. This is a significant real terms pay cut when the real rate of inflation, RPI, stood at 11.3 per cent when the pay rise should have been implemented in May. An initial seven days of strikes took place between 20 and 27 November. The next round of strike action begins on 11 December and lasts until 23 December read more
Warrington council loses High Court case against bin worker strikes (1 Dec) – Unite blasts Labour council for wasting taxpayers’ money as new strike dates confirmed. Warrington council has lost its High Court attempt to block industrial action by its refuse drivers. The council’s case was that the workers’ strike action was unlawful as the dispute was no longer about pay. The council tried to use the extra hurdles placed in the way of legitimate strike action by the Conservative’s Trade Union Act of 2016. The High Court ruling however confirmed that there was an “industrial reality” and the union had not, in seeking to find alternative and innovative ways to settle the dispute, breached the law. This means that the council workers who have been in dispute for many months have the right to continue their struggle to secure a fair pay settlement from their employer read more
CWU
Post Office workers offered 3.75% rise plus extra benefits (23 Feb) – Union recommends negotiated deal raising wages and improving annual leave arrangements. Around 1,500 CWU members working on Post Office Counters and in Supply Chain and Admin grades are being urged to vote YES to an agreement reached in talks between the CWU and management that will lift pay rates and introduce a range of other enhancements read more
Mass grievances lodged by Capita VMO2 and Tesco Mobile contract members as disputed 2023 pay deal goes to ACAS (23 Feb) – An increasingly bitter row with Capita over glaring irregularities in the application of the 2023 pay deal for VMO2 and Tesco Mobile contract members is now being escalated to ACAS in a last ditch attempt to prevent the disagreement spiralling into a full-blown dispute. This week’s (Wednesday’s) agreement between company and union negotiators to refer the issue to the independent arbitration and conciliation service comes in the wake of a remarkable outpouring of employee anger that has so far seen at least 50 individual and collective grievances lodged by members – plus an as yet unknown number of small claims court claims read more
Save Enniskillen EE (ex-BT) site – The EE Enniskillen call centre is a lifeline for our community. It’s closure threatens over 300 jobs, eroding the heart of our local economy. This is a community crisis. Local businesses, public services, and the Fermanagh economy stand on the brink of a devastating blow
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]
Support the strike at National Museums Liverpool:-
Email the chairman of the NML board about paying the £1500 (26 Feb) – Use our online template to ask Sir David Henshaw to make the £1500 cost-of-living payment to PCS members at National Museums Liverpool. PCS members working for the seven museums and galleries that make up National Museums Liverpool (NML) are currently on strike because their employer is refusing to pay them the £1500 cost-of-living payment that the government agreed to pay last year read more
Solid start to strike at National Museums Liverpool (19 Feb) – Saturday was the beginning of eight weeks of strike action, with a massive turnout on the picket line and high levels of public support. PCS members working for the seven museums and galleries that make up National Museums Liverpool started strike action on Saturday 17 February in their dispute with the employer of its refusal to pay staff a £1500 cost-of-living payment. The strike is planned to continue until 14 April. On the first day of the strike on Saturday, around 70 striking members were on the picket line outside the World Museum Liverpool, which was closed to the public because of the strike. Many were dressed in historic costumes to represent museum exhibits, including Greek gods, suffragettes and even a dinosaur. There was music, dancing, and a vibrant and positive feeling among the pickets, many of whom have never been on strike before. The pickets started outside the World Museum and then marched through Liverpool to the Museum of Liverpool at the Pier Head, led by a member dressed as Zeus, king of the Greek gods read more Visit the picket line on 17 February from 8:30-11am at World Museum, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN
Make us an offer we can accept, PCS tells government (22 Feb) – PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote has given the Cabinet Office a 5 March deadline to give guarantees on our national campaign demands or we enter into a trade dispute. In a letter sent to Alex Chisholm, UK Civil Service CEO, on Monday (19), Fran warned that PCS will not hesitate to take action should he fail to agree our demands on pay, pensions and job security read more
Why and how PCS is opposing minimum service levels (22 Feb) – How minimum service levels might affect PCS members and why the union is legally challenging these anti-strike restrictions. In the king’s speech on 7 November 2023, the Conservative government promised to rush through laws which would effectively criminalise strike action for thousands of our Home Office members, including border security staff in Border Force and workers in the Passport Office read more
EHRC issues guidance for employers on the Menopause (22 Feb) – The guidance says that employers must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for women going through menopause or face legal action read more
Fight the cuts to Welsh culture and heritage institutions (21 Feb) – You can help fight the massive cuts to Welsh heritage by joining a protest outside the Senedd in Cardiff on 27 February and signing an online petition read more
