The NSSN welcomes the Special TUC Congress this coming Saturday 9th December, called in response to the new Tory anti-union legislation – Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023.
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary and TUC President, said: “The Act is a blatant attempt to ban strikes and prevent workers defending their jobs, wages and conditions against the backdrop of Tory austerity and the cost-of-living crisis. It’s about protecting bosses against workers. The reality of the legislation is now becoming clear. In key sectors, employers will be able to issue work notices compelling a majority of employees to work even after a democratic vote for strike action. That’s effectively trying to outlaw strikes. It’s the biggest attack on workers’ rights in postwar Britain, and reminiscent of the oppressive restrictions that exist in dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. The FBU and other unions will not accept this attack on working people by this government led by multi-millionaires and which ruthlessly serves the interests of the billionaires and bosses. The TUC summit on Saturday 9 December could well mark the start of a campaign of non-compliance with this legislation, with workers striking in defiance of work notices. A campaign of non-cooperation backed by the TUC would represent the most significant act of defiance by unions since the 1970s when anti-worker legislation was defeated through mass defiance of the law. This could mean a wave of strikes next year, up to and during the next General Election.”
The NSSN is organising a lobby of the Special TUC Congress from 9am-10am this Saturday December 9th outside Congress House, 28, Great Russell Street, Camden WC1B 3LS. All welcome
NSSN Chair Rob Williams said: “This is a vital conference, which we welcome. We have been calling for it to be convened ever since the annual TUC Congress in September passed the motion that agreed what should be the basis for the fighting strategy the trade union movement and over 6 million workers need against the Tory Minimum Service Levels (MSL) anti-union legislation.
That motion stated that “Congress pledges 100% solidarity with any trade unions attacked under these MSL laws” and included to “support demonstrations and hold a national march opposing the legislation and calling for repeal of the anti-union laws” and “organise a Special Congress, size to be determined, to explore options for non-compliance and resistance.”
Therefore, the Special TUC Congress must be a real ‘Council of War’ – setting out concretely the mass collective action needed for ‘non-compliance and resistance’. That should start with the announcement of a mass national demonstration, linking together the fight for the right to strike with the Tory Cost of Living Squeeze, that has triggered the incredible strike wave of the last two years, the biggest level of workers’ action for over 3 decades.
But it should also agree the process of solidarity action if as a result of the Tory MSL legislation, any unions are fined, up to a £1million, or any workers are sacked.
This is a massive moment. Workers are showing on a daily basis that they are prepared to fight to protect their living standards. The response of the Tories is to attack our rights. But this is a weak and divided Tory Government, reeling from yet another crisis that has seen Braverman sacked, exposed for her and the Tories’ toxic divide and rule tactics. But if we fight together, we can defeat both these anti-union laws and Sunak’s Tory Government.”
The Congress should also demand that all employers, particularly those under the control of Labour, SNP, Plaid and Green parties, should refuse to issue work notices.
TSSA: Government ‘dereliction of duty’ over Minimum Service Levels says TSSA (5 Dec)
Community: Minimum Service Levels legislation (30 Nov)
MPs protest threat of anti-strike laws to PCS members (29 Nov)
Government should be investing in schools not banning strikes, says UNISON (28 Nov)
MSLs show government’s blatant contempt for teachers, says NASUWT (28 Nov)
NAHT: School leaders’ union comments on minimum service levels for schools (28 Nov)
PCS: Urge your MP to protest minimum service levels (27 Nov)
RCN fights for members’ freedom to strike (20 Nov)
NASUWT: Desperate Government seeks to repeal agency worker strike regulations (18 Nov)
Unison: Ministers should fix the country rather than reheat failed anti-union laws (16 Nov)
BMA contests strikes threaten patient safety claim (16 Nov)
Prospect: Minimum Service Levels Act is a mess and a highly partisan law (14 Nov)
GMB: Response to Minimum Service Levels announcement (9 Nov)
PCS condemns ‘reckless’ and ‘vindictive’ minimum service levels legislation (7 Nov)
New Tory anti-strike laws attack basic human rights, says RMT (6 Nov)
Minimum Service Levels – not workable or needed says TSSA (6 Nov)
Unison: Government’s desperate strike move won’t solve any NHS problems (6 Nov)
FBU: TUC backs campaign of non-compliance with new anti-strike laws (11 Sept)
The motion that was passed at September’s TUC Congress included:-
Congress calls on the next Labour government to immediately repeal MSLs, the Trade Union Act 2016 and take urgent steps to remove other anti-union laws.
Congress pledges 100% solidarity with any trade unions attacked under these MSL laws.
Congress agrees we must use all means necessary to defeat the unjust MSLs laws and calls on the General Council to proactively seek to:
- resist any further restrictive trade union legislation and demand:
- the repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016 and all other anti-trade union legislation;
- stronger rights for unions to access workplaces, win recognition, and establish collective bargaining rights; and
- the right for trade union members to vote online during industrial action ballots, and statutory elections for executive committees and general secretaries.
- build coalitions to campaign for non-compliance and against further restrictive trade union legislation;
- build an appropriate industrial response to defend workers’ right to strike;
- implement a campaign alongside others defending the fundamental rights of working people to resist MSLs;
- legally challenge the Minimum Service Levels (MSLs) legislation;
- coordinate demands from affiliates and call on employers, devolved governments, mayors, fire authorities, local authorities and other public bodies to refuse to implement the MSLs legislation and issue work notices and work with the trade union movement to render MSLs inoperable;
- support demonstrations and hold a national march opposing the legislation and calling for repeal of the anti-union laws;
- mobilise support for any affiliate seeking assistance, whose union and members are sanctioned for non-compliance;
- organise a Special Congress, size to be determined, to explore options for non-compliance and resistance.
Over 50 union branches and organisations and trades councils supported lobbying the TUC Congress in September. Send us details if your union also passes our model motion or the updated version below, and/or agreed to support our lobby of the TUC and we’ll include in this list
This is an updated version after TUC Congress:-
This (branch, committee, trades council etc)
· welcomes the TUC decision for a fighting strategy to oppose the Tories’ new anti-strike law, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, which will initially prevent nearly 6 million UK workers in health, education, transport, fire and rescue, and other public services from taking full industrial action;
· recognises the urgent need to build coalitions of non-compliance and against further extensions of the act by creating an appropriate industrial response to defend workers’ right to strike and protect any trade union attacked under this new law;
· supports the TUC call to coordinate demands on employers, devolved governments, mayors, fire authorities, local authorities, and other public bodies to refuse to issue ‘work notices’ under the act, which are discretionary and not mandatory, and will initiate and/or participate in national, local and regional demonstrations and lobbies of such employers in support of this demand.
Public Meetings & Events:
The Workers’ Committee JT Murphy pamphlet launch – Thursday 7 December
Strike Map and Manifesto Press have re-published the famous JT Murphy, The Workers’ Committee. This pamphlet outlines the first ever shop stewards’ movement in the country. The pamphlet will be launched at the People’s History Musuem on 7 December, starting at 7pm.
Book your ticket, which includes a copy of the pamphlet, here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-workers-committee-jt-murphy-pamphlet-launch-tickets-742181223017
Online Troublemakers at Work Meeting: Learning Lessons from the US Strike Wave – Thursday 7th December 7pm
Summer-autumn 2023 saw a strike wave in the USA involving Starbucks workers, healthcare workers, pilots, actors, writers, auto workers, and others. A major national strike of UPS parcel workers in the Teamsters was narrowly avoided. Some of the strikes, especially United Auto Workers’ strike against the “Big Three” car manufacturers, have been directly or indirectly linked to reform efforts within the unions, where networks of rank-and-file activists have come together to fight to transform their unions. Join this online discussion with US labour movement activists to discuss what we can learn from their strikes. Book your free place now via Zoom
Stop the attack on Gaza
Many NSSN supporters have joined marches and protests against the escalation of violence in the Middle East, particularly the daily bombardment on Gaza by the Israeli government
There are national and local protests taking place, including a national demonstration this Saturday 9th December 12noon Bank Junction London EC3V 3LA
See Stop the War website for info on protests
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, Equity, BMA, NUJ, UVW, GMB, SOR, RCM, RCN, IWGB, Prospect, INTO (Ireland), SIPTU (Ireland) and Mandate (Ireland)
NSSN news
For your diaries!! The 2024 NSSN Conference is on Saturday 22nd June – 11am Conway Hall, Holborn, London
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
RMT members accept RDG pay offer (30 Nov) – General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members have spoken in huge numbers to accept this unconditional pay offer and no compulsory redundancies until the end of 2024. “I want to congratulate them on their steadfastness in this long industrial campaign. We will be negotiating further with the train operators over reforms they want to see. And we will never shy away from vigorously defending our members terms and conditions, now or in the future. This campaign shows that sustained strike action and unity gets results and our members should be proud of the role they have played in securing this deal.” Read more
RMT calls for end to cuts as Tube crime soars (29 Nov) – TUBE union RMT today called for an end to austerity on the Tube as crime soars by nearly 60 per cent on London’s underground network. According to a Transport for London report crime has soared 56 per cent, fuelled by a massive increase in thefts and robberies of over 100 per cent read more
Third of ScotRail women workers say they have been sexually harassed (29 Nov) – RMT has found that 1 in 3 of its women members working for ScotRail have been sexually harassed in the course of their job. Over 80% of respondents revealed they had not reported the incident, with most saying they felt they would not be taken seriously. The shocking survey also revealed railway workers in Scotland face violence and many have witnessed women passengers being assaulted read more
Bus workers suspend strike action following new offer (21 Nov) – Stagecoach East Midlands workers at Mansfield and Worksop depots will be balloted on the new pay offer in a referendum. The union suspended the 48 hour strike action planned for 27 November after Stagecoach produced an offer which if accepted would take bus drivers wages to £15 an hour. It is worth 18.7% as part of a multi-year deal for all grades in the company with significant back pay and marks an improvement on previous offers made by the company. RMT is recommending acceptance of the offer and the referendum will close on November 30 read more
Tube strike ballot over pay begins today (21 Nov) – London Underground workers will start to receive ballot papers today asking them whether they want to take strike action over pay. RMT is unhappy at the latest pay offer from London Underground when Transport for London(TfL) has created a bonus pot of £13m for senior managers and the commissioner took an 11% pay rise in 2023. The union wants to see full staff travel facilities for all tube workers restored and has criticised bosses for freezing pay bands, saying it will create a two tier workforce. Tuesday 19th December is when the ballot will close read more
Video: Carlos Barros & Jared Wood – LU Pay Ballot 2023
Caledonian Sleeper staff ballot for strike action (30 Oct) – RMT members working on the Caledonian Sleeper service will be balloted from tomorrow (October 31) for strike action over insufficient staffing levels. The ballot for train hosts and train host team leader grades will open on October 31 and close 21 November. Union representatives have accused the company of causing adverse stress and anxiety to the workforce by refusing to crew passenger services adequately. Management has also failed to adhere to a dispute resolution agreement reached in 2019, putting a further strain on industrial relations. Workers will be asked if they want to take strike action and action short of strike, which would include no rest day working and an overtime ban read more
Royal Fleet Auxiliary opens ballot for strike action (11 Oct) – Seafarers at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) could take strike action later this year, the RMT has warned. On Wednesday a nine-week ballot will open after RMT members rejected a below inflation pay offer from RFA management. RFA have offered a one year deal of 4.5 percent which is unacceptable to RMT members. Over 500 RFA seafarers will now be balloted for strike action with the vote opening Wednesday 11 October read more
ASLEF
Industrial action begins on Friday (30 Dec) – Train drivers at 16 TOCs [train operating companies] begin a week of industrial action tomorrow [Friday 1 December] in a long-running dispute over pay. The action is likely to bring Britain’s railways to a standstill. Members will walk out at EMR and LNER on Saturday 2 December; at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern Thameslink, and WMT on Sunday 3 December; at C2C and Greater Anglia on Tuesday 5 December; at Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, SWR main line, SWR depot drivers, and Island Line on Wednesday 6 December; at CrossCountry and GWR on Thursday 7 December; and at Northern and TPT on Friday 8 December. All members will also refuse to work any overtime from Friday 1 to Saturday 9 December read more
TSSA
Government ‘dereliction of duty’ over Minimum Service Levels says TSSA (5 Dec) – Rail union TSSA has warned of a ‘dereliction of duty’ by the government over the implementation of minimum service levels (MSLs) for rail. The move comes after the Commons Transport Committee urged Ministers not to overlook the risks of MSL regulations. The Committee chair, Ian Stewart MP, pointed to ‘a risk of MSLs worsening worker-employer relations’, something which TSSA has long argued would be the result of MSLs. Stewart also said the legislation could make services less reliable in the event of a strike. The regulations, which would see a requirement of 40 per cent of normal timetables being run by train companies in the event of a strike, were recently rushed through Parliament read more
TSSA issues safety warning over Network Rail maintenance cuts (30 Nov) – Rail union TSSA has issued a warning about Network Rail’s drive to cut back on scheduled maintenance and some aspects of track renewal after a series of track defects in recent days. BBC South Transport Correspondent, Paul Clifton, took to Twitter/X to highlight three separate broken or cracked rails on the route from London Paddington to Didcot Parkway. Network Rail responded that ‘safety is our highest priority’ and ‘we don’t believe this is a trend problem’, adding that action had quickly been taken read more
London Underground set to become a muggers paradise (30 Nov) – Statistics show a worrying trend of crime on London Underground rising higher than pre-pandemic levels, despite ridership not being up to full capacity. Passengers are reporting a lack of confidence and in some cases unwillingness to travel on public transport. The report states that ‘32% of customers are worried about their personal safety while using the tube’. Transport staff are facing increased levels of violence read more
Unite
Support London Barts NHS strike – workers are out again this week on further action. Strike rally: Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel – 10.30am, Wednesday 6th December read more
500 Unite members accept Scottish Water improved pay offer (5 Dec) – Eight per cent basic pay increase secured for key public service workers. Unite the union can confirm that its 500-strong Scottish Water membership have given their emphatic backing to a new pay deal negotiated by the joint trade unions. The pay deal will see Scottish Water workers’ pay rise by eight per cent across the board. The increase will also be applied to all overtime, call out and standby rates worked since April 2023. There will be a further reduction in the working week to 35 hours without loss of pay to be implemented in November 2024. The wage deal was backed by 98 per cent of Unite members in a consultative ballot. Sharon Graham Unite general secretary said: “Let’s be clear this deal only came about through the determination of our members to fight for a better deal through strike action. “Unite is once again showing why we are leading the fight to improve the jobs, pay and conditions for workers.” Unite agreed to suspend its ongoing industrial action on 15 November in order to ballot its membership on the new pay offer proposed by the joint trade unions at the conciliation service Acas read more
New pay offer for Chivas Brothers workers on table (5 Dec) – Unite confirms industrial action suspended. Unite the union can confirm that Chivas Brothers has brought forward a new pay offer which will be put to Unite’s 500-strong membership in a consultative ballot. Last week, Unite confirmed a rolling programme of 24-hour stoppages across various Chivas Brothers facilities between Monday 11 to Thursday 14 December. The union’s membership supported taking strike action by an emphatic 91.2 per cent. All industrial action is suspended until the ballot process on the new pay offer is complete. Unite is the main union at the company representing workers at the Kilmalid, Dalmuir, Beith, Strathclyde Grain and Strathisla distilleries, and Dumbuck warehouse facility among others read more
Unite announces rolling Chivas Brothers strike action across Scotland (29 Nov)
Unite hails recognition agreement for Glasgow University caterers (5 Dec) – Unite, Scotland’s leading union, has negotiated a recognition agreement for its members employed by University of Glasgow Commercial. The agreement ensures Unite’s growing membership at University of Glasgow Commercial have collective trade union bargaining rights when it comes to pay and conditions read more
Meagre fall in food inflation offers little comfort to struggling shoppers (5 Dec) – Unite demands regulator action on profiteering food companies. Commenting on supermarket sales data from Kantar, showing food inflation has fallen slightly, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The meagre fall in food inflation offers little comfort to struggling shoppers. Food costs are still rising, just at a marginally slower rate…” read more
Translink workers plan further December strikes in pay dispute (4 Dec) – Transport workers left with no alternative after failure of secretary of state for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris to intervene and resolve pay dispute. Unions challenge secretary of state’s inaction to deliver pay increase given willingness to intervene on other issues. Workplace reps and officers from Unite, GMB and SIPTU met this morning to agree the next steps in their campaign to secure a cost of living pay increase. The workers have agreed a schedule of strike action with dates to be notified to the employer on Wednesday (December 6). The meeting of workplace reps follows the highly successful strike action by public transport workers last Friday [December 1st] which brought all bus and rail services in Northern Ireland to a standstill. The strikes are a direct result of Translink’s refusal to make a pay increase, a substantial real terms pay cut, with inflation (RPI) standing at 11 per cent, when the pay increase was due 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 during the Haringey council cabinet meeting tomorrow, ahead of renewed industrial action over pay later this month.
