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NSSN 779: Lobby TUC Congress for the strategy to take on the Cost of Living Crisis!

Burnham takes over at No.10 – Sign up to the NSSN Action Programme to defend workers from cost of living crisis

  • NSSN lobby of the TUC Congress in Brighton from 1pm on Sunday 13th September, in the Holiday Inn Hotel – register here

With TUC Congress in Brighton less than a month away, trade union activists will be starting to pour over the congress motions that will be part of the discussion about the industrial and political strategy needed as workers face the brutal cost of living squeeze.

Since the Covid pandemic, prices have continued to rise, with food and energy inflation soaring. More pain for workers is on the way as the economy stagnates, and as Trump’s instigated crisis in the Middle East threatens yet more instability.

Starmer was forced out of office by the anger and frustration of working-class people, reflected in Labour’s electoral wipeout in the May elections.

But its essential that the union movement doesn’t just ‘wait for Burnham’ but sets out a real emergency programme that makes it clear that workers won’t keep paying the price for the bosses’ crisis. We’ve got to keep demanding that Labour finally delivers on its promise to scrap the undemocratic 50% strike ballot thresholds. This was reneged on by Starmer and Burnham’s new ‘Code of Practice on Workplace Electronic Balloting’ makes no mention of it!

As NSSN Chair Rob Williams says: “We’ve had enough of the constant ‘too much month left without any money!’ At our annual conference at the end of June, the NSSN debated the strategy we need and programme unanimously passed an action programme that we need to defend workers from the cost of living crisis. Policies such as these need to be demanded of Burnham’s government to counter the wish-list of Big Business, which no doubt is being tabled as we speak.

That will be outlined by CEOs in skyscrapers in Canary Wharf and the City of London, and in the likes of the FT and the Economist.

But the NSSN will be bringing hundreds of union reps and members from workplaces to Brighton, along with congress delegates, to listen to militant union leaders and striking workers, and then to discuss with all those attending TUC Congress.

We are delighted that the PCS motion to TUC Congress ‘34 Public sector pay’ include key themes in our action programme such as the need for real pay rises to protect workers from the cost of living crisis by reopening ‘talks on public sector pay for 2026/27’, and as part of the strategy to fight for this, ‘a national Saturday demonstration this autumn for investment in public services, against austerity and for pro-worker policies’ and ‘urges all public sector unions to join a united campaign on pay, and, if needed, to plan for coordinated industrial action to secure real gains for workers.’

We appeal to union members to take the NSSN Action Programme into their union branches and committees, shop stewards committees and trades councils, and raise on picket lines, protests and demonstrations. This set of demands must be put forward on Burnham’s government. We can’t afford to take the pressure off.

The NSSN conference NSSN proposed an ‘Action Programme’, to be taken out to the wider trade union movement to take on the cost-of-living crisis (download here). That Action Programme is carried below:

NSSN Conference 2026 Action Programme to defend workers from the cost of living squeeze: ‘We’re not paying for the bosses’ crisis’

  • Above inflation pay rises for workers – automatic rises in pay as inflation increase. In the public sector, for these to be fully funded by central government.
  • Scrap all age exemptions on pay, including the national minimum wage. For the immediate implementation of the TUC demand of a £15-an-hour minimum wage for all as a step towards a real living wage, without exemptions.
  • Stop the profiteering: nationalise the energy & water companies.
  • Freeze rents and energy & utility bills.
  • Demand that councils refuse to implement cuts, and instead pass no-cuts needs budgets.
  • Oppose disability benefit cuts and attacks on pensions and campaign for a fully resourced, supportive social security system to meet needs of working class people.
  • Demand that the TUC enact Congress 2025 policy by calling an Autumn national demo against Labour austerity. If not, for a trade union ‘coalition of the willing’ to step in to organise such a demonstration.
  • Support the NSSN lobby of the TUC Congress in Brighton from 1pm on Sunday 13th September, in the Holiday Inn Hotel.
  • Strike together: co-ordinate the fight on national public sector pay – unite workers across the public and private sectors.
  • Repeal all the Tory anti-union laws – immediate scrapping of the undemocratic 50% strike ballot threshold.
  • Restore the right to strike to the POA.
  • Workers unity to face down Reform and the far-right: for the unions to implement 2018 TUC Congress policy ‘to launch a campaign of Jobs and homes not racism’.
  • Launch the discussion for a Workers Charter, and how we can fight for it, against the attack on our living standards.

Download and distribute our new NSSN Workplace Report “45 QUID A YEAR IS NOWHERE”    

Workplace Report No. 3 - Colour -thumb
Workplace Report No. 3

Affiliate your union branch/trades council to NSSN (£50).    

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Support the Birmingham bin workers – over a year of indefinite strike action

The Unite Birmingham bin workers have taken over a full year of indefinite strike action against the brutal £8,000 slashing of their wages by the then Labour Council, shamefully on the watch of a Labour government.

We demand that the new council honour this agreement.