Big win for House of Commons security members (20 Feb) – Westminster security guards have won their long-running dispute in the House of Commons after bosses scrapped controversial plans to introduce a new shift pattern. More than 250 PCS members in the autumn voted to take strike action after being told to work extra night shifts to cover for a lack of staff. The strikes were suspended for talks with the employer, which have now concluded with the new shifts being changed read more
National campaign survey launches (20 Feb) – Look out for an email from PCS asking for your views on taking forward the national campaign which we are sending out today (20). The PCS national executive committee (NEC) met last week to discuss the details of our pay claim for 2024/2025 and how we will ensure that our demands are met read more
New strike dates announced at the Pensions Regulator (8 Feb) – PCS members will take 12 more days of strike action this month and next in pursuit of our national campaign and as they continue to fight for fair pay following the imposition of an unacceptable pay deal. PCS members at The Pensions Regulator (TPR) have taken more than seven weeks of strike action since 5 September, finishing their most recent round on 1 February. Due to the continued intransigence of The Pensions Regulator, their imposition of a 3% pay settlement and their refusal to engage further with PCS to resolve the dispute, we have notified management that members will take an additional 12 days of action. Members are angry because 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. The new dates will be 28 and 29 February and 1, 4, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, and 20 March read more
DVSA strike action suspended (6 Feb) – Following intensive talks with senior management at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency we have suspended our planned strike action which was due to take place from Thursday to Sunday (8-11 February). Following the negotiations which concluded yesterday, we are pleased to report that we have reached an improved proposal, presented as a full package, which meets the 8 demands PCS members were balloted on. These include members’ safety, terms and conditions and the standards of safety that driving tests require. Our members believe in the quality of the public service that they provide, that helps keep those using our roads as safe as possible. It is important to us that the integrity of that driving test, the safety of that driving test and of the service that we provide to the public is maintained. To allow us to fully consult members on these proposals, we have suspended the planned strike action. Members must now attend work on those dates. We will contact members shortly to outline the details of a consultative ballot on management’s proposals read more
Prospect
Prospect writes to Paymaster General about remit guidance (21 Feb) – Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy has written to Paymaster General John Glen MP about the scope of the forthcoming remit guidance for civil service pay read more
Prospect ballots members at Defence Equipment & Support on strike action (16 Feb) – Prospect union is balloting its members at Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), a Ministry of Defence (MoD) agency, on industrial action. The ballot comes after the employer failed to meet the union’s pay claim and imposed an unagreed pay offer for 2023/2024. Under the imposed pay offer, the majority of DE&S employees will receive a consolidated pay increase of 3.25% or less. Prospect is recommending that members vote yes to both strike action and action short of strike (ASOS) read more
Prospect moves to strike action over pay at AWE (10 Jan) – Prospect members at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) are moving to strike action after two months of action short of a strike have failed to produce any meaningful movement from the company read more
GMB
Asda Lowestoft faces strike vote (26 Feb) – Asda’s Lowestoft store faces a strike vote after workers said they were ready for industrial action. A consultative ballot of nearly 200 GMB members at the store showed almost 90 per cent were ready to strike, on a turnout of just under 80 per cent. GMB union will notify the company this week, with the strike vote likely to begin the week after read more
Translink strike suspended after new pay offer (26 Feb) – A planned 72 hour strike by Translink workers has been suspended. The move will allow union members to vote on a improved pay offer read more
NI education faces ‘further industrial action’ (21 Feb) – GMB Union has warned of further industrial action among school workers in Northern Ireland. The union, which represents more than 3,000classroom assistants, kitchen staff, bus drivers, cleaners, admin workers and others, met with Education Minister Paul Givan at Stormont today [Tuesday]. Mr Givan made it clear that within the current public sector pay budget of £684 million there was nothing to address the pay and grading review for school staff, which has been ongoing since 2018. GMB will now go back to members, with a view to taking further industrial action read more
Addison Lee drivers’ compo could be ‘tens of millions’ (20 Feb) – Addison Lee could be forced to pay drivers tens of millions of pounds. The private hire firm reached an out of court settlement with three drivers who were set to take them to the Employment Tribunal next month. Despite multiple courts ruling Addison Lee drivers were ‘workers’, rather than self-employed independent contractors, the company had refused to compensate drivers for lost wages and benefits. Addison Lee has now settled three claims, but more than six hundred other drivers have also lodged claims for compensation. GMB members have been waiting seven years for compensation, some have died while waiting while others have been diagnosed with terminal illness. The union estimates Addison Lee’s final compensation bill could run into eight figures.” Read more