When: 18:00 hrs, Tuesday, 5 December 2023
Where: George Meehan House, 294 High Road, Wood Green, N22 8JZ
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
New union recognition for management at leading UK aerospace firm (4 Dec) – GKN Aerospace and Unite in recognition agreement for the first level of management grades at its largest UK site in Filton. Unite, Britain’s leading trade union, has agreed a new recognition agreement with leading UK aerospace firm GKN Aerospace for Team Leader management grades at the Filton site it was announced today (23 November 2023). The recognition agreement at GKN Aerospace Services Limited for the operations, logistics and facilities managers provides Unite with the sole recognition rights for these categories of workers. The agreement provides workers with collective bargaining rights so they can seek improvements to pay, as well as changes to terms and conditions with the full support of Unite. This is the first recognition agreement signed that covers management grades at GKN at any of their sites throughout the UK and was achieved after a hard-fought campaign that saw an agreement reached through ACAS negotiations. Around 70 employees will now be eligible for union recognition at Filton, who also have sites in the Isle of Wight, Luton, Portsmouth, Western Approach and the new Global Technology Centre in Bristol 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
No snacks at Drax as power station’s canteen staff strike (4 Dec) – Baxter Storey canteen workers employed at Drax strike over poverty pay. There are no snacks at Drax from today (Monday) as canteen workers employed by Baxter Storey at the power station take strike action. The strike action, which will last until 18 December, is over poverty pay and a lack of union recognition. Further strikes will be scheduled if the dispute is not resolved. The workers, who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, are paid the rate set by the Real Living Wage Foundation. Baxter Storey does not implement the official rate until six months after it has been announced by the foundation, however, leaving workers on poverty wages for half the year read more
Alexander Dennis workers start fortnight-long strike in pay dispute (4 Dec) – Hundreds of Unite members reject real terms wages cut. Around 400 Unite members based at Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) in Camelon, Falkirk, are starting a fortnight-long strike in an escalating dispute over pay. The strike action at ADL starts today (Monday 4 December) and ends on 17 December. Unite represents coach builders and spray painters at the Camelon factory. There will be pickets each day of the dispute at 91 Glasgow Road, Camelon, Falkirk and 9 Central Boulevard, Larbert from 8am – see notes to editor. The strike action follows the rejection of pay offers under five per cent for 2023, and 2024, which represents a real terms pay cut. Unite members demonstrated their frustration over the company’s failure to make a fair pay offer by recording an 81.3 per cent yes vote in favour of industrial action on a 72 per cent turnout 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
Scotland lighthouse workers agree wage offer settling troubled waters (1 Dec) – Significant wage increase for lowest paid of up to 15 per cent. Unite the union has confirmed that its Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) members have secured a significant pay rise. Around 40 Unite members including able seamen, base assistants, cooks and technicians have accepted by 100 per cent a wage offer from the NLB on a 98 per cent turnout read more
Unite secures significant pay victory for Go North East workers (1 Dec) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, has secured a significant pay award for Go North East workers it was announced today (Friday 1 December). Following a prolonged dispute and lengthy industrial action, Unite has secured a headline 11.2 per cent pay increase for drivers, engineers and administrators at Go North East. Unite members were balloted on the deal and accepted the offer read more
Unite craft workers accept improved COSLA pay offer (1 Dec) – Over 4,000 members set for increases up to 9.6 per cent. Unite the union has today (1 December) confirmed that its local government craft membership have voted to accept an improved pay offer from Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities). Craft workers will benefit from increases ranging between 5.5 per cent and up to 9.6 per cent. The deal secures for the lowest paid craft workers the highest pay increases with their annual salaries being improved by over £2,000. The deal was overwhelmingly accepted by 83 per cent of Unite members read more
Unite presents Port Talbot steel plan to ‘create jobs not cut them’ to Tata (30 Nov) – Union details plan at Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) today. Unite will present Tata officials with a workers plan for Port Talbot that will ‘create jobs not cut them’ on Friday (1 December). The plan, part of Unite’s Workers Plan for Steel that encompasses the entire UK steel industry, was detailed to members of Senedd Cymru during a committee meeting today read more
Unite holds fuel poverty protests across UK (30 Nov) – Energy 4 All campaign calls for basic energy guarantees and public ownership. Unite Community will hold demonstrations across the UK from Friday (1 December) to Monday (4 December) to demand government action to end fuel poverty. The demonstrations are part of the Energy 4 All Campaign, which includes other organisations, including Fuel Poverty Action read more
Unite members at Glasgow East Women’s Aid start strike action after major legal victory (30 Nov) – Five members dismissed awarded interim relief by employment tribunal. Unite can confirm that its Glasgow East Women’s Aid members will start strike action tomorrow (Friday 1 December) following a major legal victory secured on behalf of five dismissed workers. Unite members will begin the first stoppage tomorrow – the first of twenty one days in total – which will continue until 16 February 2024 (see notes to editor). Unite’s members at Glasgow East Women’s Aid emphatically supported strike action with a 100 per cent yes vote. In a major new development in the dispute, the union can further reveal that in partnership with Allan McDougall’s Solicitors, it has successfully secured ‘interim relief’ on behalf of five workers dismissed on 28 November read more
Legal 500 hit by demonstration after firing workers for union activities (29 Nov) – Campaign against Legal 500 launched after firm sacks workers on ‘bogus charges’. Protests have been held this week outside the Fleet Street offices in central London of legal reference publisher The Legal 500 after the company fired two workers organising for union recognition on ‘bogus charges’. The workers, who along with a number of their colleagues, have in their own time been organising staff to join Unite. They were called into meeting on 17 November. During the meeting, they were sacked on the spot by The Legal 500, part of the Legalease Group, for “underperformance”. Staff from The Legal 500 say this is an extremely rare occurrence that hasn’t happened in a number of years. Usually, workers found to be underperforming are given a warning and put on probation, but the company did not follow any kind of process when dismissing these employees. They were dismissed from their roles just four days after Unite contacted The Legal 500 to inform the company the union has the required number of members in its editorial department to apply for union recognition read more
UK taxpayer facing loss of £10.2 billion due to government fire sale of NatWest shares (29 Nov) – Exclusive analysis by Unite, the UK’s leading union, has revealed that the announcement in this week’s autumn statement that the UK government will sell off their remaining 38.6 per cent stake of NatWest, will result in a £10.2 billion (£18 billion in real terms) loss to UK taxpayers read more
Offshore Odfjell drillers strike pay deal (29 Nov) – TAQA installations dispute over after improvements to pay and conditions. Unite, Scotland’s leading offshore trade union, confirmed today (29 November) that over 80 Odfjell Technology Ltd drillers have settled a long-running dispute over pay and conditions on TAQA installations. A revised pay offer by the company was overwhelmingly accepted by 77 per cent of Unite’s drillers. The pay deal backdated to 1 June 2023 will increase basic salaries by eight per cent. A fixed contract payment worth around five per cent on top of basic monthly salaries will now be fully converted into the basic salary going forward. In effect, this equates to a 13 per cent increase being fully consolidated into pensions, overtime, and future pay increases. A 15 per cent retention bonus upon release from the TAQA contract was also negotiated as part of the pay deal read more
Unite hails recognition agreement for Sussex University hospitality staff (29 Nov) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, has negotiated a recognition agreement for its members employed by Chartwells Catering at the University of Sussex. The agreement ensures the union’s growing membership at Chartwells, who provide catering services across the university, have collective trade union bargaining rights when it comes to pay and conditions…The agreement initially covers around 75 workers, including waiting and kitchen staff read more
Unite brands mega-rich Barclays disgraceful as it announces pre-Christmas job losses (28 Nov) – Workers at Barclays face uncertainty following announcement of hundreds of staff cuts from across the UK business. Unite, the union representing staff across Barclays, has responded to the decision to cut 900 workers in the lead up to Christmas as “disgraceful” read more
Healthcare workers at NHS Trust to take strike action over “moneybags Mitie’s” failure to pay lump sum owed to them (28 Nov) – Mitie workers in three Dudley hospitals head to the picket line while the firm announces huge profits. Healthcare workers in the West Midlands are taking strike action over the failure of their employer to pay them the lump-sum payment they are owed, Unite announced today (27 November 2023). Around 60 members of the Unite trade union who are contracted to work for Mitie at three NHS hospitals in Dudley are to head to the picket line after Mitie failed to honour the government’s commitment to pay a lump sum (Covid) payment worth between £1,655 and £3,789. Meanwhile, in today’s half-year financial statement, Mitie have announced they are on track for profits of £190 million this financial year, with its chief executive Phil Bentley receiving a salary of £900,000. Yet the workers taking strike action earn as little as £11.45 per hour…Staff will now begin 17 days of strike action during December, January and February to bring pressure on Mitie and the Dudley NHS Trust to make the payment they are owed. Unite has a campaign for all workers across the NHS, regardless of contractual arrangements to be paid the lump sum payment. It was initially successful at the Yorkshire Ambulance trust in ensuring the payment was made, has secured the payment for workers other trusts and is pursuing other cases read more
Glasgow based Waukesha Bearings workforce set for strike action (27 Nov) – Unite members rejected pay offer linked to removing workplace benefits. Unite the union can confirm that over 80 manufacturing workers employed by Waukesha Bearings based in Polmadie, Glasgow, are set for strike action tomorrow (28 November) following the rejection of a pay offer. Unite’s members overwhelmingly rejected a 6.25 per cent increase that was conditional on the removal of the employer income protection sick scheme. Without the removal of the scheme, a 4.75 per cent offer tabled by the employer was also rejected on the basis it represented a real terms wage cut. The workforce are involved in the development and manufacturing of thrust and journal bearings and pads. The components are made mainly for the oil and gas, and defence sectors. The strike action at Waukesha Bearings will begin tomorrow at 00.01am and end at 23.59 pm on 30 November 2023 when the action concludes at 23.59 hours. A continuous overtime ban has been in place since 10 November. Unite members previously voted in favour of industrial action by 89 per cent on a 77 per cent turnout read more
Kaefer contractors at Mossmorran and St Fergus energy plants start week-long strike action (26 Nov) – Unite hits out at operator Shell amid multi-billion pound profit bonanza. Around 150 Kaefer maintenance and repair contractors based at the Mossmorran Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) and St Fergus energy plants started strike action today (Monday 27 November). The industrial action which ends on Monday 4 December also involves a continuous overtime ban for 12 weeks. Unite’s members returned a 75 per cent yes vote for strike action. Picket lines will be held outside both plants on the days of action – see notes to editor for further information. 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 option’ but to take strike action in response to Kaefer’s failure to make such a payment, and it is blaming the operator Shell for the stand-off. Shell PLC reported profits of £7.6bn for the first three months of the year, £3.9bn for the three months to the end of June, and profits of £5.1 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Profits at Shell rocketed to £32.2bn in 2022, double the previous year’s total read more
Unite announces strikes by Education Authority workers on Friday 1 December (23 Nov) – Industrial action by school support workers, including bus drivers, set to coincide with wider public transport strike. Unite the union has today notified the Education Authority of a further 24-hour strike by school support staff commencing at 00.01am on Friday 1 December. The strike action follows two days of industrial action last week and is timed to coincide with a strike by public transport workers on bus and rail services. The industrial action follows a ballot of Unite members which returned a 94 per cent majority for strikes in pursuit of a pay and grading review to help address the chronic issue of low pay among education support staff. The strike is likely to cause significant disruption to many schools given the concentration of Unite membership in school bus transport, catering, admin, cleaning, classroom assistants and other roles. The timing of the strike will mean that Unite members working as school bus drivers are taking strike action alongside Unite members in Ulsterbus, Citybus and the Glider who also provide school transport services. The strike is the latest development in Unite’s ongoing industrial dispute over the failure to deliver a 2018pay and grading review for education workers which was subsequently negotiated on the back of industrial action by Unite in 2022 read more
Hundreds of Oxfam workers to strike for first time in charity’s history (23 Nov) – Massive vote in favour of strikes impacting hundreds of Oxfam shops. Nearly 500 Oxfam GB workers are to strike for 17 days throughout December for the first time in the charity’s 81-year history, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Thursday). Low paid Oxfam staff, who work across the charity’s shops, offices and Oxford headquarters, are angry that average wages at Oxfam have been slashed by 21 per cent in real terms since 2018. This is despite the charity publicly condemning real-terms pay cuts by other employers. In contrast, Oxfam’s last reported cash reserves stood at £44.6 million in 2022. This is the highest they have been in at least five years and at the very top of the acceptable range the charity has for reserves, which is between £35 and £45 million. The workers voted by 83 per cent in favour of strike action in a ballot with an 82 per cent turnout. The vote came after they rejected a pay offer of £1,750 or six per cent (whichever is higher), plus a one-off taxed payment of £1,000 for the lowest earners. The charity has repeatedly refused to enter fresh negotiations. Unite also understands Oxfam is looking at undermining the strike by using unpaid volunteers, an astonishing move for a charity that says it supports labour rights, including the right to strike read more
New pay offer for 1,200 First Glasgow drivers on table (22 Nov) – Unite confirms industrial action suspended. Unite the union, today (Wednesday 22 November) confirmed that over 1,200 First Glasgow drivers have received an improved pay offer leading to the suspension of scheduled industrial action. The new pay offer was formally put to Unite this morning following a further round of talks held at the conciliation service Acas. Unite said that that the strike action scheduled to start on Friday 24 November continuing until Friday 1 December is now suspended to allow the membership to be balloted on the new offer. The bus drivers previously voted by 99 per cent in support of strike action on a turnout of 77 per cent read more
Biomedical scientists in East Lancashire to walk out over patient safety (22 Nov) – Staffing levels dangerously low in Blood Sciences Department putting patients at risk. Members of the Unite trade union working in the Blood Sciences Department at the East Lancashire Hospital Trust (ELHT) will take industrial action as a result of dangerously low staffing levels. Biomedical scientists at two hospitals (in Blackburn and Burnley) have been escalating their dispute with the ELHT since February this year. Having been promised an increase in staffing which has failed to materialise they will now take part in strike action on 12 separate occasions in November through to February 2024 read more