Senior figures in Birmingham bin talks confirm Unite deal (5 June) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, has welcomed the statements by former Acas chair Lord Brendan Barber and Mayor of the West Midlands Richard Parker. Both statements from two senior figures in the room over the months of negotiations with Unite and the leader of the council, are clear and unambiguous. The negotiations between Barber, Parker, former leader of Birmingham council John Cotton and Unite general secretary Sharon Graham began in December 2025 and the deal was concluded in March 2026. As Lord Barber has said, Unelected officers and commissioners of the council attempting to cause delay is unacceptable.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “As Lord Barber and Mayor Parker have both said, the deal to end this dispute has been negotiated and agreed. The continued attempts by unelected council officers and commissioners to block, delay and throw into doubt this deal is unacceptable and will simply not work. We look forward to the elected members of the council agreeing the process for the implementation of the deal, so the usual ballot of members can take place. Workers and residents have put up with enough of the constant dither and delay. This is a good deal for workers and residents and it needs to be swiftly finalised.” Read more

Details of the proposed deal read more

   

Union News     

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RMT     

RMT National Dispute Fund      

Blue plaque for Asquith Xavier (14 Aug) – English Heritage has installed a blue plaque at the former Notting Hill home of Asquith Xavier (1920–1980), the railway worker whose determination to challenge racial discrimination helped bring an end to an unofficial ‘colour bar’ at London’s Euston Station. The plaque marks where Xavier lived in 1966 when he stood up against discriminatory practices preventing him from transferring to a role as a train guard at Euston. He was supported by his union representative, Jim Prendergast of the National Union of Railwayman (NUR) – predecessor to RMT – and with the case receiving national attention, his campaign exposed the existence of the colour bar read more

RMT praises rail staff following Lewes derailment (13 Aug) – RAIL union RMT praised railway workers following a serious derailment of a Southern Railways train this afternoon (Thursday August 13) near Lewes in Sussex. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that the union was grateful that there were no fatalities read more

RMT marks sixth anniversary of Carmont rail disaster (12 Aug) – RAIL UNION RMT warned on the sixth anniversary of the Carmont rail tragedy today (Wednesday August 12) that the government and Network Rail needed to act on safety recommendations. The report into the fatal derailment of a passenger train at Carmont, Aberdeenshire by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) made 20 recommendations for the improvement of railway safety including the better management of construction activities by Network Rail and its contractors. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that the lack of action since Carmont, which was caused by a landslip during extreme weather, and Network Rail’s admission of culpability, its tardiness in addressing some of RAIB’s recommendations meant that there was a real possibility of a similar incident happening again read more

RMT lauds members following rail power outages (7 Aug) – RAIL union RMT has congratulated its members for the way they dealt with the recent power outages across the rail network. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that the quick-thinking actions of hundreds of members working under difficult circumstances, including a heatwave showed what an important role they play read more

RMT strike action again at EMR over safety (7 Aug) – RMT members working at East Midlands Railway (EMR) will take further strike action tomorrow (Saturday August 8) after the company sent out yet another faulty train this week. The company has sent out 16 trains into service this month alone that then required a full auxiliary reset leaving trains with no active safety systems including loss of communication between train drivers, dispatchers and trackside. RMT has been in dispute with EMR since April following the roll out of the 810 fleet which has been operating with a significant number of faults. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that EMR was continuing to be exceptionally cavalier with safety by sending out trains clearly unfit for service read more

Merseyrail cleaners to take action (6 Aug) – Cleaners on Merseyrail employed by outsourcing firm Churchill Services will take 24-hour strike action against low pay from Friday (tomorrow) to Saturday (August 8). There will be a picket line outside Rail House, located on Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool, L1 1JF from 07.30 hours. The union believes that Churchill can improve the current low pay offer as the company reported a post-tax profit of £15.3 million for the 2025 financial year, and distributed dividends of approximately £13.5 million. Moreover, the company’s highest paid director, who is also a significant shareholder, received remuneration of £603,000. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that the company clearly had the capacity to fund the relatively small additional cost required to maintain the current pay differential sought by members read more

Outsourced workers to strike at TransPennine (30 July) – Rail union RMT said that outsourced cleaners and catering workers at TransPennine Express (TPE) will take 48-hour strike action against low pay from tomorrow (Friday, July 31). Catering workers at Rail Gourmet and cleaners at Bidvest Noonan will take action as the company has yet to even make a pay offer even though the anniversary date was back in April. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that low pay was how outsourcing giants made money out of the rail network and called on the government to act read more & see strike details read more

Further strike action at Avanti West Coast (29 July) – Rail union RMT has announced further strike action by Avanti West Coast members at Manchester Piccadilly station on Saturday August 1 over the unfair dismissal of a colleague. Despite taking industrial action against sacking which was based on anonymous allegations, the company has decided to ignore the workforce and uphold the sacking at an appeal hearing. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that it was extremely disappointing to sack a worker who had clearly been the victim of a toxic workplace culture which encouraged anonymous and unsubstantiated complaints read more

RMT suspends Merseyrail strike action (17 July) – RMT has suspended three days of strike action on Merseyrail planned for July 18 to 20 after the company made an improved offer. This offer will now be considered within union structures and with RMT representatives. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey congratulated Merseyrail members for their resolve to win an improved offer and this will now be discussed among the membership read more

CAF Rail strike to hit Transport for Wales maintenance as pay dispute escalates (10 July) – RMT members employed by CAF Rail on the Transport for Wales contract will take strike action on Sunday and Monday evening after the company refused to improve its pay offer and retaliated against workers for taking lawful industrial action. The strikes will run between 17:59 and 05:30 on Sunday 12 July into Monday 13 July, and again between 17:59 and 05:30 on Monday 13 July into Tuesday 14 July. The industrial action is part of an ongoing dispute over pay and follows CAF Rail’s decision to ban members from undertaking overtime after they exercised their legal right to withdraw their labour read more

RMT confirms further strike action in Carlisle Support Services pay dispute (18 June) – RMT members employed by Carlisle Support Services, working on the Northern rail contract will continue their long-running dispute over pay by taking 48 hours strike action from Saturday. The action follows Carlisle Support Services’ continued refusal to negotiate a proper pay settlement through collective bargaining, despite increasing demands being placed on frontline staff including gate line operatives and revenue officers…Carlisle Support Services has recently claimed that it has “honoured our agreement to implement an annual pay uplift in line with the Living Wage increase”. RMT has rejected that claim, making clear that the increase is not the result of any negotiated agreement with the union but stems from the company’s commitment as an accredited Living Wage employer read more