Ofsted should meet striking social workers (21 Feb) – GMB Union made the call withsocial workers at Swindon Borough Council will walk out on 27 and 28 February following a ‘botched’ pay and re-grading review. On the same day, Ofsted inspectors are due to visit the council’s children’s services department following a failed inspection in July. In the wake of the inspection, the council developed an improvement plan, but the ‘botched’ review has undermined the plan and thrown the whole department into chaos. GMB has written to Ofsted advising the inspectors of concerns and asking them to meet the striking social workers read more
Greenwich workers to protest over unfair London weighting (21 Feb) – School support staff and council staff will stage a mass protest. School support staff and council staff will stage a mass protest outside a Royal Borough of Greenwich Council meeting tomorrow [Wednesday]. Workers are angry over the unfair allocation of London Weighting payments in the borough, which means school support staff and council employees receive outer London weighting – yet teachers, often working in the same schools, are paid the higher inner London weighting read more
Asda faces three more strike votes (15 Feb) – Asda workers will begin a strike vote at three more stores. Nearly 400 GMB members at the Wisbech, Brighton Hollingbury, and Brighton Marina stores will vote on whether to take industrial action. The votes follow the first ever strike of ASDA workers at the retailer’s Gosport store, where almost 100 GMB members walked out in protest at the ‘toxic’ working environment. The new ballots will run from 16 February until 5 March read more
Wiltshire Traffic Wardens Balloted For Further Strike Action To Mark Second Anniversary of GMB’s Longest Running Dispute (13 Feb) – GMB, the union for Wiltshire Council, has called a further strike ballot of traffic wardens opposing the removal of a 10% unsocial hours allowance, that would see each of them lose about £180 per month in take home pay. Social workers who provide the out of hours service are already planning a three-day strike, starting Friday 16th February, over a loss of a 20% allowance that will see them each lose from £500 to £750 per month read more
Brighton Refuse Workers Call For Meaningful Talks To Avoid Escalation Over ‘Service Delivery Issues’ (12 Feb) – Hard-working GMB members at City Clean are frustrated by management not dealing with issues. Brighton refuse workers have called for scheduled talks with the council over a series of service delivery issues affecting residents’ bin collections to be meaningful. A consultative ballot of GMB’s 119 members at the City Clean depot saw 95 per cent in favour of being balloted for industrial action over the changes read more
Dates announced as Amazon workers begin fresh wave of Industrial Action (8 Feb) – Fresh industrial chaos will hit the retail giant next week.
GMB union has today announced that workers at the company’s Coventry will down tools next week. Strike action will take place on Tuesday 13, Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 February with over 1000 workers expected to take part. This marks the first three days in a a fresh wave of industrial action after workers voted overwhelmingly to back an extension of strikes earlier this year. UK Amazon workers have now taken over 30 days of industrial action in their fight for £15 and union rights at the retail giant read more
Regent’s Park gardeners strike (31 Jan) – Regent’s Park gardeners are on strike over pay today. Workers, employed by private contractor Idverde, will walk on on Thursday 1 February for 24 hours in anger at the fact they received lower pay than gardeners at the other Royal Parks. Staff at Regent’s Park were handed the prestigious BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries) award for their work just last year read more
Wiltshire Social Workers announce 3 months of strike action (29 Jan) – Workers in the out of hours emergency service to strike every weekend until 19 May. Members of GMB, the union for Wiltshire Council, have today informed their employer that they will be taking strike action every weekend for three months. The dispute centres around a proposed pay cut by the council, which would see a contractual out-of-hours bonus removed, costing some staff up to 20 per cent of their annual salary. The strike is an escalation of a dispute by GMB members across the council which has been running for 2 years and has seen 11 days of strikes by traffic wardens read more
Defence manufacturing giant Rolls-Royce faces strike threat (23 Jan) – Rolls-Royce members working in the submarine sector will begin balloting for industrial action. The vote at the Derby-based company comes as workers rejected the latest offer in an ongoing dispute on pay. Rolls-Royce is a world leader in the field of submarine technology, as well as being the supplier to Britain’s domestic nuclear submarine fleet. In agreement with the company, any industrial action will not jeopardise the UK’s continuous at sea nuclear deterrent, safety of submarines or operational submarines at sea. Workers will begin balloting on Monday 29 January with a result expected after four weeks. GMB is Britain’s largest union in defence and nuclear manufacturing read more
South Tyneside faces third round of bin strikes (9 Jan) – Council needs to deal with bullying and release independent report. South Tyneside refuse workers will begin a third round of industrial action next week. Full strike action will be taken 9-12 January. Workers will put their concerns direct to councillors at the next full council meeting on 24 January read more
Northampton’s ‘jingle-smells’ festive bin strike suspended (20 Dec) – Last minute breakthrough saves Northampton from a stinky Christmas, says GMB. GMB Union has today announced that planned strike action by refuse workers in Northampton has been suspended. Around 80 refuse and street cleaning workers were expected to down tools between Christmas and new year, with an over time ban throughout the Christmas period. The news comes after a refuse workers voted to accept an offer to re-start stalled pay talks with refuse provider Veolia along with a Christmas bonus scheme for workers read more