CHC Scotia workers across UK set for strike action in pay dispute (22 Nov) – Major offshore operators impacted by helicopter services company standstill. Unite the union can confirm that workers employed by helicopter services firm CHC Scotia are taking part in strike action today (Wednesday 22 November) as part of an escalating pay dispute. Unite represents over 60 workers at the Aberdeen airport based company which also has operations at Humberside and Norwich airports. Unite members across the three airports voted in favour of industrial action by 80.4 per cent on a 95 per cent turnout. The strike action at all three airports starts today with the rolling programme ending on 17 December at Aberdeen airport (see notes to editor). There is also a continuous overtime ban in effect from 00.01am on 29 November read more
Strike looms over Manchester’s social housing and public buildings (21 Nov) – Falling pay threatens to cause strike action across Manchester. Workers responsible for maintaining and repairing Manchester City Council’s social housing stock and public buildings are being balloted for strike action in a dispute over pay. 120 workers, employed by the outsourcer Equans, maintain social housing in the north of the city as well as the council’s public buildings. Equans has received a 9.7 per cent funding uplift on the contract from the city council but it is failing to share the uplift with workers to maximise its profits. The workers were transferred from the council’s previous contractor in 2021 and have been plagued by falling pay, bullying and harassment. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Equans has the funds to make a fair pay offer to its workers, its failure to do is all about greed not need. “Both Equans and the Labour-led council need to face facts, any prospect of yet another real terms pay cut is totally unacceptable. Our members have Unite’s complete support. The workers have been offered a seven per cent pay increase, which is a substantial real terms pay cut. The pay increase was due to come into effect from April, when RPI (the true inflation rate) stood at 11.4 per cent. Unite has been in negotiations with Equans since April and the strike ballot result is due on Tuesday 28 November read more
Royal Navy subs set for delays as Mersey shipyard workers vote to strike over pay (21 Nov) – Royal Navy Dreadnought submarines and Type 26 frigates built at Cammell Laird shipyard are set for delays after workers today [Monday 20 November 2023] voted to strike. More than 400 members of Unite and the GMB unions are ready to walk out in a dispute over pay and conditions. Workers include welders, pipefitters, electricians, fitters, labourers and cleaners as well as office staff voted to strike with a majority of 96 per cent in favour on a near 75 per cent turnout. They had been offered a pay increase of just 6 per cent – a real terms pay cut when inflation has been over ten per cent earlier this year. They are currently working on Dreadnought submarines and Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy. Any industrial action would see significant delays to the construction process. The action could also impact Seatruck, Stenna and Calmac ferries as well as support vessels for the oil and gas industry. Dates for strike action will be announced in due course read more
Luton braced for bus disruption as Centrebus drivers’ strike (17 Nov) – Drivers striking for pay parity as Luton Arriva pays £1.91 an hour more. Centrebus drivers in Luton are to take strike action over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Friday). The drivers are angry that they are paid £1.91 less an hour than their counterparts working for Arriva in Luton…The drivers, who are based at the Bilton Way Centrebus garage, will strike on 28 and 29 November. The industrial action will escalate if the dispute is not resolved read more
New pay offer for Scottish Water workers on table (16 Nov) – Unite confirms industrial action suspended. Unite the union can confirm that the joint trade unions and Scottish Water agreed late last night (Wednesday 15 November) to put a new pay offer to the workforce following a further round of talks held at the conciliation service Acas. As part of the negotiations, it was jointly agreed that the proposed new grading structure at Scottish Water would be decoupled from the 2023 pay offer. All parties agreed to enter into discussions on a new grading structure on the basis that it directly and fully involves the unions as part of long-standing collective bargaining processes. The new pay offer will be put to Unite’s 500-strong Scottish Water membership in a consultative ballot which opens on Friday 17 November and closes on Monday 4 December. All industrial action is suspended until the ballot process is complete read more
NHS Tayside estates workers escalate industrial action over ‘second class’ pay and conditions (15 Nov) – Workers to down tools for five days a week at major hospitals across Tayside as health board refuses independent review. Unite, Scotland’s leading trade union, can confirm that strike action by NHS Tayside estates workers will now escalate this week as part of a protracted dispute over jobs, pay and conditions. Strike action will begin today (Wednesday 15 November), and is in addition to the current two days scheduled on Thursday and Friday each week. The latest development increases the number of strike days to three per week – every week. Unite members are also withdrawing weekend cover. This means that the workers will not return to work until Monday 20 November at 08:00. The dispute centres on the failure of NHS Tayside to locally implement recognised national conditions for craft workers. Unite claims this is contributing to an ongoing underpayment of wages. The action involves around 60 estates workers including electricians, joiners, and plumbers read more
Warrington’s Own Buses on verge of strikes after worker dismissed for ‘union activities’ (14 Nov) – 83% of workers in favour of striking due to ‘bullying culture’ and ‘unjustified’ sacking. Warrington’s Own Buses are at risk of serious strike disruption due to the sacking of a union rep on ‘trumped up charges’ and the company’s ‘bullying culture’, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Tuesday). Unite believes the sacking was a targeted attack related to the worker’s legitimate trade union activities. In response, a consultative ballot was carried out that resulted in an 83 per cent vote in favour of strike action at the council owned company. The worker was sacked after his bus broke down because he took a picture of the vehicle’s undercarriage to show the fault more clearly to the engineer who had been called out. The company dismissed the worker for breaching health and safety rules as the engine was still running when he bent down to take the picture. This is despite the company admitting other workers had done similar things and not been sacked for them. During the worker’s appeal, the company then changed its reason for dismissing him. This time, the company claimed it was because it was believed that the worker, who had previously worked as a mechanic, would have tried to fix the fault himself if given the opportunity, although the worker did no such thing. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Warrington’s Own Buses’ trumped up charges are nonsensical and spurious. This is a barely disguised attempt to get rid of this worker for carrying out his legitimate trade union duties. Warrington’s Own Buses need to reinstate this worker immediately, otherwise this issue will be resolved through industrial and legal action. Unite never tolerates attacks on our workplace representatives and this worker has the full force of the union behind him.” Warrington’s Own Buses is wholly owned by Labour controlled Warrington borough council, which is already embroiled in a pay dispute with its refuse workers, who are currently on strike read more
SQA workers back strike action over pay (14 Nov) – Dispute at nation’s education qualifications body centres on ‘unacceptable’ pay offer. Unite the union can confirm today (14 November) that its members at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) have overwhelmingly voted to support strike action. Hundreds of members backed strike action by 72 per cent on an 80 per cent turnout. The union’s members work in all grades and job roles at the nation’s education qualifications body including administrators, managers, processors and researchers. The pay dispute centres on the SQA’s two-year pay offer for 2023 and 2024. For the majority of Unite’s members, the current SQA offer equates to no more than 5.75 per cent in 2023, and 3.15 per cent in 2024. Broader inflation (RPI) in contrast has varied between 8.9 and 13.8 per cent throughout 2023 read more
Greene King contractor not “pouring happiness” into the lives of workers (13 Nov) – Lorry drivers and warehouse staff working for GXO taking strike action over below-inflation pay offer. Members of the Unite trade union are to take part in a series of strikes after their employer tried to impose a real-terms pay cut. HGV drivers and warehouse workers at logistics giant GXO, based in Runcorn and contracted to the Greene King brewery, have been offered just a four per cent pay rise this year, despite inflation running at over nine per cent for much of the year. The workers will now be striking on three separate occasions in November and December. Workers at GXO deliver beer to Greene King pubs across the North West and up to the Lake District and Carlisle. Industrial action could see taps run dry in pubs leaving drinkers turning elsewhere for their pints in the run-up to Christmas. Strikes are to take place at the Runcorn warehouse on 23 November for 24 hours, followed by longer strikes on 30 November – 1 December and 6-8 December. More dates for industrial action will be announced if members don’t receive a fair pay offer read more
Imperial Logistics lorry strikes threaten Mini car production (9 Nov) – Imperial Logistics lorry strikes threaten Mini car production. Lorry drivers working at the Mini car plant in Oxford are to walk out over proposed changes to their pay and conditions. Members of the Unite union will begin a ban on all overtime beginning on 14 November and then take part in 14 days of strike action in November and December at the BMW Mini car plant in Oxfordshire, it was announced today (9 November). Strikes could be a threat to plant production at the famous Mini factory as LGV drivers are angry at the proposals to potentially cut pay by 20 per cent due to a reduction in working hours being introduced with new shift patterns or job cuts as an alternative. Imperial Logistics which runs the LGV operation at the plant, owned by BMW, has recently been taken over by DP World – the company responsible for sacking 800 P&O Ferry workers in 2022. They are seeking to change the shift patterns for LGV drivers and impose a 20 per cent cut in pay or cut jobs. Forty one drivers will now be heading to the picket line later this month unless Imperial, and their parent company, come back to the table and ensure no reduction in pay, no job losses, and no abuse of the banked hours scheme read more
Striking Cornwall GRS concrete mixer drivers protest at Nuneaton HQ (8 Nov) – Workers striking over low pay, union-busting and intimidation. Striking ready-mix concrete HGV drivers from Cornwall will hold a protest outside their employer GRS’ Nuneaton headquarters on Friday read more
West London bus chaos as 350 drivers and engineers strike (7 Nov) – RATP-owned London Transit workers angry at real terms pay cut. More than 350 West London bus drivers and engineers will begin six days of strike action over pay on Friday (10 November), Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Tuesday). The workers, who are employed by London Transit, which is owned by French-company RATP, 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 a how workers take days off in lieu. Increasing 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…The workers are based at the Westbourne Park Garage and the strikes will impact the 13, 23, 28, 218, 295, 414, 452 and N28 routes. Strikes will take place on 10 and 13 November and 1, 4, 22 and 23 December. The industrial action will escalate if the dispute is not resolved read more
West Midlands steel coil workers poverty pay strikes intensify (7 Nov) – ArcelorMittal workers angry at real terms pay cut while firm rakes in millions. Poverty pay strikes by West Midlands workers making steel products for the automotive and construction industries at the ArcelorMittal factory in Willenhall have intensified. The workers, who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, earn an average of £11.24 per hour, with some receiving just the national minimum wage. They have rejected a pay rise of seven per cent. This is a significant, real terms pay cut when the true rate of inflation, RPI, stood at 11.4 per cent when the rise was due to be implemented in April of this year. The low wages at the factory stand in stark contrast to the money being made by their employer. ArcelorMittal Distribution Solutions latest available financial returns show it had a turnover of £267.5 million and operating profits of £33.1 million in 2021. The workers have already taken 17 days of strike action since strikes began in September. Beginning today, they will strike for a further 11 days during November and a further four days in December. The current round of strike action will end on 8 December, however further strike action will be scheduled if the dispute is not resolved by then. ArcelorMittal is sending work to sister plants and competitor companies as a result of the strikes, with the large costs of diverting the work about to significantly increase as the dispute escalates…Strikes will take place on 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 17, 20, 23, 24, 28 and 29 November and 1, 4, 5 and 8 December read more
Thousands of engineering construction workers ready to strike after rejecting pay offer (6 Nov) – Strike ballot of over 3,000 oil refinery and power station engineers enlarged as dispute grows. Thousands of engineering construction workers are ready to strike after they rejected an ‘inadequate’ pay offer, with more set to be balloted, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Monday). The workers, who operate under the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI), last week voted by 86 per cent to reject a two year pay offer of 10 per cent for 2024 and five per cent for 2025. The offer, from the employers who negotiate the NAECI agreement with unions, does not go far enough to restore years of falling wages for engineering construction workers. Since the pandemic, pay for engineering construction workers has fallen by 20 per cent in real terms. During Covid, a pay freeze was imposed on the workers even though they provided essential services throughout the crisis. In January 2022, they received a two year pay deal of 2.5 per cent for 2022 and the same percentage increase for 2023 – even though inflation was soaring into double digits…Unite’s NAECI members carry out essential repair and maintenance at oil refineries, power stations and pharmaceutical and petro-chemical plants. Workers at Drax, Sellafield, Stanlow, Pembroke, Grangemouth, Teesside Sabic TIP and Runcorn Project Summer Vynova have already voted for strike action. Due to the strength of feeling amongst NAECI members, Unite is also preparing to ballot even more workers at other sites across the country to join any industrial action read more
Strathclyde university workers strike in pay dispute (6 Nov) – 400 Unite members walk out for five days. Unite the union has today (Monday 6 November) confirmed that around 400 members employed at the University of Strathclyde will take strike action over five days this week. The Strathclyde workers will strike from Monday 6 November until close of the working day on Friday 10 November as part of a UK wide pay dispute. Unite’s members involved in the pay dispute includes technicians, cleaners, security officers, and janitors. The vast majority of Unite’s members in higher education across Scotland have had a five-six per cent pay offer imposed on them by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) pay body. The pay imposition follows a derisory uplift of three per cent for the majority of members in 2022. Despite local negotiations with the University of Strathclyde to secure an improved pay deal, Unite confirmed that ‘insufficient progress’ has been made to avert the latest round of strike action. This follows previous rounds of strike action at the university on 13, 14, 15, 18 and 19 September, and 5 and 6 October read more
Vista Therm workers to commence new wave of industrial action tomorrow (5 Nov) – Strike action to recommence by the workforce at Vista Therm after Unite reballoted over management union-busting. Industrial action follows previous twelve-week strike for cost of living pay increase and union recognition. Unite the union has served notice on Vista Therm, a specialist glass manufacturer based at Silverwood Business Park, Craigavon that a new wave of industrial action by its members will commence with a 24-hour strike from 00.01am tomorrow, Monday [November 6th]. Workers will be establishing pickets outside the workplace from 7am to 8.30am in the morning and between 3pm and 4.30pm in the afternoon. The latest action occurs after the union’s membership voted with a 97 per cent majority for strike action over management union-busting activities. During the previous period of strike action, management dismissed two young workers and suspended another two, including a Unite shop steward. The Vista Therm workforce overwhelmingly comprises foreign nationals including a large majority of workers whose first language is Polish or Ukrainian. The industrial dispute represents a touchstone case for the wider exploitation of foreign national workers read more