RMT members at Heavy Haul Rail to take 48-hour strike action (16 June) – Rail union RMT, will take strike action at Heavy Haul Rail Ltd on Thursday 25 June for 48 hours, after the company refused to rule out compulsory redundancies as part of a major restructuring programme. Despite ongoing discussions and some mitigation measures being secured through negotiations, the employer continues to refuse to provide assurances that jobs will be protected. The dispute centres on proposals affecting Control, Rosters, TOPS, Train Planning, Administration and Management grades, with the company seeking to restructure operations, merge roles, revise job descriptions, and relocate some roles around 200 miles away for no operational or cost benefit. The major rail freight and bulk haulage operator, which supports critical infrastructure projects as well as Network Rail renewal and maintenance work, has rejected the union’s demand for a no compulsory redundancy agreement read more

TSSA

Burnham’s bus fare cap – step in right direction (22 July) – Transport and travel union TSSA has described as a ‘step in the right direction’ Andy Burnham’s announcement that single bus fares across England will be capped at £2 from January next year. The move from the new Prime Minister reverses the previous cap – set at £3 – which was put in place by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves on coming into office in 2024 read more

Forthcoming strike action at West Midlands Trains (6 July) – Rail union TSSA has said strikes planned for later this week at West Midlands Trains (WMT) over rest day working payments are set to go ahead and will have a significant impact. The walkouts are a result of WMT and the Department for Transport repeatedly failing to fulfil their assurance that an improved rest day working agreement – giving TSSA members parity with other unions – would be secured.

  • Roster Clerks will be on strike on Thursday 9 July 2026 at 00:01hrs until Friday 10 July 2026 at 00:01hrs. 
  • Duty Train Crew Managers and Control grades will not book on for duty between the hours of 12:00 noon on Friday 10 July 2026, until 12:00 noon on Saturday 11 July 2026.  

This is the second round of strikes in the dispute after similar action was taken in May this year. TSSA balloted over 100 members across these roles for the relevant industrial action read more

Unite     

Welsh health visitor strike: NHS board “a pariah” (17 Aug) – Striking health visitors employed by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (CTMUHB) have received significant support in their campaign for fair pay from fellow unions and other health boards. The workers have been on continuous strike since February over a pay and grading dispute. The workers are being underpaid by up to £9,000 a year. This follows a decision to match health visitors as requiring a masters qualification, which is a band seven role. The workers are only paid at band six. CTMUHB has repeatedly claimed that they cannot individually agree a band seven job description as this would impact on other health boards. But this has been proved to be false as other health boards in Wales including Hywel Dda, Powys and Aneurin Bevan, have agreed to review the health visitor job description, using the correct education level, and honour the matching outcome. A measure that CTMUHB has refused to do. In an important act of solidarity, Welsh health unions have refused to engage in a national piece of work commissioned by the chief nursing officer which would create a band six health visitor job description. The unions have confirmed they cannot agree any job descriptions as they have been undertaken “outside normal social partnership structures”. This decision means that the attempt to undermine Unite’s dispute in this manner cannot proceed, as all parties need to agree a job description read more

Hundreds of Thales defence workers secure new pay deal (14 Aug) – Unite members at Govan and Reading plants backed strike action. Over 300 workers employed by defence manufacturer Thales have secured a new pay deal after the threat of industrial action. Hundreds of Unite members based at the Thales’ sites in Govan, Glasgow, and the company’s Reading headquarters had emphatically backed strike action to get an enhanced pay offer from the company. Talks with Thales through the conciliation service Acas following the strike ballot result led to an improved pay offer of 4.3 per cent (above the rate of inflation) and backdated to January. The workers involved in the ballot include electronics, software and systems engineers along with manufacturing and mechanical technicians read more

Staff at Institute of Cancer Research in continuous strike action over pay (14 Aug) – Hundreds of staff at a world-famous scientific research institute have begun continuous and indefinite strike action in their battle to be paid a fair wage. Workers at the Institute of Cancer Research have this week escalated their dispute at the science centre after management failed to make a reasonable offer, despite the severe impact of strike action on lab research, student training, and clinical trials. Anger among the workforce is running at an all-time high over both poverty wages and that illegal, untrained, strike-breaking agency staff has been brought in to try and undermine the legitimate concerns of staff. Many workers earn barely more than the London Living Wage (£14.80ph) and surveys have shown many are struggling to make ends meet read more

Dunfermline based FMC Technologies workers in strike threat over pay (13 Aug) – 120 workers balloted on strike action. Unite the union can confirm that around 120 workers at it Dunfermline based FMC Technologies are being balloted on strike action in a pay dispute. The workers have overwhelmingly rejected the latest pay offer by 96 per cent from FMC technologies which designs and manufactures wellheads and specialised subsea equipment for the oil and gas industry. The ballot is now open and closes on 19 August read more

Unite responds to easyJet acquisition by private equity firm Apollo (13 Aug) – Unite, the UK’s union for workers across the civil air transport sector, has issued its response to the proposed £5.7 billion takeover of easyJet by private equity firm Apollo read more