Coventry care home faces strike disruption as union slams culture of ‘poverty pay’ (20 Dec) – Workers at Coventry’s Victoria Park care home begin strike vote this week, says GMB. GMB union has today announced that workers at Victoria Park care home in Coventry will begin balloting for strike action. The news comes after the union accused HC One of failing to listen to workers’ concerns. Workers are furious after a popular local care home manager was sacked from the home after raising safety concerns about the referral of hospital outpatients to Victoria Park. A recent UK wide survey of workers in HC One Care homes found that staff were feeling the pinch of poor working conditions, with 40% of staff considering leaving because they don’t earn enough to live. Around 20 workers at the home are expected to join the ballot which begins on Thursday 21 December with a result expected after 4 January read more
South Wales faces festive Flogas shortage (20 Dec) – GMB Union members at Flogas at Llandarcy have downed tools for two more weeks of strike action
The move by workers has led to shortages of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Liquid Nitrogen Gas (LNG) shortages during the festive period across South West Wales, GMB has said. This is the second batch of action as nearly 20 workers at gas giant’s depot in South Wales downed tools back in November. 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
Unison
Donate to support striking workers – As UNISON members continue to take strike action, the union is asking for donations to its strike fund
Understanding antisemitism and Islamophobia (27 Feb) – In light of the current conflict in Gaza, and what is happening domestically, UNISON and Hope not hate have produced a new guide read more
Barnet UNISON Mental Health social worker re-ballot results (23 Feb) – Our Barnet UNISON Mental Health social workers re-ballot results are now in. We had a 91% turn out with a 100% VOTE for strike action. Barnet UNISON Mental Health social workers have already taken 27 days of strike action which equates to approximately 4,050 lost contact days for Mental health service users in Barnet. Today UNISON submitted the results to the Barnet Council Chief Executive. UNISON has agreed to go into talks with Barnet Council and ACAS. UNISON have agreed a couple of dates in early March. UNISON has from the outset been prepared to negotiate to reach a resolution to what has become the longest running Mental Health social worker strike in UNISON’s history. Barnet UNISON has agreed a new strike timetable with our members which will begin in April in the unfortunate event that we are unable to reach a resolution. The strike timetable would be a significant increase in the number of strike days taken by the social workers so far:-
- From 15 April to 26 April 2024 (two weeks).
- From 13 May to 1 June 2024 (three weeks).
- From 17 June to 12 July 2024. (four weeks).
Our members are 100% behind UNISONs negotiating team and remain hopeful that a positive resolution can be secured to avoid any further strike action read more Send messages of support to [email protected]
The NHS workers in a Mitie fight for fair pay (23 Feb) – Company is refusing to pay a COVID bonus to the privately-employed NHS workers – despite being signed up to Agenda for Change read more
Hundreds of Mitie staff striking today at Dudley Group hospitals (23 Feb) – Staff demand NHS payment given to hundreds of thousands of other health workers. Around 300 of the lowest-paid staff working at hospitals in Dudley will take strike action today (Friday) over their employer’s refusal to pay them a lump sum worth at least £1,655 that has already been given to hundreds of thousands of people employed by the NHS, says UNISON. The health staff, who work at Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (DGFT) but are employed by private contractor Mitie, began their 24-hour walkout at 5am. Another strike lasting 24 hours is lined up for next Thursday (29 February) read more
Yoga instructors pose a strike problem for unbending council (16 Feb) – Together with colleagues teaching Pilates and aerobics, the instructors backed industrial action as Colchester City Council remains stubborn on pay. Yoga, Pilates and aerobics instructors employed by Colchester City Council are to take strike action later this month after nearly a decade without a pay rise, UNISON announced today. The fitness instructors will walk out for seven days from Wednesday 28 February until Tuesday 5 March read more
Teesside healthcare assistants to go on strike over pay (16 Feb) – Hundreds of healthcare assistants have voted to strike over pay. The workers at seven sites across two NHS trusts in Teesside will walk out over a dispute about staff not being paid enough for completing more complex duties than they are expected to. No strike dates have yet been set read more on BBC website
Save Hackney Children’s Centres Demo! – 5.30pm Wednesday 28th February outside Hackney Town Hall (speakers inclide Diane Abbott MP)
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
NICS pay offer 2023/24 (26 Feb) – NIPSA has now received a formal pay offer for the 2023/24 pay year read more
NIPSA health members will consider pay offer (26 Feb) – NIPSA, together with the other NI health trade unions, expect to receive a formal offer on pay from the Health Minister today. In line with the democratic processes of the union, the offer will then be put out to the branches to consider and see if they will accept the deal. However, NIPSA remains concerned about other issues in the health service, in relation to safe staffing and mileage allowances, that formed part of NIPSA’s ballot for industrial action. These issues, along with historic low pay, are part of the problem leading to recruitment and retention issues affecting the service and as yet, proper plans to address these are not in place. NIPSA members will therefore continue to engage in action short of strike and further planning for strike action will continue read more