Clyde shipyard type 26 Frigate contractors balloted over strike action (3 Nov) – CBL Cable Contractors in pay and conditions dispute. Unite, Scotland’s leading trade union, confirmed today (Friday 3 November) that over 30 members contracted to work on the new type 26 Frigate on the Clyde are being balloted for strike action in a dispute over pay and conditions. The Unite members including electricians, labourers and cable hands are employed by CBL Cable Contractors Limited based at BAE Systems on the Clyde. The contractors are demanding to be paid the BAE Systems yard rate, or an additional £1 per hour on top of the current rates of pay. The dispute also relates to travel related payments which Unite’s members are due as the BAE workplace falls under the scope of the Joint Industry Board Agreement. The agreement sets the standards for employment, grading and apprentice training in the electrical contracting industry. This includes travel time and the use of a personal vehicle to travel to work which entitles workers to a mileage allowance. The industrial action ballot opens on 7 November and closes on 20 November. If the ballot is successful then strike action could take place from early December read more
Unite calls for immediate investigation into potential illegal use of agency workers designed to break Cardiff strike (27 Oct) – Unite the union is calling for an immediate investigation by Cardiff Council into the potential use of agency workers to undermine the current strike action by Unite within the local authority. Unite has found evidence that employment agencies may be supplying labour and advertising positions, to cover work that would normally be undertaken by workers currently on strike. The use of “scab” agency labour to undermine strikes is a criminal offence and carries with it large fines and other punishments, not only for the employment agencies concerned but also Cardiff Council itself read more
DuPont Teijin Films workers to resume strike action as Unite warns to disruption ‘last months’ (26 Oct) – Dumfries based plant to be hit by further stoppages in escalating pay dispute. Unite the union can confirm today (Thursday 26 October) that it has served notice on a further round of stoppages to hit the Dumfries based DuPont Teijin Films (DTF) plant. A new round of strike action involving around 100 members of Unite covering all shifts at the plant will start tomorrow on 27 October and conclude on 5 November (see notes to editor). The trade union has warned that unless DTF get back round the negotiating table with a ‘serious offer’ then disruption at the plant could last for months. Unite has accused DTF management of by-passing the agreed collective bargaining procedures, and the workforce’s trade union representatives, to impose a 3.3 per cent wage offer in April. The broader rate of inflation (RPI) hit 11.4 per cent at the time of the pay offer. DTF is a major supplier of polyester films for electrical, medical, photo, print and photovoltaic uses to UK supermarkets, as well as institutional catering for hospitals, schools and home-meals for the elderly…The new wave of strike action follows the stoppages taking place on 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 September. A continuous overtime ban has also been in place since July read more
Winter of industrial action looms over Coventry after refuse workers vote for action (25 Oct) – Winter of industrial action looms over Coventry after refuse workers vote for action. Loaders who empty bins during heatwaves and hailstorms vote for action by a margin of 74%. Coventry Council refuse workers employed as loaders have overwhelmingly voted for strike action and action short of a strike. Coventry council is attempting to impose significant cuts to the workers’ terms and conditions. More than 40 HGV refuse lorry drivers employed by Labour-controlled Coventry council have already voted for strike action read more
Klarius Stoke-on-Trent strikes intensifies after inadequate sick pay offer rejected (23 Oct) – Workers angry over ‘disgraceful’ fire and rehire sick pay threats. Striking Stoke-on-Trent workers employed by Klarius Products have rejected an inadequate sick pay offer from the company and will intensify their strike action, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Monday). The workers began a series of strikes in September in response to the company’s threats to fire and rehire them in order to drastically reduce sick pay for some of its most long serving and loyal workforce. The problems at the company are a result of the creation of a two-tier workforce. Workers on the traditional contracts receive a very fair company sick pay scheme, while workers on the inferior, newer contracts only receive statutory sick pay (SSP). Klarius’ solution is to introduce a new sick pay scheme, but it would result in many workers experiencing sizeable cuts in their entitlement. The workers have since rejected an offer from the company that would have seen their sick pay reduced over three years to just two weeks from five. This is not acceptable to Unite’s membership as they have sacrificed terms and conditions in previous years in order to retain the original sick pay scheme…The workers have taken 16 days of strike action since 12 September. They will now strike Monday through to Friday every week from 6 November to 1 December read more
Unite ballots Oceaneering workers in escalating pay dispute (16 Oct) – Rosyth based company pay offer overwhelmingly rejected. Unite, Scotland’s leading trade union, confirmed that around 90 workers will be balloted on strike action in an escalating pay dispute with the Port of Rosyth based company Oceaneering. Oceaneering International Services Limited has made a 6 per cent pay offer plus a one-off payment which by 84 per cent has been overwhelmingly rejected by the workers. The pay offer rejection follows the workers having received a 1 per cent increase in 2022 which represented a massive real terms pay cut with inflation rocketing to hit 14 per cent last year…The ballot opens on 18 October and closes on 8 November read more
240 craft workers to strike in dispute with West Lothian council (16 Oct) – Unite demands overdue pay. Unite the union confirmed today (Monday 16 October) around 240 craft members employed by West Lothian council will take strike action in a dispute over money-owed to the workforce. Strike action will start tomorrow at 08.00 (17 October) until 19 October when the action stops at 16.30. The members previously supported strike action by 96.3 per cent. The dispute is due to the failure of West Lothian council to pay craft workers carrying out additional tasks under the terms of the existing craft agreement. The workforce includes joiners, plumbers, electricians, plasterers, bricklayers, skilled labourers, blacksmiths, and heating engineers read more
UK Packaging Awards in London hit by Cepac ‘fire and rehire’ protest (12 Oct) – Unite demands Darlington-firm Cepac nominations rescinded over shocking dismissal of workers. A demonstration will be held outside of the UK Packaging Awards in London this evening (Thursday 12 October), over nominee Cepac’s attempts to fire and rehire workers striking over pay. The workers, who are based at the company’s Darlington factory, have been on strike over pay and the slashing of terms and conditions since Monday 14 August, with industrial action set to last until 6 November. Rather than enter into negotiations, Cepac threatened headcount reductions and fire and rehire for the remaining workers. On 6 October, the company issued redundancy notices for the striking workers with the intention of making them sign new inferior contracts read more
Strikes to go ahead at Cambridge University (11 Oct) – Facilities, library and IT staff to walk out over lack of improved pay offer. Essential workers at Cambridge University are to strike after the university cut their pay in real terms. The university, one of the world’s most prestigious institutes of learning, is only offering between a five and six per cent increase. With RPI currently sitting at nine per cent that represents a real terms pay cut of at least three per cent. Unite’s members are demanding above-inflation rises to cope with the cost of living crisis in one of the most expensive parts of the UK outside London. Over 450 members working in the university library, the department of engineering, estate management, the Fitzwilliam Museum, information services and many other departments are to take strike action, likely resulting in building closures and repairs not taking place. Strikes will take place on four days: 24, 26 October and 1, 7 November read more
Workers launch campaign against low pay and zero hours at Greenwich Leisure Limited (10 Oct) – Workers in Bromley have voted for strike action by a margin of 86%. The controversial social enterprise Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) is back in the spotlight after workers at Bromley libraries voted for a campaign of industrial action. The workers are fighting against a race to the bottom in local government by campaigning for better pay and an end to zero hours. The workers in Bromley voted for strike action by a margin of 86 per cent and Unite representatives will be meeting in the coming week to agree strike dates. GLL has a window of opportunity to avoid strike action read more
Industrial action brewing across 21 UK ports (6 Oct) – Unite, Britain’s leading union, is warning Associated British Ports (ABP) that strike action could be brewing across its 21 ports which handle around a quarter of the UK’s seaborne trade. Unite has lodged a dispute concerning maritime pilots who safely navigate ships in and out of the UK’s waterways and ports. Ships cannot leave or enter the UK’s ports without these skilled workers. Last July without any consultation, which is required under health and safety legislation and Unite’s recognition agreement, ABP introduced increased medical standards. Unite has no objection to improving standards but there has been no negotiations and no detail about how these medical tests will be done or what happens if a member fails. This is a serious concern as ultimately members’ jobs could be at stake. The main bulk of Unite members are in South Wales (Swansea, Port Talbot, Barry, Cardiff and Newport), Southampton and the Humber (Port of Hull and Immingham) although the dispute could be wider and impact all 21 ports operated by ABP read more
PPG automotive paint workers in Suffolk head to picket line over low pay (5 Oct) – Stowmarket manufacturer offering real-terms pay cut will see workers walk out. Workers at the Suffolk factory of international paint manufacturer PPG Industries are to strike over pay, Unite the union announced today (5 October). Over 200 members of Unite, Britain’s leading trade union, have voted for industrial action over the low pay offer made by PPG. The employer has made an offer of just five per cent, but with inflation currently at 9.1 per cent this represents a real-terms pay cut for workers. PPG Industries is a worldwide paint and coatings conglomerate and the Stowmarket factory has many high-profile customers that include the Williams Formula One team, Lamborghini and Lotus…Strike dates are yet to be confirmed but are likely to be throughout the autumn read more
Unite announces escalation in A.G. Barr strike action (4 Oct) – Soft drinks giant pre-tax profits up 12.6 % to £27.8 million over first 6 months of 2023. Unite, the UK’s leading union, has today (4 October) announced an escalation in strike action as part of a long-running pay dispute with the soft drinks giant A.G. Barr. Unite represents truck and shunter drivers who are essential to the supply of the company’s world-renowned products including Irn-Bru – one of the nation’s most popular soft drinks. Unite’s members have overwhelmingly rejected the company’s five per cent pay offer for 2023. Unite can confirm that talks are scheduled with A.G. Barr tomorrow (Thursday 5 October) through the auspices of the conciliation service Acas in a bid to make a breakthrough in the pay dispute. If there is no breakthrough in these discussions, Unite has stated that its members will participate in further stoppages on 13 and 16 October, and then from 20 to 30 October. The workers are already scheduled to resume strike action from midnight on Friday (6 October) read more
Mitie healthcare workers in Dudley balloted over refusal to pay lump-sum (4 Oct) – Staff who work for NHS outsourcing company denied money owed to them. Unite, Britain’s leading trade union, announced today (4 October) that it is balloting its membership at NHS outsourcing company, Mitie, in its campaign to get the company to pay its workers the lump sum payment they are owed. Many of the Mitie workers were previously in the NHS and were transferred across and promised the same pay and conditions. But the “COVID payment” lump sum of up to £1,600 that NHS workers received as part of the NHS pay award this year has not been paid by Mitie to its workforce. Mitie’s staff work alongside the NHS workforce in the Dudley group of hospitals in the West Midlands…The Mitie staff work across three hospitals, Russell Hall, Corbett and Dudley Guest, and perform vital estate management services…Other private sector outsourcing companies including Equans and Skanska have paid their health workers the lump sum payment and Unite is fighting to get Mitie to do the same. 70 Mitie workers are being balloted. The ballot opens on 9 October and runs until 23 October. If the ballot is successful, industrial action is likely to take place from next month read more
NHS Confederation workers to strike over pay (3 Oct) – Unite members in London and Leeds to take industrial action after poor pay offer. Staff at the NHS Confederation, the membership body for organisations that commission and provide NHS services, are set to take industrial action over cuts to pay. Unite, Britain’s leading trade union, announced that its NHS Confederation staff members will walk out on Thursday 5 October. They work in policy, communications, managerial and administrative roles within the organisation. The strike, the first in the Confed’s history, coincides with a meeting of the organisation’s Board of Trustees. Following the introduction of a new pay structure which saw one-in-five staff hit by a take-home pay cut and opportunities for pay progression curtailed, Unite members will head to the picket line as part of a campaign to reinstate staff pay and progression opportunities. Nearly 90 per cent of members taking part in the ballot voted to take strike action. A Unite survey of all staff, before the pay cut was imposed, found 60 per cent already said they were struggling with the cost of living read more
CWU
Serving our members – strengthening & growing the CWU (5 Dec) – Some 13,000 of our members work in BT’s EE, former BT Consumer, Retail and Business divisions, supporting and assisting customers all over the UK, and there has been a recent surge in CWU membership, particularly since the further consolidation of the 2019 BT Group/ EE merger/acquisition read more
Working 999 – helping people for a living (4 Dec) – For the first of what will be a series of different workplace feature articles, we visited and spoke with some of our BT 999 call-centre members at work. If you’re ever unfortunate enough to have to call 999, it will be a CWU-grade worker from one of seven BT sites in the UK who will pick up the phone and say: “Emergency, which service?” Trained to deal promptly, efficiently and sensitively with people in all manner of distress, around 1,000 work in this role across all regions of the UK, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, 365 days a year read more
PCS
You can show your support to the strikes by PCS members by:
- Making donations to the PCS Fighting Fund Levy account, sort code: 60-83-01, account no. 20331490
- Sending solidarity messages to [email protected]
PCS wins big in Whitehall for ISS facilities management staff (5 Dec) – PCS members at three government departments have voted to accept a much improved offer on pay, terms and conditions. After 34 days of strike action PCS members employed by outsourcing giant ISS have agreed a deal that will see their pay rise above the Living Wage Foundation’s rates and secure them further gains on full pay sick absence and other vital terms, closing the gap between them and the civil service. The deal, which will be backdated to 1 March 2023, continues to build on the previous successes from this group of workers, breaking the industry standard of statutory minimum terms and conditions for hundreds of workers read more
ISS members demonstrate the power of solidarity (28 Nov)
DWP boss receives devastating dossier: staff and services at breaking point (5 Dec) – PCS officials handed over a dossier at DWP HQ today (Tuesday 5 December), detailing the near collapse of benefit services and deliberate neglect of the most marginalised in society. The dossier, which contains 50 testimonials of PCS members working in DWP, was handed to the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions, Peter Schofield, at London HQ Caxton House. It is a representative sample of over 250 pieces of anecdotal evidence collected last month. While workers speak of their passion for public service, it is impossible to ignore the context of dire mismanagement read more