Arriva North London drivers strike over roasting buses as capital sees fifth heatwave (13 Aug) – Over 1,500 Arriva North London bus drivers are taking industrial action tomorrow (14 August) over hot weather working, as the capital’s temperature hits highs of 35 degrees Celsius. The drivers, who work at eight bus garages across North and East London and Essex are taking multiple days of action over the employer’s failure to act on improving working conditions during hot weather. Since Wednesday this week, London has seen temperatures soar above 30 degrees for the fifth time this summer. Working in scorching temperatures is very dangerous for bus drivers, whose cabs can reach highs of over 40 degrees which can cause health issues including heatstroke and exhaustion, fatigue, dehydration and dizziness…Drivers taking action at Arriva North London work at the following garages: Barking, Edmonton, Enfield, Grays, Palmers Green, Stamford Hill, Tottenham and Wood Green. They believe Arriva North London has not taken their concerns about hot weather working seriously, meanwhile Unite representatives and members have also been bullied by Arriva North London management when they have raised concerns about working conditions…Industrial action will lead to significant delays and cancellations of bus services in London, while the actions on 18 to 21 August, 25 to 28 August and some of September will take place at the same time as planned closures for engineering works on the Piccadilly Line

  • Unite strike fund info for Arriva London North Bus Strike: Please reference any donations as “Arriva London North Bus Strike”. Account Name: Unite London and Eastern Region. Sort Code: 60-83-01. Account number: 20173988

Tower Hamlets health visitors ballot for strike action for NHS parity (12 Aug) – Dangerous reductions in staffing levels scrapped after worker action but Tower Hamlets GP Care Group refusing guarantees to fully align with NHS pay structures. Nearly 120 East London health visitors and support staff are balloting for strike action over a service restructuring after their employer failed to give guarantees it would fully align for NHS Agenda for Change structures. The workers have already forced Tower Hamlets GP Care Group (THGPCG) to scrap plans that included dangerous reductions in staffing levels for the borough’s zero to five years old health visiting services, which covers nearly 20,000 patients. During consultations with Unite, however, THGPCG has failed to give commitments that all staff contracts will fully align with NHS Agenda for Change pay, terms and conditions…The workers are being balloted for industrial action until 2 September read more

Blackburn and Burnley hospitals biomedicine staff pay strikes escalate (12 Aug) – Pay strikes by bio-medicine staff at two teaching hospitals in Lancashire have escalated, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. The strikes at Blackburn and Burnley hospitals are over Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s refusal to pay the holiday pay the workers are entitled to. Management at the trust have a long history of poor employee relations and this is continuing despite an employment tribunal finding against them. The employer lost at tribunal over this issue several years ago for an employee, but they have refused to settle it for the rest of the employees who are now owed thousands of pounds…The workers previously took strike action throughout June and July. Fresh strike action that will see significant delays to tests and procedures across the trust will take place every Monday to Friday through to 4 September. Further strikes will be scheduled if the dispute is not resolved read more

Pilgrim’s: Talks failure sees Enniskillen pay dispute escalate (12 Aug) – Trade union Unite, which represents workers at the Pilgrim’s site in Enniskillen, has confirmed that workers at the plant will take strike action from Monday 17 August to Saturday 29 August. Talks at the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) broke down yesterday (Tuesday) after the company failed to improve its pay offer and address unequal pay for breaks. Workers in Enniskillen are paid little more than the legal minimum, even though Pilgrim’s profits increased by over 21 per cent to £128.4 million in 2024 read more

Pilgrims Europe employees in Enniskillen will strike for two further weeks in escalating pay dispute (9 Aug)

Porridge threat: Flahavan’s workers ballot for strike action (10 Aug) – Company accused of retrospectively tying pay deal to ‘unseen and unagreed’ policy. Unite, which represents the overwhelming majority of workers at Flahavan’s in Kilmacthomas, said today (Monday) that an extraordinary general meeting of members over the weekend decided unanimously to ballot for industrial action at the plant. Flahavan’s supplies around half of all porridge oats consumed at Irish breakfast tables. The decision to ballot follows management’s unilateral attempt to tie a new pay deal to a ‘flexibility agreement’ which has been neither seen nor negotiated by Unite. The ballot opens on 12 August and closes on 21 August. The proposed ‘flexibility agreement’ did not form part of negotiations on a new pay deal read more

Cambridge Marshall Aerospace strikes off after workers secure improved pay deal (10 Aug) – Potential strikes at Marshall Aerospace in Cambridge are off after workers accepted an improved pay offer, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. The 5.75 per cent increase on base pay and allowances was secured after the highly skilled engineers delivered a decisive strike mandate to the company read more

Scarborough Alexander Dennis bus maker pay strikes intensify (10 Aug) – Workers’ wages fallen by a fifth in real terms since 2020 while Alexander Dennis owner’s profits continue to climb. Pay strikes by 400 Scarborough workers employed by bus maker Alexander Dennis have intensified, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. The workers have rejected a four per cent offer from Alexander Dennis, which is owned by Canadian bus manufacturing group NFI, after the cost-of-living crisis was compounded by years of sub-par pay increases. Between August 2021 and May 2026, the Retail Prices Index (RPI) rose by approximately 35.1 per cent, meaning prices increased by about a third over that period. During the same period, wages at Alexander Dennis increased by only 15.3 per cent, meaning the wages have fallen 19.8 per cent behind the cost of living…The workers have already taken 12 days of strike action beginning in late June. Fresh strikes, shutting down the company’s Scarborough operations, will take place on 11 and 12 August. Further industrial action will be scheduled if the dispute is not resolved read more