Trade unions meet with THE Minister for Education (20 Feb) – See attached release providing an update on the Joint Negotiating Council for the Education Authority TUS meeting with the Education Minister, Paul Givan read more
Royal College of Nursing
Pay offer on the table for HSC staff in Northern Ireland (26 Feb) – The Department of Health and trade unions have concluded pay negotiations for HSC staff on Agenda for Change (AfC) terms and conditions, which includes nursing staff read more
Pay justice now: government must enhance nursing salaries to combat NHS staffing crisis (23 Feb) – We’re demanding a significant pay enhancement of ‘several thousand’ to stem the exodus of nursing staff, alongside a substantial above-inflation NHS pay rise 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
RCM
Long overdue pay offer finally arrives for midwives in Northern Ireland (26 Feb) – Months of waiting and campaigning, two days of strike action and a reformed Executive the RCM says has ‘finally’ resulted in a ‘long overdue’ pay offer for its members in Northern Ireland. The proposed pay offer would see the restoration of pay parity with England with an uplift of 5% and a one-off payment of £1,505 read more
CSP
Members urged to vote on Northern Ireland pay offer (26 Feb) – An offer on pay for Health and Social Care Northern Ireland staff will be put to CSP members following a breakthrough in talks read more
SOR
SoR welcomes NI pay offer, but it ‘doesn’t come close’ to addressing radiographers’ needs (26 Nov) – Health union negotiations in Northern Ireland have been met with a pay offer, but this will not address broader issues of ‘brain drain’ read more
Scottish NHS pay deal still awaiting government sign-off (5 Feb) – Agenda for Change trade unions and professional bodies reached agreement with government early last year, but delays continue read more
BMA
Donate to support striking junior doctors
Junior doctors strike for better pay in Wales (22 Feb) – Unacceptable pay offer forces overworked staff to walk out. Junior doctors who are striking in Wales this week have a strong sense of solidarity, even stronger resolve, but frustration runs deep. It’s not just Australia they’re competing with now, in their bid to retain colleagues: it’s England and other parts of the UK which are luring the workforce away, with the promise of better pay and conditions. The Welsh Government’s offer of a sub-inflationary 5 per cent last August was lower than any other offer made to junior doctors anywhere in the UK. That was hurtful but also damaging, according to junior doctors braving heavy rain at the demo outside University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff yesterday read more
Junior doctors in Northern Ireland vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike action (19 Feb) – Junior doctors in Northern Ireland have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action in their fight to restore 16 years of pay erosion. 97.6% of those balloted voted yes to a full 24-hour walkout that will take place in hospitals across Northern Ireland from 8am on 6 March 2024 to 8am on 7 March 2024 read more
Junior doctors in England announce new strike dates after Government rejects ‘gesture of goodwill’ by the BMA (9 Feb) – The BMA’s junior doctors committee (JDC) has announced further strike dates in England, from the 24th February to 28th February, after the Government failed to meet the deadline to put an improved pay offer on the table. In a show of goodwill, the BMA provided the Health Secretary with an option to delay further strike action. She was asked to extend the current strike mandate for a short period – and thus allow talks to continue with the aim to achieve a resolution for this year’s dispute. Disappointingly, she declined to agree to extending the mandate. However, the junior doctors committee believes the forthcoming strikes can still be called off if a credible offer is made read more
The future of SAS doctors is being voted on now, have your say – We’re urging any SAS doctors who aren’t already BMA members to join us before 23 February and have a say in what happens next read more
HCSA
HCSA junior doctors announce five-day strike in February (9 Feb) – Junior doctors from HCSA – the hospital doctors’ union will strike for five days across England in February in the latest step in their pay dispute. This follows the government’s ongoing failure to address pay erosion, which has seen junior doctors’ pay fall by more than a quarter since 2008. Junior doctors will walk out from 7am on Saturday 24th February until 7am on Thursday 29th February read more
NEU
Education unions launch petition to withdraw school year plans (23 Feb) – The education unions are asking their members to sign the Senedd petition. NEU Cymru, NASUWT Cymru, Unison Cymru, NAHT Cymru, UCAC and ASCL Cymru have come together today (22nd February) to launch a petition with the Senedd, to ask the Welsh Government to withdraw plans to change the structure of the school year – which could see weeks moved from the summer holidays to the autumn and summer terms read more
Please support the following strike action:-
Action Date Contact St Catherine’s School /Richmond Upon Thames (TPS) 27-29 February Susan O’ Connor [email protected] Chetham’s School of Music / Manchester (TPS) 27 February 29 February John Morgan [email protected] St Ursula’s Convent Secondary School / Greenwich (Victimisation of Rep) 27-29 February Tim Woodcock [email protected] |
NASUWT
Teachers at Chetham’s School of Music to strike over attempts to downgrade pensions (26 Feb) – Members of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester are starting the first five planned days of strike action tomorrow (Tuesday) over attempts to make teachers choose between their pension or their pay. Chethams, which is the UK’s largest specialist music school, is attempting to remove staff from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) and enrol them in an inferior Defined Contribution scheme. If teachers choose to remain in the TPS they must accept a reduced salary read more