PCS calls for urgent meeting with DWP over staffing crisis (4 Dec) – PCS officials have written to DWP bosses, urgently requesting a meeting to discuss the department’s staffing crisis which is severely impacting workers’ mental health and vital services read more
DWP Staffing campaign update – members’ meeting – We will be holding a meeting for all members in the DWP on Wednesday 6 December at 6pm to discuss the DWP Staffing Campaign and the launch of the members’ testimonies dossier read more
Payday fury as TPR imposes unacceptable pay offer (29 Nov) – PCS members at The Pensions Regulator are furious as the employer is imposing an insulting pay offer on this month’s payday (30 November). PCS members working for The Pensions Regulator (TPR) are currently on strike after being offered just a 3% pay rise and seeing this effort by management to impose an unacceptable pay offer. The over 300 PCS members working for TPR are on strike again today (29) and tomorrow (30 November), as well as on 6, 7, 8, 12, 13 and 14 December. This comes after 11 days of action in October and seven days already in November, building on the strike action already taken between 5 and 18 September in pursuit of our national campaign demands. The branch – which has increased PCS membership by 135% since these actions began in September – is calling for a massive show of solidarity on the picket line on payday (30 November) read more
Replacement ballots available for ballot in Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (24 Nov) – DVSA members, who can request replacement ballots through PCS digital until 8pm on 29 November, tell us why they will be voting yes. More than 1900 members working for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) across England, Wales and Scotland are being balloted from 16 November until noon on 13 December for strike action in a dispute over an attempt by management to erode their terms and conditions. They are being asked if they are willing to take industrial action in response to the driver services recovery programme. This is an attempt by the DVSA, whose staff carry out driving tests and approve people to be driving instructors, to recover backlogs to a national average of 7 weeks by 31 March 2024. As part of this recovery programme, the DVSA has imposed mass changes to members’ terms and conditions read more
OCS security strike leads to pay talks (31Oct) – PCS members show once again, that building strong workplace union organisation is the best way for workers to improve their pay and conditions. PCS members employed by OCS on the Courts and Tribunal Service contract forced closures and disruptions to courts during a four-day strike over pay. Security officers in 149 courts across England and Wales took strike action on the 22, 25, 27 and 29 September after receiving a below inflation pay offer that would increase their pay by just 38p above the National Living Wage of £10.42. The strike saw hundreds of PCS members form lively picket lines in sixteen locations, including Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Yorkshire, Birmingham and Brighton. The action led to a large number of court cases being cancelled or disrupted and courts were forced to operate with inadequate staffing levels or used contingency labour. The strongly supported collective action taken by PCS members has forced further talks with OCS to attempt to settle the dispute read more
HMRC Inland Pre-Clearance: Industrial action ballot result (11 Oct) – Inland Pre-Clearance members meet the legal threshold and vote overwhelmingly for action. PCS continues to hold talks with HMRC and will keep members informed read more
Prospect
Prospect writes to Environment Secretary: Capita sale of Fera stake (4 Dec) – Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy has written to the environment secretary Steve Barclay following the news that Capita has agreed to sell its stake in Fera Science Ltd read more
Prospect announces commencement of industrial action at AWE (30 Nov) – Prospect members at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay, having voted strongly in favour of the measure. Action short of a strike commenced on 13 November and includes members working to rule, working to contract, and withdrawing from voluntary roles. The timing of any possible strike action will be decided in due course read more
Prospect ballots Pilots at NHV Helicopters UK on industrial action over pay (10 Nov) – Prospect is currently balloting its pilot members on industrial action over pay at NHV Helicopters UK Ltd. Operating out of bases in Aberdeen, Blackpool, and Norwich, NHV UK supports the transport of crews and loads to and from Oil and Gas platforms across the North and Irish Sea. The ballot opened for Pilots at all bases last week and comes after NHV failed to make an acceptable pay offer despite months of negotiations and attempts at resolution through the ACAS conciliation service read more
FDA
Gender pay gap shows women are among those bearing the brunt of a broken civil service pay system, says FDA (1 Dec) – A number of civil service departments have released their annual gender pay gap reports for 2023, all of which show a clear gap between the earnings of men and women read more
GMB
Thames Water must come clean on finances (5 Dec) – GMB Trade Union – Thames Water must come clean on finances. Thames should be brought back into public ownership if shareholders won’t pay. GMB has called on Thames Water to come clean over the company’s finances. Thames today said its profits had halved to £246 million, while debts rose 7 per cent to £14.7 billion read more
9 in 10 carers can’t afford time off sick (5 Dec) – Forty per cent wouldn’t even take time off with covid, survey shows. Nine out of ten care workers can’t afford to take time off sick, a survey has shown. Forty per cent wouldn’t even take time off with covid, despite one in three catching the virus in 2023, the poll of HC-One carers reveals. Meanwhile just one per cent get full company sick pay, according to the survey of almost 400 carers at the UK’s biggest care provider. Almost all care workers are forced to rely on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which only kicks in after three days of sickness and is then just £109/week. GMB has this week launched a ‘Sick of SSP’ campaign – aimed at stamping out the scourge of SSP in the care sector read more
ASDA faces strike vote at Gosport superstore (5 Dec) – Up to 100 GMB members to take part in industrial action ballot. Asda workers at the Gosport superstore are set to vote on strike action over a litany of grievances. Up to 100 GMB members at the Hampshire store will take part in the vote, which begins on Friday 8 December and closes on Friday 22 December. The dispute centres around the staff’s treatment at the hands of store management including constant wage errors, pressure to work extra shifts and numerous health and safety issues. GMB members report numerous fire safety complaints, including fire exits being constantly blocked and are not satisfied with how the issues and grievances have been resolved. If workers vote to strike, industrial action could take place as early as January read more
Time to come clean on plan to end Birmingham’s ‘eye-watering’ equal pay liability, says GMB (5 Dec) – Councillors will meet next week to discuss options to end the council’s budget crisis. GMB union, Birmingham City Council’s largest staff union, has today called on the Council to urgently set out it’s plan to settle the £760 million equal pay liability. The call comes as the Council’s leadership consider options to balance the books ahead of an emergency budget meeting planned for Tuesday 12 December read more
Swindon social work managers to strike over Christmas and New Year (5 Dec) – The strike action, beginning on 19 December and continuing into the new year, will cause ‘Christmas chaos’, says GMB. GMB, the union for social workers, is calling a two-week strike of Assistant Team Managers starting on Tuesday 19 December. The strike will remove a critical layer of management through the Christmas and New Year holidays. The dispute relates to a pay and grading review, described as ‘botched’ by the union, which has left these managers earning less than some of the staff they supervise. 11 Assistant Team Managers will be striking, out of the team of 16 read more
Time running out for UK brick industry ‘on brink of collapse’ (5 Dec) – Broken Government housebuilding pledges and skyrocketing energy prices are to blame, says GMB. GMB union has today warned that time is running out for the UK’s brick industry read more
Amazon strikes spread as new warehouse joins strike (29 Nov) – Workers at Amazon’s new flagship fulfilment centre have voted to join industrial action just weeks after opening. GMB union has today announced that workers at Amazon’s new flagship Birmingham fulfilment centre have voted to join strike action. In total, 100 per cent of GMB members voted for industrial action at the fulfilment centre in Minworth, which opened its doors in October 2023. More than 1,000 Amazon workers downed tools last week as part of GMB Union’s Black Friday industrial action at the retail giant. Strike dates will be announced in the coming weeks read more
GMB reports Swindon Council to Care Quality Commission (29 Nov) – GMB believes Swindon are failing to properly provide Approved Mental Health Practitioner services. GMB, the union for social workers, has formally complained to the CQC, the regulatory body for the care industry, about Swindon Borough Council’s Emergency Duty Service. The EDS is a team within the council which provides specialist, emergency care to vulnerable children and adults through Approved Mental Health Practitioners (AMHPs). The union has identified occasions when it believes the council were not meeting their obligations under the Mental Health Act 1983 and has written to the CQC as well as Social Work England, and other stakeholders in mental health care provision, including the police, and local NHS trusts. The letter has been written following several attempts by the union to raise the issue with council officers and elected cabinet members without, the union believes, the issues being suitably addressed read more
University of the Arts London hit by further cleaner strikes (29 Nov) – Two demonstrations are planned as part of two days of strike action by outsourced cleaners at the university. Cleaners employed by OCS at University of the Arts London (UAL) will be taking two days of strike action this week on Thursday 30 November and Friday 1 December read more
GMB response as Nottingham City Council issues section 114 notice (29 Nov) – GMB Union, one of Nottingham City Council’s largest staff unions, has responded to the announcement that the authority has issued a Section 114 notice read more
Wiltshire emergency social care to face strike ballot over ‘fire and rehire’ (23 Nov) – Our members are furious not only with the proposed pay cut but that their employer is threatening to actually fire them to force this through, says GMB union
GMB, the trade union for Wiltshire Council, is balloting 21 social workers who work in Adult Social Care and Childrens Services, for strike action. These social workers provide the out of hours service for child protection and to support vulnerable adults, particularly those needing mental health support. Wiltshire Council is proposing to remove a 20 per cent contractual uplift from 25 social workers for evenings, nights, early mornings and weekends. Traffic Wardens in Wiltshire have already conducted 11 days of strike action since March 2022 over the same issue read more
Strikes loom at whisky giant (22 Nov) – GMB Trade Union – Strikes loom at whisky giant. Workers at Chivas Brothers have overwhelmingly backed industrial action. Workers at whisky giant Chivas Brothers have overwhelmingly backed strike action after pay talks collapsed. Around 800 members of GMB Scotland and sister unions will walk out before Christmas after a formal ballot backed industrial action. The strikes in December could disrupt orders to shops, hotels and bars over the festive period with workers preparing to strike in bottling halls in the weeks running up to Christmas. The action comes after the company behind global brands including Chivas Regal, Glenlivet, Ballantine’s and Royal Salute refused to revise a pay offer of 6.4% despite surging sales. GMB Scotland revealed the results of the strike ballot today with 89% support for action after an earlier consultative vote revealed overwhelming levels of support for action as Chivas and French parent company, Pernod Ricard, record unprecedented sales. The Ricard family, owners of the multinational which produces other well-known brands including Absolut vodka, Martell cognac, and Mumm champagne, is worth an estimated £5.8billion read more
Royal Navy subs set for delays after shipyard strike vote (21 Nov) – Type 26 frigates built at Cammell Laird could also be delayed. Royal Navy Dreadnought submarines and Type 26 frigates built at Cammell Laird shipyard are set for delays after workers today [Monday 20 November 2023] voted to strike. More than 400 members of GMB and Unite unions are ready to walk out in a dispute over pay and conditions. Workers include welders, pipefitters, electricians, fitters, labourers and cleaners as well as office staff voted to strike with a majority of 94 per cent [GMB] and 96 per cent [Unite]. They had been offered a pay increase of just 6 per cent – a real terms pay cut when inflation has been over ten per cent earlier this year read more
Fears of brick shortages as workers announce strike action (16 Nov) – Workers at Blockleys bricks have voted for walk outs. GMB Union has today announced that workers at Telford’s Blockleys Bricks will walk out in a dispute over pay. Blockleys, part of the construction giant Michelmerch, is a major provider of construction materials across the Midlands. The announcement comes after workers overwhelmingly backed strike action after two years of consecutive real terms pay cuts for workers. As much as 80 per cent of the company workforce is expected to walk out, with four strike days set for 28 November and 4, 11, 18 December read more
Southampton buses facing Christmas closure as union ballots Unilink drivers (15 Nov) – There’s still time to sort this out if Unilink want to, as any strike action wouldn’t be taking place for a few weeks – it is though firmly in management’s hands. GMB, the union for Southampton bus drivers, are preparing to ballot their members who work as drivers for the city’s Unilink bus company. The dispute is over pay, as the drivers have turned down the employer’s offer of a 5.28 per cent rise, which would raise their pay to an hour rate of £14.74. The ballot opens on Friday 17 November, with any potential action then set to take place in the run up to Christmas read more
2,500 education workers to strike in Northern Ireland (10 Nov) – Almost 2,500 education workers across Northern Ireland are set to strike this month over pay. Cooks, cleaners, drivers, classroom assistants and other staff across 1,800 schools will walk out on 16 November in anger at the failure to address disparity in pay among grades dating back to 2018. This action will have a huge impact on schools with many, if not all, having to close. GMB members voted to strike by a majority of 92 per cent read more
Festive Ferrero Rocher shortage looms (9 Nov) – Spectre of Christmas without beloved yuletide treat devastating. The UK faces a festive Ferrero Rocher shortage after workers voted to strike. More than a dozen staff at Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate are set to walk out in a dispute over pay. Workers rejected a real terms pay cut at the confectionery giant’s site in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate is one of the UK’s largest supplier of coco products to the confectionary industry, including to the manufacturers of Ferrero Rocher. 100 per cent of workers balloted voted to back strike action, with dates for the walk outs to be announced in the coming days read more
Refuse workers disciplined for helping elderly and disabled people (9 Nov) – South Tyneside refuse workers have voted to walk out for four days after being disciplined for helping elderly and disabled residents. The industrial action takes place during ‘Anti-Bullying Week’ on 14 – 17 November. Refuse workers were given warnings for supporting a lost, elderly, distressed woman living with dementia and for carrying a wheely bin back up steep front steps for a disabled resident. More than 80 per cent of the workforce are, or have just been on, a formal warning. In total, 100 per cent majority of GMB members working at South Tyneside Refuse voted to strike in anger after years of inaction from the council to tackle a well known toxic work atmosphere. Despite every effort being made by the GMB to resolve this issue members now feel that they have no option other than to take strike action read more
1000s of engineering construction workers ready to strike (9 Nov) – More than 3,000 workers have voted for industrial action. Thousands of construction workers at energy sites across the UK have said they are ‘ready to strike’ – but have called on bosses to make a fresh pay offer. More than 3,000 workers at Stanlow, Fawley, Valero, Grangemouth and Mossmorran Oil Refineries, Sellafield Nuclear Facility and nuclear power stations have voted for industrial action. At a crunch meeting this week, workers indicated they were ready to walk out, but called on bosses to make a fresh pay deal and avert industrial action. Last week, workers turned down a pay deal of 10 per cent for 2024 and a further 5 per cent for 2025 read more