Unite delivers union recognition deal for Prestwick airport tanker drivers (7 Aug) – North Air serves passenger and military aircraft airlines. Unite the union has today (7 August) hailed the latest success at Prestwick airport as a union recognition agreement has been secured with North Air. Around twenty tanker drivers employed by North Air who supply fuel to airlines operating at Prestwick airport will be represented by Unite in negotiations over enhancing jobs, pay and conditions through collective bargaining. North Air provides refuelling services for domestic, cargo and military aircraft who fly into and out of the publicly owned airport. The latest success for Unite at Prestwick airport builds on a pay deal for over 400 workers in June. A pay rise from 5.1 up to eight per cent alongside an extra day annual leave for this year, and improvements to shift payments and pension contributions was delivered for members with the deal backdated to 1 April…In April, Unite also confirmed that it secured wage wins for North Air workers based across Scottish airports. Over 80 tanker drivers and airfield operators based at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Kirkwall (Orkney), Sumburgh (Shetland) and Stornoway airports benefited from a 4.2 per cent wage win, and a boost to allowances backdated to April read more

Unite ballots Glasgow Airport workers on strike action (5 Aug) – ABM staff in dispute over unacceptable pay offer. Unite the union can confirm today (5 August) it is balloting workers who assist passengers with restricted mobility based at Glasgow Airport on strike action. Over 90 workers employed by ABM at Glasgow airport are involved in a dispute over an unacceptable pay offer. The workers being balloted include customer service agents, ambilift drivers and allocators. The company has offered an increase for some workers worth only 15 pence per hour more than the Scottish Living Wage level (£13.45). Unite has been running a long-standing campaign to have basic pay levels sustained above the real living wage level at Glasgow airport across all employers. ABM Aviation made profits of nearly £7m after tax in 2025, improving on the £5.95m made in the previous year. The ballot is now open and closes 20 August read more

Unite takes legal action against Heathrow catering firm Do & Co over TUPE transfer agreement (4 Aug) – Unite, the leading union representing workers in civil air transport, is currently taking legal action against catering firm Do & Co over their refusal to honour a TUPE agreement for workers. The union is in the process of pursuing collective legal proceedings against the firm, with employment tribunal claims currently pending, after it refused to transfer 117 employees, more than 100 of whom were Unite members who subsequently lost their jobs. Dnata had lost its American Airlines contract operating from London Heathrow Airport and it was taken over by Do & Co. Now, Do & Co is again refusing to honour a TUPE agreement. In early June, Unite learned that Do & Co had won the catering contract for Air India flights operating out of London Heathrow Airport, taking over from Dnata. There are 44 employees who should be transferred to Do & Co by 1 September – the majority of whom are Unite members. However, their future employment is now uncertain as Do & Co has refused to engage with Unite regarding the TUPE transfer. The only correspondence received has been marked ‘without prejudice’, together with the position that TUPE may not apply because Do & Co considers the services provided under this contract to be different from those previously delivered by Dnata read more

Isle of Wight RNLI Inshore Lifeboat Centre workers vote to strike amid redundancy terms dispute (3 Aug) – Workers at the Isle of Wight’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Inshore Lifeboat Centre workers will take industrial action as the charity is still failing to offer improvements to a redundancy package for Unite members, despite weeks of negotiations. Last month, the RNLI stated it would close the Inshore Lifeboat Centre by 2028, which would cause job losses and have a huge impact on the local community and local marine industry, and would only build lifeboats in Poole, Dorset, instead. Talks between conciliatory body ACAS and the RNLI broke down, after the RNLI said it would not offer any enhancement on the redundancy payments due to the ‘generous’ relocation allowance it has offered to staff. However, for most workers at the Inshore Lifeboat Centre, relocating to Poole, a more expensive area, from the island isn’t feasible for their finances or their families. The union is calling on the RNLI to negotiate a fair package for these workers that will be made redundant after the organisation promised them a ‘job for life’. The workforce in East Cowes do a highly skilled role supplying and maintaining lifeboats for over half of the 238 stations run by the RNLI across the UK…Workers at the Inshore Lifeboat Centre will strike on 11, 19 and 25 August. There will be a series of planned actions, including workers going to East Cowes to ask businesses and travellers at the ferry port to support Unite’s petition  read more

National Standards Authority: Workers set for industrial action following redundancy threat (30 July) – NSAI accused of undermining public sector industrial relations. Workers at the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over proposed job losses. The move by Unite members in the Medical Devices Division follows the NSAI’s decision to seek government sanction to impose compulsory redundancies contrary to established practice in the public sector. The NSAI is also proposing to impose staff reassignments without agreement. The industrial action will start on Tuesday 4 August and will initially involve Product Reviewers withdrawing from billable work linked to conformity assessments, while Auditors will only be available to conduct audits for their daily contracted hours inclusive of travel time read more

Thousands of child health appointments in Wales being missed as health worker strikes continue (31 July) – New FOI data highlights impact of strikes at Cwm Taf Health Board as they continue to refuse pay increase. Strikes continue until October. Thousands of children across south Wales are missing vital appointments with health visitors as a strike by workers escalates. Health visitors at the Cwm Taf health board have been on strike since February over the refusal of the board to honour their own job evaluation and grading that has seen every health visitor lose up to £9000 a year in pay. New FoI data obtained by Unite now shows the critical impact the strikes are having on families in south Wales. The data shows that nearly 24,000 health visitor appointments were due across March, April and May 2026. Only just over 900 of those visits were completed. Meanwhile, across Bridgend council area, health visitor safeguarding referrals are at just 17 per cent of the level they were at last year…Health visitors have been on strike for 23 weeks with further strike dates issued until the end of October, and the potential of extending further. Strike action will take place on: 27-31 July; 3-7 August; 10-14 August; 17-21 August; 24-28 August; 31 August-4 September; 7-11 September; 14-18 September; 21-25 September; 28 September-2 October; 5-9 October; 12-16 October; 19-23 October; 26-30 October read more