Teachers working unpaid hours is daylight robbery, says NASUWT (23 Feb) – Responding to the TUC’s ONS data analysis that puts teachers as the profession who work the most unpaid overtime, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said: “The fact that teachers are losing out on average by £15,047 a year in unpaid overtime is nothing less than daylight robbery. The fact that teachers are at the top of the list of professions working unpaid overtime is yet further shameful evidence of the Government’s failure to invest properly in our schools and colleges read more
NAHT
Urgent action needed to tackle long hours and crushing workload among school staff says NAHT (23 Feb) – Responding to new research by the TUC to mark Work Your Proper Hours Day, which found that UK employees worked £26bn worth of unpaid overtime in the last year – with teachers top of the list, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Teachers and schools leaders are dedicated professionals who give so much of themselves to improving the life chances of children and young people. Increasingly, however, the line between hard work and truly crushing levels of workload has been crossed, with the government’s own research last year showing 50-60 hour working weeks are common…” read more
EIS
EIS FELA National Rally – Thursday 29th February outside Scottish Parliament 11am
Good Morning Scotland Interview on Violence and Aggression in our Classrooms (21 Feb) – EIS Assistant Secretary David Belsey spoke to Good Morning Scotland on 20th February 2024 to discuss violence and aggression in Scotland’s classrooms read more
Colleges’ vindictive threat against lecturers is a clear anti-trade union assault (15 Feb) – Colleges across Scotland are engaged in a clearly co-ordinated programme of intimidation against lecturers engaged in lawful industrial action, in a move that is set to further inflame a long-running dispute over pay and jobs. Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland – Further Education Lecturers’ Association (EIS-FELA) are currently engaged in Action Short of Strike (ASOS) in the dispute, following a successful statutory ballot, including a work to rule and the withholding of results read more
INTO
Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council PRESS RELEASE: NITC have positive engagement with Education Minister (13 Feb) – The leaders of the five teacher unions that make up the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC) met with Education Minister Paul Givan at Rathvarna Youth Resource Centre, Lisburn this morning. The meeting was constructive and among a range of issues discussed it has been agreed that talks in relation to a settlement of the long-awaited cost of living uplift for teachers and school leaders will begin in the next few days. In light of this positive development NITC have decided to put further strike dates agreed in the coming weeks on hold during these talks. The ongoing Action short of strike in schools will remain in place read more
UCU
NSSN sends solidarity to UCU and its members at Queen Mary University in London after security broke into the Queen Mary UCU office in order to remove posters expressing solidarity with Palestine. For developments, follow Queen Mary UCU on X/Twitter @qm_ucu
Aberdeen University staff overwhelmingly back industrial action in row over modern languages cuts and job losses (7 Feb) – Staff at the University of Aberdeen have today backed strikes in a dispute over plans to end single-honours degrees in modern languages and put 30 staff at risk of redundancy. In the ballot of UCU Scotland members, 80% of those who voted backed strike action on a turnout of 60%. On 30 November, the same day that the Scottish Government launched its Scottish languages bill, the university announced a consultation with proposals to end single honours degrees in French, Gaelic, German, and Spanish; to end both single and joint honours degrees; or to end all language degree programmes. At the time, amidst widespread criticism, UCU general secretary Jo Grady called the proposals ‘academic vandalism’ read more
Eight days of strike action begins today at London’s biggest college (16 Jan) – Staff at Capital City College Group (CCCG), London’s largest further education college group, begin eight days of strike action today in a long-running pay dispute. CCCG has campuses across London, including in Westminster, Camden and Enfield. Staff at CCCG have already taken three days of strike action in what began as a national dispute over low pay and poor working conditions. UCU has now settled disputes at 60 colleges with pay awards of up to 10%. The union said CCCG is an isolated employer and must look to other colleges and settle the dispute by making an acceptable offer read more
Strikes on tomorrow and Wednesday at five colleges across the North East (8 Jan) – UCU has confirmed staff at five colleges in Cleveland, Redcar and Stockton-on-Tees will strike tomorrow and Wednesday in a long-running dispute over low pay. The strikes are going ahead at Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy, and Redcar and Cleveland College after employer body the Education Training Collective (ETC) refused to make an improved offer on pay. Staff will be on picket lines on both days of strike action from 7.30am to 9.30am. Tomorrow’s picket line will be at Redcar and Cleveland College and Wednesday’s picket line will be at Stockton Riverside College. UCU members at the colleges have overwhelmingly rejected an offer of 3% for 22/23, and have also voted to reject a further offer of an additional 1% – which was only to be paid for three months of that financial year. Staff have already taken four days of strike action since November (2023), but ETC has responded by offering two “wellbeing days” and nothing on pay read more
UCU fighting fund: the link is here and donations to the fund are spent on supporting members involved in important disputes.