Gosport facing bin nightmare at New Year (3 Nov) – GMB union set to ballot borough’s refuse and recycling workers for strike action over pay. GMB, the union for refuse, recycling and street services, has issued strike ballot notices to Gosport Borough Council’s waste contractor Urbaser Ltd after members’ pay stalled. The ballot opens on Monday 13 November and closes on Monday 27 November and, if the members vote to take action, would see a strike at the town’s Wilmott Lane Depot from early January 2024. GMB anticipates any action would put a stop to residents’ kerbside collections at a time when household waste is at an annual high, with the additional rubbish from the festive season. The union is warning the council and their contractor that rubbish on the streets across the borough is to be expected throughout January and on into February if the dispute cannot be settled read more
South Wales faces Flogas shortage (2 Nov) – A week long strike by Flogas workers has led to shortages of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) shortages across South West Wales, GMB has said. Flogas workers at the Llandarcy depot are in the midst five-day strike in a dispute over pay. Up to 20 workers at gas giant’s depot in South Wales have downed tools after a below inflation pay offer. After months of negotiation, workers voted to strike with a majority of more than 80 per cent. The following day, Flogas announced redundancies at the site read more
Net-A-Porter faces Christmas strike (23 Oct) – GMB, the union for retail and distribution, has this morning announced that luxury fashion brand Yoox Net-a-Porter will be rocked by twenty-two days of strike action at their Charlton depot. As previously announced, GMB members are in dispute with their employer about pay, with current proposals leaving members without a pay rise for the first six months of the financial year. Hundreds of workers are now set to take a total of 22 days of action over November and December, which will affect the distribution of online purchases in the run up to Christmas:-
- Tuesday 7 November 2023 from 0630am until Saturday 11 November 0800am
- Monday 20 November 2023 from 0630am until Saturday 25 November 0800am
- Monday 4 December 2023 from 0630am until Saturday 16 December at 0800am read more
Wiltshire Traffic wardens to strike over fire and rehire (19 Oct) – GMB, the union for Wiltshire Council, has issued further strike action for traffic wardens who have previously taken action over their employer’s controversial ‘fire and rehire’ plans. Wiltshire traffic wardens took ten days of action in 2022, before suspending the dispute when the employer agreed to shelve plans to cut their pay by up to 20 per cent. The council has now resumed their plans to use the controversial practice and GMB members will be taking strike action on Saturday 4 November, with further strike dates not ruled out read more
Unison
Donate to support striking workers – As UNISON members continue to take strike action, the union is asking for donations to its strike fund
West Yorkshire hospital workers win re-banding and thousands of pounds in back pay (5 Dec) – The victory marks the latest success in UNISON’s Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign, which has seen re-banding wins across the country. Many of the healthcare assistants working in A&E at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust have been on band two of the national Agenda for Change pay scale, but have undertaken clinical duties falling under band three for several years. Thanks to UNISON, the workers have now been re-banded to band three and are set to receive around £3,000 in back pay. The victory marks the latest success in UNISON’s Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign, which has seen repeated re-banding wins across the country read more
Frontline staff face lottery when it comes to essential criminal-check costs (5 Dec) – Law needs to change to stop the lowest paid being charged to work. Staff working with vulnerable people face a lottery when it comes to who pays for an essential check needed to do their jobs, says UNISON read more
UNISON wins huge settlement for school meals workers (4 Dec) – UNISON forced catering company Dolce to pay workers thousands of unpaid wages after cutting their hours. After a three-year battle, UNISON members working for a catering company in the North West have won a significant wages settlement. In December 2020, in the midst of the second COVID-19 lockdown, school meals staff employed by Dolce were told that their hours would be reduced by an average of 20-25%, with some as much as 40%, and others were told they would be moved to zero-hours contracts read more
Q&A: Who could be entitled to thousands in unpaid wages? (4 Dec) – UNISON’s head of legal services, Shantha David, explains what the union’s recent Supreme Court victory means for workers read more
Education workers across Northern Ireland take action for pay justice (17 Nov) – ‘Education workers in Northern Ireland are not prepared to sit and wait while you sort out all the political problems. Working people need pay justice now’. UNISON members in Northern Ireland on strike. As UNISON prepares to celebrate the incredible Stars in Our Schools this Friday, more than 6,000 UNISON schools support staff members in Northern Ireland took to picket lines for a day’s strike action for fair pay. From Belfast to Omagh, Downpatrick to Ballycastle, members demanded long overdue reform to the education authority’s pay and grading structure read more
Poole education members strike over low pay (2 Nov) – Members at the Victoria Education Centre voted for action by 97% in an 81% turnout. UNISON members at The Victoria Education Centre in Poole are taking strike action today, after their employer failed to deliver a pay rise for staff. The special education school is run by disability charity Livability, but it has not made a pay offer that addresses historic low wages by comparison to other school settings across Dorset and nationally. A membership recruitment campaign began in 2021 and saw a recognition agreement signed with the employer in March 2022 read more
Scottish Water staff to strike for four days in November (31 Oct) – UNISON says the action will have serious implications for water and sewage services. UNISON sent notices to Scottish Water this week, to inform it that members will be taking strike action for four days starting on 10 November. The strikes come after UNISON members at Scottish Water voted overwhelmingly (78%) for action over a pay and grading dispute earlier this month read more
More Scottish schools to close as UNISON sets further strike dates (25 Oct) – Four more local authorities will be affected in second wave of action over pay. UNISON has today served notice of further strike action in the dispute over local government pay, to South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh and Fife councils. Staff working in schools, and early years establishments linked to schools, within those four local authorities will walk out on Wednesday 8 November. This will be the second week of a rolling programme of action that will take place. UNISON has already notified Glasgow City, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde councils, that staff working in schools, and early years establishments linked to schools in those authorities will be taking strike action on Wednesday 1 November. Further strike dates involving other councils will be announced in due course read more
Barnet UNISON issues strike action notice for the next 5 months! (24 Oct) – Today, UNISON sent the strike notification letter to Barnet Council laying out the dates of strike action to be taken by Mental Health social workers starting in November right through to March 2024. The first day of strike action will start Tuesday 7 November 2023. We are pleased to report that Brighton UNISON Adults social workers will be taking strike action on the same day (Tuesday 7 November 2023) Barnet UNISON Mental Health social workers are taking strike action. Their demand is similar to our demand, they want parity for Adults social workers with Family Services social workers who have retention payments. Barnet UNISON has proposed a solution to this dispute which is based on rates (7.5% to 25%) that are already paid out to other social workers in Family services. According to evidence seen by Barnet UNISON, the numbers of staff leaving Mental Health social work teams exceeds those leaving Family Services social work teams who are all receiving recruitment & retention payments. Barnet UNISON is clear that recruitment & retention payments are likely to help stabilise the high turnover of staff across Mental Health social work teams and help retain existing staff. The strike timetable for the next FIVE months is as follows:-
- 7/8/9/14/15/16 November 2023.
- 4/5/6/7/8/ December 2023.
- 15/16/17/18/19 January 2024.
- 5/6/7/8/9 February 2024.
- 4/5/6/7/8 March 2024 read more
Picket line – 2 Bristol Ave, London NW9 4EW. Send messages of support to [email protected]
Support Brighton & Hove & Barnet UNISON social worker strike
Support staff to strike at 17 universities this week over pay (2 Oct) – Coordinated action in England over ongoing dispute. Support staff at 17 universities in England are striking today and tomorrow in an ongoing dispute about pay, says UNISON today (Monday). Cleaners, IT technicians, administrators and library staff will be among those walking out in coordinated action aimed at disrupting the start of the new academic year, says the union. Staff rejected a below-inflation pay deal in February and voted to strike. They are yet to receive a better offer and say they have little alternative but to take industrial action. More than 5,000 staff are expected to walk out over the two days, as the pay row escalates. There are also demonstrations and rallies taking place across the country read more
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
NIPSA meets with secretary of state for Northern Ireland (1 Dec) – You will be aware that following the selective action in DAERA, the Secretary of State agreed to meet NIPSA to discuss our dispute. The meeting took place yesterday and I was accompanied by Maria Morgan, Deputy General Secretary and Tina Creaney, Chairperson of the Civil Service Executive Committee. We had a useful exchange on civil service pay. At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that the Northern Ireland Office would engage in discussions with NIPSA and the Department of Finance – Carmel Gates NIPSA General Secretary read more
NIPSA meets with PSNI senior management team (1 Dec) – On Tuesday 28 of November, NIPSA met with the senior executive team in the PSNI including the newly appointed Chief Constable. Key issues effecting PSNI members were discussed, including further discussions and progress on REA. This remains a priority for NIPSA members, and we continue to express to senior management, the importance of their support in achieving closer equality in pay through the organisation read more
Education Industrial Action (14 Nov) – NIPSA members are currently engaged in a campaign of industrial action in the Education Authority. Our members democratically voted for both action short of strike action and strike action. The action is around four points:-
- Pay and Grading Review
- Job Evaluation
- Pay Differentials
- Education Cuts
We do not believe that this dispute will be easily resolved so we are ensuring we use intelligent, focused and strong industrial action that is applied at appropriate times. Action started on 6 November with action short of strike action. We will take two hours strike action on 16 November 2023, this will take effect from your normal start time. We are preparing for selective action in late November/December by members who provide critical services. Members on selective action are acting on behalf of all members so this action is fully funded by the union. NIPSA has approached our sister unions, UNITE, GMB, UNISON with selective action proposals read more
Royal College of Nursing
RCN demands new negotiations following NHS consultant pay offer (28 Nov) – We remain in dispute with the UK government regarding NHS nursing pay in England with more than 100,000 members voting for further strike action in our last ballot read more
Manx Care make further pay offer after pressure from nurses (8 Nov) – Time to talk about nursing pay 800×400 The Isle of Man’s largest nursing trade union is to survey its members once again over a revised pay offer from employer Manx Care. A consultative survey will be open from 12 noon on Monday 13 November to 12 noon on Monday 27 November 2023. RCN members were due to take two consecutive days of strike action in October, but the action was paused while members had their say over a new formal offer put forward by their employer. This would have seen a total pay offer of 12.75% over two years. The ongoing dispute has already led to two days of strike action by nurses on the island. However, the RCN was invited to talks alongside other unions where a further offer was discussed and a formal letter in writing confirming this offer arrived with the RCN last week read more
RCN opens donations to strike fund in response to public desire to support striking staff – We’ve launched a donation page for people to financially help nursing staff on strike read more
Royal College of Midwives
Maternity staff fight for fairness and safety as they take to picket lines across Northern Ireland (22 Sept) – Midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) across Northern Ireland will be taking to the picket lines this morning (22 September), as the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) takes strike action in frustration at the ongoing political stalemate read more
Society of Radiographers
SoR CEO writes to health secretary seeking improved working conditions following BMA deal (4 Dec) – After the outcome of the BMA’s pay dispute negotiations, CEO Richard Evans wrote to the health secretary in hopes of a similar resolution. The CEO of the Society of Radiographers has written to the health secretary after BMA consultants were presented with an improved deal by the government. Last week, the British Medical Association (BMA) concluded its pay dispute negotiations with the Department of Health and Social Care after the government presented an improved deal for consultants – leading the SoR to question why no such meeting has been arranged for radiographers read more
BMA pay offer must be followed up for other healthcare professionals, says SoR (30 Nov) – The BMA has negotiated an additional pay offer for its membership in England, prompting calls for radiographers to receive a similar deal read more
SoR releases statement on outcome of BMA consultant’s pay dispute (29 Nov) – Society congratulates union on improved deal, pens letter to health secretary asking for urgent response on radiographer pay read more
BMA
Donate to support striking junior doctors
Junior doctors plan further strike action (5 Dec) – Five weeks of talks with government end with ‘no credible offer’. The BMA junior doctors committee have announced more strike dates after the Government was ‘unable to present a credible offer on pay’ despite ‘more constructive’ talks. Fresh strike dates in England announced this afternoon are from 7am on the 20 December to 7am on the 23 December 2023 and from 7am on the 3 January to 7am on the 9 January 2024. The six-day strike in January would be the longest walkout in NHS history. Members of the JDC voted unanimously for further strikes after five weeks of walks with government did not produce a breakthrough. The last strikes, in October, were followed by ‘weeks of delay by the Department of Health and Social Care in restarting the negotiations’, according to the BMA, which stressed it had been keen to reach a settlement read more
While consultants vote on pay offer, SAS doctors MUST win their ballot (1 Dec) – Why an offer for one branch of practice doesn’t change anything for another. On Monday 27 November, the BMA’s consultants committee announced that they will put an offer made to them by the Government to members in a referendum. Consultant members in England will vote on whether they accept it. SAS doctors have asked how this offer will impact our pay negotiations, so I am writing this post to provide clarification on some key points. The most important thing to remember is that it’s as crucial as ever that we win our ballot read more
Consultants to vote on fresh pay offer (27 Nov) – Extra investment in pay on top of existing uplift would change pay scale structure. The BMA consultants committee has put a new pay offer from Government to members which could draw a close to continuing industrial action in England. Following a month of ‘intense negotiations’ the Government has offered a 4.95 per cent investment in pay. If the offer is accepted, the changes will be applicable from January 2024, in addition to the six per cent pay uplift already awarded for this year, and paid retrospectively in April 2024 read more
Junior doctors in Wales announce dates of industrial action ballot (6 Oct) – Junior doctors in Wales are to be balloted for industrial action from next month. The six-week ballot by BMA Cymru Wales will run from 6 November to 18 December. If members vote in favour of industrial action, it will lead to a 72-hour full walkout by participating doctors. Junior doctors in Wales have experienced a pay cut of 29.6 per cent in real terms over the last 15 years. This year, they received another sub-inflationary pay offer from the Welsh Government. The 5 per cent offer is below the recommended amount made by the DDRB, and lower than that rejected by junior doctors in England read more