Great Yarmouth bin and street cleaning tourist season strikes announced (29 July) – Beach and street cleaning and business and household waste collections to stop. Great Yarmouth bin and street cleaning workers, along with landscaping workers and grave diggers, will begin strike action in August, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. Around 100 workers will strike over poverty pay, as most earn pennies above the minimum wage. In comparison, wages for staff doing the same jobs in Norwich, Broadland and Lowestoft are 20 per cent higher…Strikes will take place on 6, 7, 10, 11 and 12 August. Industrial action will intensify throughout the summer if the dispute is not resolved read more

Manchester City Council considering cancelling event at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel amid Unite dispute (28 July) – Manchester City Council has told management at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel that it will potentially withdraw its provisional booking for the Best of Manchester Awards ceremony in October. A letter seen by Unite shows that it was written by MCC’s deputy leader Garry Bridge to management. In it, he expresses support for striking workers at Kimpton Clocktower and its bar and restaurant The Refuge. Mr Bridge also calls for management to engage positively with Unite workers seeking recognition and adds that should the matter not be resolved, MCC will review future and existing bookings at the venue. However, Unite has still not received a response from Kimpton Clocktower owner InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) around the letter. The event is set to take place at the Kimpton Clocktower on October 23. This is a newly-launched awards that celebrates people, groups and organisations who have gone the extra mile to help Manchester…The dispute centres around IHG’s refusal to give Unite members recognition, despite weeks of attempted negotiation from the union. Meanwhile, IHG management also sacked two Unite representatives on trumped-up charges after workers began organising. Workers at Kimpton Clocktower and The Refuge have also escalated strike action. They will now walk out on 31 July to 2 August, coinciding with events planned around Manchester Trans Pride and 7 to 9 August read more

Hundreds of Gatwick planes to be grounded if Menzies Aviation refuellers strike (24 July) – Gatwick refuelling tanker drivers and operators employed by Menzies Aviation on the Shell contract are being balloted for strike action over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said. The workers refuel planes for Wizz Air, Ryanair, Air China, China Southern, Malta Air, Turkish Airlines, Air Baltic, SkyAlps and Air Peace. The airlines transport between 7,000 and 8,000 Gatwick passengers per day. They have rejected a 3.5 per cent offer from Menzies Aviation, which brought in record global revenues of $3 billion in 2025. Meanwhile, Shell reported profits of $6.92 billion in the first quarter of 2026. The workers are asking for 4.5 per cent pay rise as well as for their overtime rate to brought into parity with other Menzies Aviation Gatwick workers. Currently the refuellers earn time and a third, compared to time and a half for all other Menzies Aviation staff at Gatwick…Menzies Aviation has also damaged industrial relations by putting forward the same offer repeatedly and using aggressive tactics to try and get workers to accept it. The ballot for strike action closes on 11 August and any potential industrial action will begin shortly afte read more

South London & Maudsley NHS estates workers strike over fair pay (23 July) – Unite raises concerns over controversial estates director Kathryn Magson who was previously slammed by an employment tribunal. South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust estates staff will strike later this month over unequal pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. The workers, including joiners, electricians, plumbers and painter and decorators, are on different pay grades – ranging from band three to band five. Some workers are on band three despite doing exactly the same job as colleagues on band five and having worked in those roles for up to 25 years read more

Tesco stores across UK face ‘empty shelves’ as distribution workers ballot for strike (23 July) – Workers in Belfast, Didcot, Doncaster and Thurrock demand same pay rise as store staff as Tesco continues to rake in massive profits. More than 3,000 Tesco warehouse workers and HGV drivers are being balloted for strike action over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. The workers have rejected a four per cent pay rise, which is considerably below the 5.1 per cent given to store staff. They have voted overwhelmingly in a consultative ballot in favour of strike action. Tesco reported adjusted operating profits of £3.2 billion for 2025/26 and forecasts an adjusted operating profit of between £3 billion and £3.3 billion for 2026/27…Strike action would involve around 700 Didcot workers, 400 Belfast workers, 600 Doncaster workers and 1,400 Thurrock workers – severely impacting distribution to Tesco stores across the UK. The ballot for strike action closes on 17 August read more

Nestle warned sale of Buxton water must not be used to attack workers (23 July) – Unite, the UK’s leading union, has warned Nestle that the sale of Buxton water to private equity firm Platinum Equity must not be used as a cover to attack workers. The union is concerned that Nestle, which will still retain a substantial interest in the business, will use the divestment to dilute pensions, benefits and terms and conditions and put jobs at risk read more

Balcas workers set for week-long strike action from tomorrow (23 July) – Unite warns seven-day strike at Balcas will impact timber supplies across Northern Ireland. Approximately 150 Unite members employed at Balcas will take a week of strike action in an escalating industrial dispute at the Enniskillen sawmill. The strike will commence from 05:00 tomorrow (Friday 24 July) and continue for seven days. Over the last month the low-paid workforce has taken three one-day strikes in pursuit of an improved pay increase. The strike follows rejection of an inadequate and below-inflation offer of a mere 50 pence extra in each of the next two years. Unite is warning that the planned week-long strike action will severely impact production at Northern Ireland’s largest sawmill. Many workers at Balcas are paid little more than the minimum wage, and most have to work excessive overtime to bring in enough money to live read more

Sign this petition: Tell East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) – Hands off Mark Dunne! Stop trade union victimisation! Mark Dunne, ELFT’s most senior trade union representative, is facing redundancy. This redundancy and other processes related to it, have been handled with unprecedented hostility indicating a clear act of trade union victimisation