FBU
Firefighters’ union demands ‘action and justice’ in wake of Valencia cladding fire (24 Feb) – The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has called for ‘action and justice’ in the wake of a fire in a block of flats in Valencia. The fire, which was first reported on Thursday evening, has killed at least ten people. Initial indications are that flammable cladding played a key role in allowing the fire to spread quickly and dangerously read more
Fire Brigades Union challenges government’s changes to public sector pensions (20 Feb) – The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is challenging the government’s recent changes to public sector pensions. The changes, introduced by HM Treasury in 2019, meant that the costs of remedying the government’s own discrimination (proven by the courts) were to be passed on to public service pension scheme members. The hearing will take place over three days in the Court of Appeal starting on 20 February. Following the Hutton Report into public service pensions in 2011, the government introduced in the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 a Costs Control Mechanism for controlling the costs of public sector pensions (‘CCM’). Changes in certain costs of the new schemes attributable to personal circumstances of pension scheme members were to be measured and any consequential increase in cost to the pension scheme could then be passed on to scheme members in the form of increases to contributions and/or reduction in scheme benefits read more
POA
National Chair update January 2024 read more
Political News W/C 19th February read more
BFAWU
BFAWU statement on situation at Wetherspoons (20 Feb) – We are hearing reports that Wetherspoons staff are having their discounted food whilst on shift reduced from 50% to 20% and are ‘compensating’ the 30% additional costs with ‘a wider selection’ of products that they have access to anyway and doesn’t in our opinion constitute a wider selection at all. Whilst workers will still receive their 1 free meal on shift, reducing the discount on further purchases means many of them will now rely totally on that one free meal to get through their whole shift. They are unable to bring in their own food to heat up on their break allegedly due to cross contamination and allergen issues. It feels to us that this is purely a cost-saving exercise, which penalises low paid, precarious workers, stripping back benefits to the bare minimum rather than rewarding them for the work they do. We don’t think this is good enough, if Wetherspoons aren’t going to give staff facilities in which they can bring their own food in to heat it up, then they shouldn’t be taking away their ability to purchase discounted food and drink to supplement the one free meal they get on shift, even better pay them £15 an hour so they can afford to eat what they want to on their breaks! This is happening at a time when the company has returned to profitability and is making 40million in pretax profit, yet instead of using that profit to reward the staff who make it, is focusing on making it more expensive for its workers to afford food on shift. Work at Wetherspoons and not in the BFAWU? Join here – Join BFAWU today! Read more
Support the campaign to unionise Samworth Brothers – get organised, sign the petition read more
NUJ
Euros kick off and pre-election coverage set to be hit by STV strikes (27 Feb) – STV faces a summer of disruption as journalists working on STV News vote for industrial action over pay. Potential strike action could affect coverage of news events up to mid-September, including the opening Scotland match against Germany at the Euros and a possible Westminster spring election, as well as the lunchtime and evening news bulletins read more
Detention of Frenchie Mae Cumpio (26 Feb) – Ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion 408 urging the release of the Flipino journalist read more
NUJ calls for open court judicial hearings into unlawful journalists’ surveillance (26 Feb) – The union has strongly urged long-awaited hearings of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal into targeted covert surveillance of journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney by UK authorities, be held in open court read more
International Day for Palestinian Journalists (26 Feb) – On Monday 26 February join the special day to #SupportPalestinianJournalists read more
NUJ Statement on the resignation of Siún Ní Raghallaigh chair of RTÉ board (23 Feb) – The resignation and the circumstances surrounding her departure will be a further blow to the morale of staff. The last thing needed in RTÉ is another crisis, said Séamus Dooley, NUJ Irish Secretary read more
Equity
“No other industry will be gutted in the same way that ours will be” (22 Feb) –
Georgie Taylor, Chair, Equity Birmingham & West Midlands Branch on Birmingham City Council proposals for cuts to arts and culture funding read more
Musicians Union
An Update on Local Authority Budget Cuts in the Midlands (26 Feb) – We share a statement from the Midlands TUC Creative and Leisure Industries Committee on severe cultural budget cuts at Birmingham City Council, and a petition opposing 100% cuts to the cultural budget at Nottingham City Council read more
MU Lobbies Department for Communities for Increased Arts Funding in Northern Ireland (26 Feb) – We have written to the newly appointed minister for the Department for Communities to ask that he consider using some of the money for a restored Assembly to ensure that the arts and culture sector of Northern Ireland is supported to grow read more