Doctors in Northern Ireland to be balloted on industrial action (4 Oct) – Consultants and junior doctors to vote after devolved government denies pay uplift. Consultants and junior doctors in Northern Ireland will be balloted on industrial action, the BMA has confirmed. The Department of Health in Northern Ireland, which has essentially been left to run the health service since the collapse of devolution in February 2022, said there would be no pay awards at all this year as a result of funding shortfalls. This is despite the Doctors and Dentists Review Body recommending a 6 per cent uplift, which has been offered to colleagues in England. As a result, both groups of doctors will be balloted over whether to take industrial action. A date for the ballot has not yet been set. An indicative ballot of consultants in Northern Ireland found 77 per cent were willing to take industrial action read more
NEU
Please find below details of forthcoming action. Please send messages of solidarity to the email addresses below:-
St Ursula’s Convent Secondary Sch/ Greenwich (Victimisation of Rep)
4 December, 7 December Tim Woodcock [email protected]
St Mary’s School / Cambridge (TPS)
5 December Helen Brook [email protected]
Lyon Park Primary School / Brent (Redundancies)
5-7 December Jenny Cooper [email protected]
Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey / Canterbury & District (Conditions of Service)
5-7 December Chris Lilley [email protected]
Notre Dame School / Surrey (Pay)
5-7 December Leslie Jackson [email protected]
Benson Primary School/Birmingham (Conditions of Service)
6-7 December David Room [email protected]
Canary Wharf College / Tower Hamlets(Conditions of Service)
7 December Lucy Preston [email protected]
Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council announce strike day (20 Nov) – Teachers’ Strike: 29 November 2023. Given that there has been no progress toward a resolution to the ongoing teachers’ pay dispute, the constituent members of the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council, (NITC), today informed the Managing Authority of their intention to instruct members to engage in strike action beginning 00:01 on Wednesday 29 November 2023 and ending at 12 noon on Wednesday 29 November 2023. As a further escalation to the action, NITC has announced that they are planning an additional four full day strikes to take place in the Spring term on dates to be agreed read more
NASUWT
Members take strike action across Northern Ireland (29 Nov) – Members of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union will take strike action this Wednesday 29 November over the failure to offer teachers and Further Education lecturers a fair and decent pay award. The strike action follows a half day of strike action in schools in February and a full day of strike action in schools and FE colleges in April. These strikes are expected to close the vast majority of Northern Ireland’s schools. The half day strike is being carried out in furtherance of our campaign for a Better Deal for Teachers and Lecturers. The NASUWT is calling for a fully funded 12% pay award for 2023/24. The union is highlighting the massive pay disparity across the UK. Teachers have already lost thousands of pounds as a result of year-on-year pay cuts and the failure of salaries to keep pace with inflation since 2010. For example, a teacher at the start of the classroom main pay scale M1 has lost £44,669, while a teacher at the top of the classroom main pay scale M6 has lost £65,288, and an experienced teacher at the top of the Upper Pay Scale UPS3 has lost £76,064. According to NASUWT research, the last 13 years have seen cuts of 38% to teachers’ pay in real terms read more
Urgent action needed over RAAC in schools (29 Nov) – Commenting on reports that RAAC has been found in a school in Northern Ireland, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, said: “Today’s news was inevitable given that RAAC has been found in schools in England, Scotland and Wales. The most important thing now is to get to the bottom of how many schools may be affected and complete the survey of school buildings as quickly as possible…” read more
Darland High School teachers strike over adverse management practices (28 Nov) – Teachers at Darland High School in Wrexham are taking two days of strike action on the 29th and 30th November. NASUWT members at the school are in dispute with school management over widespread adverse management practices. Striking is a last resort for teachers. Since the last two days of strike action in March, there has been insufficient progress on the adverse management practices which make Darland teachers’ working lives intolerably difficult. Members are concerned for their safety at work as a result of teaching in poorly maintained and potentially dangerous buildings. Teachers are also concerned about excessive workloads and victimisation read more
Members at Cambridgeshire school to strike over behaviour policies and management practices (30 Oct) – Members of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union at St Ivo’s Academy in Cambridgeshire are due to begin the first of five days of strike action on Wednesday over working conditions, adverse management practices and behaviour policies adopted by the employer, Astrea Academy Trust. Contrary to assertions from the employer, the NASUWT does not endorse the approach to managing pupil behaviour adopted by St Ivo Academy. NASUWT supports its members who are in dispute with this and other policies implemented centrally by Astrea without consultation read more
New industrial action campaign at schools and colleges in England (18 Sept) – The NASUWT is instructing members to take part in a programme of action short of strike action following ballots for industrial action last term. The action is part of the Union’s campaign to secure real terms improvements to pay and bring downward pressure on workload and working hours. The NASUWT National Action Committee is initially instructing members in schools and colleges to limit their working time by working to rule from today. These include instructing members to refuse to undertake extracurricular activities, midday supervision, working during lunch breaks, being directed to work on weekends or Bank Holidays, not doing other tasks during PPA time and refusing to take part in mock inspections read more
NAHT
Northern Ireland school leaders visit Downing Street to urge PM to intervene in pay dispute (29 Nov) – School leaders from Northern Ireland this afternoon took their fight for fair pay to Downing Street. A delegation of NAHT members from Northern Ireland delivered a letter for the prime minister to Number 10. The letter, signed by 444 school leaders from across Northern Ireland, calls on Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to intervene and provide the funding needed to deliver a pay increase for school leaders and teachers. NAHT members joined teaching unions in strike action in Northern Ireland this morning. They are angry that while school leaders and teachers elsewhere in the UK have received a pay increase for the current school year, the government says there is no funding for a similar salary uplift in Northern Ireland. This is in addition to a widened disparity in pay across the UK. The teaching profession in Northern Ireland has now not received any increase in pay for over three years, during which time teachers and school leaders in Northern Ireland have been granted successive increases. Employing authorities in Northern Ireland have blamed their inaction on pay on the political stalemate and continued absence of an executive in Stormont. While school leaders and teachers in England received a 5% pay rise for 2022/23 and 6.5% increase for 20023/24 following an industrial dispute, the UK government has failed to replicate this in Northern Ireland under the so-called Barnett formula read more
School leaders to strike for first time on Jersey (11 Sept) – School leaders’ union NAHT will join teachers in a day of strike action across Jersey’s schools tomorrow, Tuesday 12 September, after it said that revised proposals aimed at resolving the dispute were too little too late. Late last week, the States Employment Board (SEB) agreed to backdate its previous 7.9% pay offer, which NAHT members had overwhelmingly rejected in a ballot, to January. But NAHT said that was not enough and put its own proposals on the table on Friday designed to end the dispute. Today, the Government tabled alternative proposals which NAHT said fell well short of resolving the dispute read more
EIS
Ministerial Statement on School Behaviour: EIS Comment (29 Nov) – Commenting on the statement on school behaviour by Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth in the Scottish Parliament today, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said: “Today’s statement did not contain a great deal of detail on the practical steps to be taken and the increased support to be delivered to schools to tackle pupil indiscipline, aggression and violence…” read more
Behaviour in Scottish Schools Data Confirms Rise in Violence in the Classroom (28 Nov) – The results of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BiSSR), published by the Scottish Government, have confirmed that incidents of violence, aggression and disruptive behaviours in Scotland’s schools have risen significantly over the past few years read more
Pickets to resume at City of Glasgow College as EIS-FELA members continue programme of strike action (13 Nov) – EIS-FELA lecturers at City of Glasgow College are set to resume a programme of strike action and action short of strikes following the result of a statutory ballot last month. Picket lines will be in place at the college’s City and Riverside campuses from tomorrow (Tuesday) for the rest of the week, with additional strike days to follow over subsequent weeks. This will be the latest installment of industrial action after a previous 11 weeks of strike action at the college as well as continued action short of strike read more
Lecturers Commence Targeted Strike Action in Constituency Areas of Key Scot Govt Ministers (2 Oct) – Lecturers in three Scottish colleges will start three days of targeted strike action, in colleges based in the constituencies of key Scottish Government decision makers. The targeted action is the latest step in a national industrial action campaign in a long-running dispute over pay and job security. The action will take place at Glasgow Clyde College, Fife College and Dundee & Angus College, which sit within the constituency areas of the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and the Minister for Further Education read more
INTO
Industrial Action: Why Are We On Strike? (29 Nov) – Why is our strike action necessary? Read the INTO INDUSTRIAL ACTION PRESENTATION (pdf) here
Teachers Strike Over Pay (28 Nov) – Following the decision taken by the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC) to call a half day of strike action on Wednesday 29 November 2023, INTO Northern Secretary Mark McTaggart said: “While no teacher wishes to take such action, the employing authorities, the Department of Education [DE] and the Northern Ireland Office [NIO], continue to ignore our teachers’ reasonable demands regarding an annual cost of living increase. INTO are therefore left with no option but to use the only avenue available to escalate our action and instruct our members to strike…” read more
UCU
Anger and disappointment at Aberdeen modern languages cut proposal (30 Nov) – Commenting after senior managers at Aberdeen university today announced to staff that they are launching a consultation on Modern Languages provision at the university including a proposal to scrap single honours languages degrees, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Staff delivering language teaching and research at the University of Aberdeen are shocked, angry and disappointed at the news that their jobs are at risk and that Modern Language provision could be drastically reduced at the University…” read more
UCU campaign leads to pay deals of up to 10% at 60 colleges (29 Nov) – UCU today welcomed pay deals of up to 10% its members have overwhelmingly voted to accept at 25 college employers. These awards come on top of the 35 deals the union has already announced. The latest set of deals include an improved offer at Bolton College after members took three days of strike action earlier this month, a 10% uplift at Tameside College, an uplift of up to 9.5% at South Staffordshire College and an 8.5% uplift at Hopwood Hall College. All the deals come after sustained work by UCU through its Respect Further Education campaign, including national and local ballots, and, at many institutions, the threat of strike action. UCU said the deals provide yet more evidence that a small number of increasingly isolated bosses must get back to the negotiating table, make meaningful offers, and settle. Now that Bolton College has made an improved offer, there are just seven hold-out bosses who refuse to make acceptable offers that will settle their disputes. The union is demanding commitments on workloads as well as improved pay read more
New round of strike action set to go ahead at five North East colleges (28 Nov) – UCU today announced three new days of strike action at up to five colleges in Cleveland, Redcar and Stockton on Tees in a long running dispute over low pay. The first strike in this round will take place on Wednesday 13 December if UCU does not receive an improved pay offer. Further strikes are also set to go ahead on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 January 2024 at Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy and Redcar and Cleveland College. All the colleges are part of employer group the Education Training Collective (ETC). The new strikes come after management refused to make an improved offer despite staff striking for three days earlier this month. At the start of this year, UCU members at the colleges overwhelmingly rejected an offer of 3% for 22/23, and then also voted to reject a further offer of an additional 1% – which was only to be paid for three months of the financial year read more
Strike ballot threat in fight against Oxford Brookes cuts (20 Nov) – UCU said a strike ballot could be on the cards as it vowed to fight brutal cuts at Oxford Brookes University. In a packed emergency branch meeting last Friday, an overwhelming 98% of Oxford Brookes UCU members in attendance voted for a possible strike ballot if the university refuses to rule out compulsory redundancies. It also passed a vote of no confidence in vice-chancellor Alistair Fitt and the vice-chancellor’s group. The union was responding to a threat from the university to axe up to 48 academic staff in mathematics, the arts, humanities, and social sciences as soon as January 2024. The university claims the cuts will allow it to save £2m per year read more
Strike on tomorrow at University of the Highlands and Islands in dispute over cuts and job losses (16 Oct) – UCU members at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) will begin the first of six days of strikes tomorrow. The strike is over £4 million cuts the university is making, including £3 million from the staffing budget meaning that up to 44 roles are being made redundant. In the ballot approving strike action, turnout was 86% with 77% of UCU members backing going on strike to defend jobs and oppose cuts. The union said the high turnout showed the strength of feeling against the cuts and redundancies read more
Ten days of strikes set to hit the University of Sheffield over pay docking row (15 Sept) – Staff at the University of Sheffield will strike for ten days beginning on Monday 18 September in a dispute over 100% pay deductions following the marking boycott, the University and College Union (UCU) confirmed today read more
Strike to hit all further education colleges in Northern Ireland (11 Sept) – Staff at all six Further Education colleges across Northern Ireland will strike for five days next week and continuously for the next three months in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions. UCU said it has been forced to take action after a decade of their members being subject to pay freeze, followed by pay restraint, which has seen lecturer pay awards limited to between 1 % and 2% per year read more
Four days of strikes set to hit Kirklees College in pay dispute (8 Sept) – Staff at Kirklees College will strike for four days beginning on Monday 11 September in a long running dispute over low pay, announced the University and College Union (UCU) today. The full strike days are:-
- Monday 11 September
- Tuesday 12 September
- Wednesday 20 September
- Thursday 21 September
The strikes will hit the first teaching week of the new academic year. Staff will be on picket lines at the Huddersfield Centre in Huddersfield and the Pioneer Higher Skills Centre in Dewsbury from 8am till 12pm on all four days. Staff at the college have already taken six days of strike action across May and June but management has refused to budge from a pay award for 22/23 of just 1% plus a £500 non-consolidated lump sum. To add insult to injury college management unilaterally imposed a ‘cost of living’ pay award of just 2.5% for 23/24 during pay talks for 22/23. The college’s financial accounts show it has over £10m cash in the bank yet is hiring teachers for as little as £25k (full time equivalent salary). UCU Branch Officers made themselves available over the summer break to meet with college management to find a way to resolve this dispute but management was not interested read more
UCU fighting fund: the link is here and donations to the fund are spent on supporting members involved in important disputes.