Sign this petition: Provide 24/7 toilet facilities for East Ham Central Park bus drivers – The hardworking bus drivers on Transport for London (TfL) routes 115 and 58 at East Ham Central Park are currently facing a serious health and hygiene issue due to the lack of accessible toilet facilities. This oversight not only affects their personal wellbeing but also has potential negative implications for the service they provide to the public

ESB engineers begin ban on out of hours work (15 July) – Over 20 members of Unite in ESB’s Engineering and Major Projects business unit, will begin a ban on non-emergency work outside of normal hours. The decision follows a unanimous ballot for industrial action in pursuit of fair overtime pay. The engineers have responsibility for the frontline commissioning and maintenance of critical high voltage infrastructure, essential to the safe and reliable operation of the electricity network. Many of the engineers are on lower base pay than workers they work alongside and who are all entitled to premium overtime rates. The industrial action will have a significant impact on the delivery of maintenance work programmes during a particularly busy period. The industrial action will be continuous from 17:00 today (Wednesday 15 July) read more

Thousands of council workers to ballot for strike action over pay (9 July) – Thousands of Unite members working in local authorities are balloting for strike action after rejecting this year’s pay offer. They have turned down a pay offer of 3.3 per cent from the national employers, who set council workers pay, as they believe this fails to address years of below inflation pay offers and pay freezes. The latest offer represents a real-terms pay cut and was made without any negotiations with the union. Workers being balloted work in various council roles including waste and bin collections, street cleaners, street lighting, teaching assistants and home care staff…The councils being balloted are: Great Yarmouth, North East Lincolnshire, South Tyneside, Blackburn with Darwen Borough, Bolton, Cumberland, Knowsley, Liverpool City Council, Liverpool City Region, Oldham, Sefton, Warrington, Westmorland and Furness, Wirral, Bristol, Cardiff, Durham, Haringey, Leeds, Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth and Southampton. Ballots are of a targeted nature and more local authorities could join the dispute at a later date. The ballot opens on 16 July and closes on 17 August read more

Public sector pay Ireland: Unite to ballot members on strike action (8 July) – Union warns industrial action inevitable unless meaningful pay offer tabled. Trade union Unite, which organises workers in a wide range of public sector employments, said today that a meeting of the union’s public sector shop stewards has decided to launch a ballot for industrial action across the public sector. The decision follows the government’s failure to table what the union termed a ‘meaningful offer on pay’ following expiry of the 2024-2026 Public Service Agreement. The ballot is also protective in nature and is intended to ensure that members are in a position to respond should further negotiations fail to produce an acceptable outcome as well protecting existing conditions. Unite is a member of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ Public Services Committee, which last week advised that they do not believe there is a viable basis for opening formal negotiations in the absence of the Government setting out a sufficiently credible approach to public sector workers’ pay and living standards at the outset read more

AQA workers vote to strike in dispute over pay (6 July) – There is set to be strike action by over 100 workers at exam board AQA in an ongoing dispute over pay. Staff have rejected a pay offer from AQA, as they say this doesn’t go far enough to address years of real terms pay cuts. They are calling for pay restoration as their pay is now worth over 10 per cent less than it was in 2021. While AQA has a huge cash reserve of £164 million, the situation has left staff struggling to cope with the increased cost of living. Half of workers say their level of debt has increased over the last year and over 10 per cent said they regularly use or are considering using food banks to make ends meet…AQA has offices in Guildford, London, Harrogate, Manchester and Milton Keynes. Workers involved in the dispute do various jobs, including in communications and marketing, data analysis and typesetting. Unite members at AQA will strike on 16 and 17 July. They will also be visiting Parliament on 17 July to lobby MPs on the issue of low pay at AQA read more

Strike action by council workers over pay and conditions to escalate (3 July) – Strike action by over a thousand local government craftworkers is escalating, amid a dispute around pay and attacks on conditions. The Unite members undertake council housing repair and maintenance work and are employed at Bristol, Southwark, Stoke-on-Trent, Newham, Leeds and Babergh and Mid Suffolk councils. The strike action is of a targeted nature and more local authorities could join the dispute in the future. Workers involved in the dispute have rejected the 2025 local government pay offer to Red Book workers (local government craftworkers) from the national employers of a 3.2 per cent increase, which they do not believe goes far enough to address over a decade of below inflation pay rises and pay freezes. This was imposed without any negotiations. Craftworkers will now walk out on Monday (6 July) and Wednesday (8 July)…Unite has now launched an action calling on supporters to email prominent members of the LGA negotiation team to meet with Unite and its sister unions in order to resolve the dispute read more

Further strike action at GKN in Bristol to cause chaos for customers (25 June) – Airbus orders to go unfulfilled as major supplier hit by further industrial action over pay. Major aerospace supply contracts will go unfulfilled as workers at GKN are set to take further strike action this summer over pay. Workers at the Filton site make parts and are the biggest supplier to Airbus who currently have a huge order book for civilian aircraft. With supplies from GKN endangered, orders will cease to be fulfilled leaving major airlines without expected new planes. GKN is a supplier of airframe and engine structures, electrical wiring, and landing gear, with a presence on 90 per cent of today’s aircraft. Around 900 Unite members at the Filton site in Gloucestershire make wings for the Airbus A320. For years workers at GKN have seen their pay fall behind that of other nearby aerospace firms like Airbus and Rolls Royce. Many employees leave in search of better pay. GKN initially offered just a three per cent increase over one year, which was rejected by workers and later improved to just 3.3 per cent. This was also overwhelmingly rejected by the workforce demonstrating the strength of feeling that the offer falls far short of what is required…Unite members have already taken significant strike action and are now ramping up strikes with specific workers and grades across the engineering and maintenance departments that will bring the factory to a standstill. New strikes will take place on 29, 30 June and 1 July as well as on 6, 7 and 8 July. In addition, a blanket overtime ban has also been put in place read more