Musicians’ Union Members in the Music Staff Reach Agreement with English National Opera (20 Feb) – This means that musicians in both the orchestra and music staff have reached agreements with English National Opera, and planned strike action in this dispute is cancelled read more
Community
Steelworkers’ union welcomes crucial recommendation from regulator to protect UK Steel (22 Feb) – Today the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) published its recommendation to extend the UK’s steel safeguarding measure for another two years. This measure protects the UK steel industry from surges of imported steel. A failure to extend this measure leaves the UK steel industry extremely vulnerable as both the United States and European Union are retaining their own protections. This would see cheap steel imports diverted from the US and EU markets to the UK market severely undercutting our domestic steel production read more
Community confirms intent to ballot for industrial action over Tata job cuts (16 Feb) – Senior Community officials have today passed a resolution to ballot for industrial action in response to the threat of job losses at Port Talbot and downstream Tata sites. The resolution, which was agreed at a meeting of 40 Community representatives from across the country today, gives the union the formal mandate to ballot its members on strike action. Community represents more steelworkers than any other union, including the vast majority of workers impacted by Tata’s decarbonisation plans read more
UVW
Harrods’ hospitality workers ready to strike for third time if 2024 pay promise not kept (16 Jan) – Following two UVW victorious disputes for workers’ tips in 2017 and a huge 25 percent wage increase in December 2021, Harrods’s hospitality workers are ready for a third strike if Harrods doesn’t keep its 2024 pay rise promise. The London luxury store has offered them a pay review with an increase by 1 April 2024, following moves by UVW bar and kitchen staff. A majority of workers and UVW members voted positively in December over their willingness to declare a third pay dispute read more
“They don’t treat us cleaners like human beings, they treat us like rats”: cleaners at the Department of Education poised to strike for a living wage (20 Dec) – Exhausted cleaners, struggling to pay for the basics, working at the Department for Education (DfE)’s Sanctuary Buildings are asking to be paid a living wage, equal sick pay and annual leave with civil service workers, appropriate staffing levels and union recognition. Cleaners at the department took three days of strike action over the summer as part of a mass strike by UVW members demanding dignity, equality and respect. The DfE cleaners, who are members of United Voices of the World (UVW), have given their bosses at ISS UK Limited (ISS), until 8 January 2024 to reply. If there’s no reply, members have instructed UVW to declare a dispute and issue a notice of intention to ballot for industrial action read more
IWGB
Find out more about the couriers’ strikes on the X/twitter of the IWGB Couriers’ branch @IWGB_CLB
SIPTU (Ireland)
SIPTU members express dismay at stream of RTE scandals (24 Feb) – SIPTU members employed in RTÉ have expressed dismay and shock at the continuing stream of scandalous revelations of mismanagement emerging at the national broadcaster read more
80% of transport workers suffering abuse at work (20 Feb) – SIPTU has launched the ‘Respect Transport Workers’ campaign to demand greater safeguards for staff on bus, rail and Luas networks following a survey by the Union that revealed more than 80% suffered regular incidents of abuse read more
Other news
Sign this petition: To the Right Honourable Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and The Right Honourable Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister – Make toxic landfills safe – Support ‘Zane’s Law’! Find out more about this campaign here
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
Hazards urgently need our support
Many workers were blacklisted because they raised complaints about health and safety or took on the role of a union safety rep. So when our blacklisting campaign was first starting back in 2009, Hazards magazine set up the Blacklist Blog on their website. Alongside our FaceBook page it is the go to online resource for what our campaign has achieved over the past 13 years. www.hazards.org/blacklistblog
Hazards is now in financial difficulty and needs the support of the union movement. Its major funding stream has vanished almost overnight. The magazine and the Hazards centres around the country need union branches or official unions to take out a regular subscription to keep the union movement’s flagship safety magazine in operation. If you or your union committee can afford it, please support Hazards:
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
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
(From NUJ website) NUJ condemns as abhorrent Iran’s “convictions” of 44 journalists working on Persian-language media outlets (22 Feb) – The union calls for action to be taken against Iran following revelations that the Tehran Revolutionary court in absentia tried the journalists on the charge of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” read more
Solidarity with the striking textile workers at Ozak in Turkey – read more on Twitter of Solidarity with the People of Turkey @spotturkey
Diary
2024
June
22 NSSN Conference 2024 – 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