FBU
Union leader warns of industrial confrontation “unseen since the 1970s” ahead over anti-union laws (3 Dec) – Union leader warns of industrial confrontation “unseen since the 1970s” ahead over anti-union laws. Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack has said that the new anti-strike laws could trigger the start of trade union defiance unseen since the 1970s. Wrack issued the stark warning ahead of a TUC special congress on Saturday 9th December to discuss its plans to resist the Minimum Service Levels Act. On the table will be a campaign of mass-compliance, a strategy which has not been tried in earnest since the 1970s. The new law is expected to start taking effect across three sectors – ambulance service, the rail network and border security – from the middle of December, with regulations for the fire and rescue service, education and nuclear decommissioning set to be introduced soon. Trade unions have warned that the new law amounts to a de-facto ban on strike action for many workers and that they may have no choice but to defy the laws read more
Northamptonshire firefighters take fire service governance concerns to Westminster (29 Nov) – Northamptonshire firefighters travelled to Westminster to raise serious concerns over fire service “chaos” caused by combining police force and fire service governance. Firefighters are raising the alarm following the conduct of Northamptonshire’s police fire and crime commissioner (PFCC), Stephen Mold. The PFCC has now twice selected a chief fire officer with no operational firefighting experience to lead the service, despite public outcry. Fire Brigades Union representatives held a meeting in Parliament, attended by shadow fire minister Alex Norris. Fire minister Chris Philp did not respond to the invitation to meet read more
Firefighters urge fire minister to attend meeting over Northants PFCC fire service “chaos” (28 Nov) – On Wednesday 29th November, firefighters will travel from Northamptonshire to Westminster to raise serious concerns over fire service “chaos” caused by combining police force and fire service governance. Firefighters have raised the alarm following the conduct of Northamptonshire’s police fire and crime commissioner (PFCC), Stephen Mold. The PFCC has now twice selected a chief fire officer with no operational firefighting experience to lead the service, despite public outcry read more
Cambridgeshire firefighters protest ‘dangerous’ under-crewing policy at fire station opening (29 Nov) – Today, 29th November, firefighters took to the streets to protest a ‘dangerous’ reduction to fire crews in Cambridgeshire, at the official opening of Huntingdon Fire Station and Service Training Centre. Firefighters in the region have continued to raise serious concerns regarding a new policy, trialled since January, which has seen Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) cut the number of on-call firefighters attending incidents in Cambridgeshire to three per crew. A minimum number of five firefighters is needed to respond to incidents where lives are at risk. A fire engine with only three firefighters on board will be forced to wait for back-up to arrive so that they can properly, and safely, respond to life-threatening incidents. Firefighters say they could face a “terrible decision”: wait outside a burning building, or risk their jobs and lives by going in read more
Union warns of “catastrophe” as hundreds of firefighters gather to launch Firefighters’ Manifesto (31 Oct) – Today, Wednesday 1 November, hundreds of firefighters and control staff will assemble in Westminster to launch a new ‘Firefighters’ Manifesto’. As the country recovers from flooding, and braces for the realities of climate change, the union warned that politicians must “listen to the voice of the frontline” if they want to “avert catastrophe” read more
Firefighters’ union to consult members in Scotland on strike action over cuts (13 Oct) – The Fire Brigades Union has today announced its intention to begin consulting firefighters across Scotland on strike action in opposition to a devastating package of cuts imposed by the Scottish government. A projected five-year flat cash budget until 2027 has already removed 10 wholetime fire engines, whilst 150 retained fire engines are regularly unavailable due to significant recruitment and retention issues. The Scottish Fire and Rescue service has announced that its own projections mean it will need to save a minimum of a further £14 million next year, which would result in the loss of a further 339 firefighters and 18 fire engines, with more to come. Scotland has lost 1200 frontline firefighters since 2012. The move marks the first formal step towards firefighters taking strike action. This was agreed unanimously by the union’s Scottish committee this week. A formal strike ballot could follow read more
Merseyside fire control staff vote to strike as firefighters vote for continued industrial action (Aug 21) – Today, 21st August, results from ballots for industrial action in Merseyside fire service have gone live, with FBU members voting in response to a reduction in night-time staffing numbers in fire control, and attacks on terms and conditions. FBU members in Merseyside fire control have voted overwhelmingly for strike action, with 100% voting Yes on a 92% turnout. Fire control are the team who answer calls from those who need the fire and rescue service and make sure firefighters and appliances get to the right place read more
POA
National Chair Update November 2023 read more
NAPO
Indeterminate Public Protection (1 Dec) – Napo welcomes the move by Government to allow IPP prisoners to have their period of license reduced from 10 years to 5 years. Napo has been involved in a wider IPP campaign to seek urgent action for those still serving these sentences read more
NQO Placement (1 Dec) – In October the employer sent the Probation trade unions and Annex A consultation document regarding the placement of NQO’s post qualification. The proposal was that all NQO’s would have to remain in their initial placement for a period of two years before they could apply to move office or region. Napo made very strong representations to the employer on behalf of members and raised our concerns about this proposed policy. In particular that whilst NQO’s would not be allowed to apply to move, the employer could themselves direct staff to move. Last week Napo received the below email which confirms that as a result of Napo’s representations, this policy proposal has now been dropped. This is good news for our NQO members and is an example of how Napo is influencing policy to ensure the best outcomes for staff read more
Unions register formal NNC dispute on ‘One HMPPS’ (9 Oct) – At last week’s engagement meeting with HMPPS management, the Probation trade unions announced that they would need to carefully reflect on the disappointing outcomes and the worrying lack of clarity that has emerged from the consultative process so far, and that we would be revisiting our position of a pre-dispute. Since then, the unions have met and discussed a number of other concerns and have now decided to formally register a dispute under the NNC Dispute Resolution Procedures. This was submitted to the Head of HMPPS Employee Relations on the 4th October 2023 read more
BFAWU
Support the campaign to unionise Samworth Brothers – get organised, sign the petition read more
NUJ
NUJ condemns unprecedented death-toll of journalists in Gaza (5 Dec) – The union has repeated its solidarity with journalists reporting on the war, calling for their protection whilst urging the release of all hostages and the cessation of violence read more
Palestine: Palestinian Journalists Syndicate meets Karim Khan (4 Dec) – Nasser Abu Baker, PJS president, met the International Criminal Court prosecutor on 2 December in Ramallah. The National Union of Journalists has welcomed a briefing by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, on the situation for journalists in Gaza and the West Bank read more
NUJ letter says Reach must rethink its business plan which is endangering the company’s survival (30 Nov) – The directors and shareholders of Reach, publisher of titles including The Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Record, Manchester Evening News, Irish Daily Mirror and Liverpool Echo, have been told it needs a radical rethinking of its business strategy in a letter from the National Union of Journalists. The union is in consultation with the company over more than 300 job losses – the third round of cuts this year read more
Cuts to Newsnight a major blow to investigative news, says NUJ (29 Nov) – The National Union of Journalists is deeply concerned about changes in BBC News and Current Affairs which will result the closure of 127 posts. The union believes cuts at the flagship news programmes Newsnight and Panorama will be a major blow, and they will diminish these investigatory and interrogative programmes which regularly set the news agenda read more
Ballot opens on BBC Local offer (2 Nov) – NUJ members working across BBC Local are urged to vote before 13 November on a new proposal put forward in the ongoing dispute. The NUJ is balloting members across BBC Local on acceptance or rejection of a new offer brokered through Acas. If the offer is accepted, the industrial dispute and associated industrial action will end, while the NUJ will continue to campaign for truly local programming which serves the needs of local audiences across England. NUJ members across BBC Local (covering radio, TV and online) have been involved in a protracted dispute challenging cuts and changes that led to over 800 journalists put at risk of redundancy and editorial changes including the axing of local programmes, sharing of content across regions and pre-recorded news bulletins in some radio stations. Members have taken four days of strike action, along with a long-running work to rule, with two strike ballots won and significant political and campaigning activity read more
AEP
Support the industrial action campaign – As you will be aware, the AEP held a formal ballot of members paid on Soulbury scales in local authorities, to decide whether to take industrial action in a pay dispute with local government employers. The AEP members balloted voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action. The current pay offer of around 3% for most members would represent a real terms cut – at a time when inflation is running at 11.4%. It is also significantly lower than the pay settlements being agreed with other public sector workers. Worsening pay and conditions have led to a recruitment and retention crisis in services, with spiralling workloads leading to long wait times for children and young people in need of support. Following the ballot of Soulbury members (closed 8 September 2023) the AEP intends to call authorised members to take part in industrial action – consisting of a strike and action short of a strike. We can announce intended dates of actions below:
- STRIKE ACTION is intended to be held on two separate dates:
- 15th November AND 13th December 2023
ACTION SHORT OF STRIKE ACTION (members working only their contracted hours each week during the period referenced) is taking place and is continuous between: 6th November 2023 and 15th December 2023 read more
AEP Members begin industrial action in campaign to Save Services (6 Nov) – Today (6th November) is the day that many AEP members in England and Wales begin a period of action short of strike action – as part of our campaign to Save Our Services read more
Equity
ENO Manchester move leaves workforce at risk, warns Equity (5 Dec) – Following the announcement of English National Opera (ENO)’s move to Manchester, Equity has warned that it leaves the Opera company’s workforce at risk, without significant investment and a workforce plan to keep chorus and stage management engaged across both cities. Equity has previously criticised the cut in funding that accompanied Arts Council England’s requirement that the ENO establish a second base outside of London, as it left serious questions about the future of the workforce, who are currently engaged on fair union terms and conditions. These fears were fulfilled in October when ENO management proposed dramatic cuts to singers’ and stage management contracts read more
Street performers march on Westminster City Hall (30 Nov) – image shows group of around 20 Street Performers holding purple equity flags and a large petition of 5000 signatures printed on a large purple banner, outside St Paul’s Church Covent Garden. Last week Equity members from our street performers network, marched on Westminster City Hall to deliver a 5,000 signature petition to Council Leader Adam Hug, calling on him to revoke the licensing scheme in Covent Garden read more
Community
Minimum Service Levels legislation (30 Nov) – Community has voiced its disappointment with the UK Government’s push to legislate on steps to prevent teachers and lecturers in England from taking strike action; with ministers pursuing an agenda of failure and seeking to undermine teachers and other school staff read more
USDAW
IKEA’s ongoing commitment to be a Living Wage employer is welcomed, Usdaw continues their call for a new deal for workers (5 Dec) – Retail trade union Usdaw has welcomed IKEA’s continuing commitment to being a Living Wage employer, ensuring staff will be paid at least £13.15 an hour in London and £12 in the rest of the country from January. The union has been campaigning for a minimum wage of at least £12 per hour now for workers of all ages, as a step towards £15 per hour read more
IWGB
UVW
No English, no union, no fear: Julia’s story (29 Nov) – This July, 23-year-old Julia Quecaño Casimiro travelled over 7,000 miles from Chile to the UK to work as a seasonal fruit picker. When faced with broken promises, and poor living and working conditions, Julia took wildcat strike action along with hundreds of other workers, got in touch with UVW – and is now taking her bosses to court read more
SIPTU (Ireland)
SIPTU calls on government to hold referendum on public water services on 8th March (5 Dec) – SIPTU representatives have called on the Government to hold a constitutional referendum on the public ownership of water services on 8th March, 2024, the same day on which it intends to hold a referendum on the definition of the family and women in the home read more
SIPTU cautiously welcomes Tara Mines reopening proposal (30 Nov) – SIPTU has given a cautious welcome to today’s statement that Tara Mines is to reopen in the second quarter of 2024. However, the union has said that any further delays “would not be acceptable,” citing the previous reopening in 2001 read more
SIPTU and other trade unions threaten strike action over Translink funding fears (3 Oct) – SIPTU and other trade unions at Translink have written to Denis McMahon, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Infrastructure, to express the union’s concern over the financial sustainability of Northern Ireland public transport company. The move comes after Translink management indicated that, due to the company’s poor financial position, they would be unable to table a pay offer for 2023/24. This, the union warned the Permanent Secretary, “may force us to initiate an industrial ballot” unless meaningful discussions were forthcoming. SIPTU, along GMB and Unite with its sister unions in Translink, also expressed fears that the company may have difficulty sustaining the operation of public transport in Northern Ireland without departmental funding read more
Other news
Affiliate with STAMMA – STAMMA’s Employment Support Service helps people who stammer as well as those who don’t around issues related to stammering in the workplace. Union branches and regions can affiliate with STAMMA to access a range of services and support at a reduced rate.
- £75 for branches and regions
- £125 for national unions with under 400,000 members
- £200 for national unions with 400,000+ members
Fight blacklisting and victimisation of union reps
UCU condemns ‘baffling’ dismissal of University of Sussex lecturer (25 Aug) – UCU has today condemned plans by the University of Sussex to make a member of teaching staff redundant after having advertised a new permanent post that includes all his current duties. Philosopher Lecturer James Furner has been employed at the university on consecutive fixed term part-time contracts since 2021, but on 22 August the university wrote to him to say that his employment will come to an end this month. Yet on July 7 it advertised a new full-time post of Lecturer in Philosophy stating that the post-holder ‘will be expected’ to teach the same four undergraduate modules that James taught in 2022-3. A petition has been launched in protest against the plans read more
Sign petition: Reinstate Anne Howie RMT Activist – Anne Howie RMT activist at Manchester Piccadilly is facing dismissal with no due process
UVW to sue LSE for disability discrimination and trade union victimisation after sacking strike leader (24 Aug) – “My condition has got something to do with it, but I think there’s more to it. I’ve always been at the forefront of the fight… because I consider myself a union leader” – Geovanny Moreno Buitrago, LSE cleaner and UVW member. UVW strike leader Geovanny Moreno Buitrago, a migrant cleaner from Colombia at the London School of Economics (LSE), was sacked after being off sick with a herniated disc as he tried to return to work. UVW is appealing and suing for his dismissal on grounds of disability discrimination and trade union victimisation. In spite of two expert medical opinions, Geovanny’s willingness to come back to work, his own recommendations on what he is capable of doing, and LSE’s own health policies, LSE sacked him read more
Support Lee Fowler – Another blacklisted construction worker sacked after making complaints about safety on site read more about Lee’s case
Felixstowe 4’ protest demands justice at CK Hutchison AGM (18 May) read more
UK facing taps and pipes shortage as Warrington based GXO drivers strike over sacking of Unite rep (12 May) read more
Protest as Hackney Unison chair amongst those handed compulsory redundancies in libraries shake-up: 6pm Wednesday 17th May Hackney Town Hall Read more on Hackney Citizen website
#SPYCops Inquiry exposes state surveillance of workers movement
Construction blacklisting: Evidence sought in union officials’ collusion inquiry (11 Apr) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, is stepping up its search for information into the possible collusion by trade union officials into the blacklisting of construction workers. In April 2022 Unite established an independent inquiry into allegations that some union officials may have colluded with the blacklisting of construction workers. Unite has instructed a legal team of Nick Randall KC (Matrix Chambers), John Carl Townsend (33 Chancery Lane Chambers) and Paul Heron from (Public Interest Law Centre), to examine and investigate whether any union officials from Unite or its predecessor unions (T&G, UCATT, Amicus, AEEU or MSF), were involved in the blacklisting of construction workers. The inquiry is now entering its next stage and an online portal has been launched to allow anyone who has any information relating to the inquiry to submit information read more
Builders Crack: The Movie
In the current situation, this long lost film from the 1990s about rank and file union organising in the construction industry is intended to lift the spirits, but also to spark a debate in our movement. Hope the youngsters in this film put a smile on your face.
Watch – Share – Discuss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VZ-QMA1FMg
Blacklist Support Group
Book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklist-SG/
Blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog
Blacklist Support Group financial appeal: the Blacklist support group is desperately short of funds, to continue the incredible work we need more finance, would you please consider making a donation, raise it at your branches and trade councils. Please make cheques payable to Joint sites committee and send to 70 Darnay Rise Chelmsford Essex CM1 4XA. Please forward onto your contacts many thanks Steve Kelly (JSC Treasurer)
Blacklisted t-shirts available at: https://shop.hopenothate.org.uk/component/hikashop/product/78-blacklisted-t-shirt
Keep an eye out for other Facebook and social media groups and pages that are being created. You can catch up on disputes at Strike Map UK. Also, check out Organise Now! – Support for new worker organising.
International
USA: UAW members ratify historic contracts at Ford, GM and Stellantis read more
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