Brake Brothers workers in strike ballot over pay dispute (23 June) – Motherwell based firm delivers meals to restaurants, prisons and schools. Unite can confirm that over 350 workers employed by Brake Brothers based in Newhouse, Motherwell, are being ballot on industrial action in a pay dispute. The strike ballot involving warehouse workers, hygiene and distribution drivers opens today (Tuesday 23 June) and closes on 14 July read more

Disruption to frontline social care services as Change Grow Live staff ballot for strikes (22 June) – There is set to be disruption to frontline social care services run by charity Change Grow Live (CGL) as over 1,200 workers at almost 150 sites across England and Scotland are being balloted for strike action over pay. Change Grow Live (CGL) is one of the UK’s largest health and social care charities, providing vital support for people facing issues with drugs, alcohol, homelessness, mental health, justice, and employment. Its funding is sourced from the UK government… The ballot opens on 26 June and closes on 10 August. Any strike action would cause disruption to the vital services offered by CGL read more

MoD drivers to strike as management accused of “letting wheels fall off” (18 June) – A group of civil servants within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) are taking strike action following years of unresolved concerns regarding workplace treatment, management practices, and failures in leadership accountability. Members of the Unite union have, for years, raised serious and ongoing concerns about the conduct, capability, and decision-making of immediate line management. The specialised civilian service VIP chauffeur drivers operate nationwide, providing discreet, secure, and highly professional transport for senior government personnel. Drawn from highly skilled backgrounds, including former military personnel and ex-police officers, they possess advanced driving qualifications and a deep understanding of security protocols. Beyond the safe and efficient movement of individuals, they are also entrusted with the secure handling and transportation of sensitive and classified documents, delivering a trusted. For over five years, staff have raised serious and ongoing concerns about the conduct, capability, and decision-making of their immediate line management. Despite repeated efforts to resolve these issues through both informal discussions and formal union channels, meaningful progress has not been achieved. Concerns raised have consistently been acknowledged but not acted upon, with agreed actions frequently ignored and established MoD policies not followed…Strike will take place across five days on 16-17 July and 20-22 July read more

Striking Walsall Village Hotel workers protest during England’s opening World Cup game (16 June) – Demonstration outside busy big screen venue to show poverty pay and union-busting the red card. Walsall Village Hotel staff striking over poverty pay will demonstrate outside their workplace while it is packed with football fans watching England’s opening World Cup game. The hospitality, gym, events, reception and housekeeping workers are taking strike action over Village’s failure to pay the Living Wage rate of £13.45 an hour and its refusal to pay young workers’ wages equal to their older colleagues doing the same jobs. They are also striking over the company’s failure to recognise their union, Unite, for collective bargaining…Strike action will take place on 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28 and 30 June and 2, 4, 7 and 10 July. The strikes will severely impact Village Hotel bar and grill services during the extremely busy World Cup period when fans will be watching matches on the venue’s big screens read more

Further strikes at Sellafield as management fail to negotiate (9 June) – Nearly two thousand workers to walk out over special site pay. Further strikes are to take place at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria following the failure of the employer group to engage in discussions. Construction workers at the site are seeking a site-specific allowance due to the specialist skills needed to work at a nuclear site and the hazardous nature of that site. Construction workers at Sellafield undertake highly skilled work in one of the most complex and heavily regulated nuclear environments in Europe. They contribute directly to hazard reduction, major project delivery, and the long-term mission of the site. Other groups of nuclear workers across the Sellafield site are recognised and rewarded for the unique environment in which they work and the contribution they make. Construction workers rightly ask why their contribution continues to be treated differently. Unite continues to make efforts to avert industrial action and remains committed to securing a negotiated settlement. This latest industrial action will begin on Monday 15 June 2026 and conclude on Sunday 21 June 2026 read more

Tower Hamlets Be Well leisure centre staff to strike over zero-hour contracts (8 June) – Workers also angry over unequal pay, bullying, last minute rota changes, overwork and job roles. Tower Hamlets Bell Well leisure centre staff will begin strike action this week over insecure contracts and mismanagement, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today. Managerial staff, lifeguards, fitness instructors, customer service workers and swimming teachers at the John Orwell, Mile End, Poplar, Whitechapel, York Hall and Tiller leisure centres will start striking from tomorrow. The council has allowed an indefensible two-tier workforce to develop inside its own in-house leisure service. Some workers remain on zero-hour contracts, some have no formal written contract at all, others are guaranteed as little as five hours a week, while some are on full council contracts. This has resulted in workers doing the same role being treated differently on pay, job security and terms and conditions. Workers also report unsafe levels of understaffing, particularly in swimming pools, overwork and the denial of rest breaks. In addition, staff have also been forced to carry out duties that have nothing to do with their job roles, such as swimming teachers being expected to clean toilets. The dispute is also over mistreatment by managers, including the arbitrary changing of rotas, as well as attempts to identify union members who will be taking strike action. Tower Hamlets’ leisure services were operated by Greenwich Leisure Ltd until May 2024, when they were brought back under council control. The workers will strike on 9, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 23, 25 and 28 June severely impacting services across all Be Well sites. Industrial action will intensify if the dispute is not resolved read more

Bilfinger offshore workers strike suspended (5 June) – Alba FSU and FPF1 assets involved in dispute. Industrial action by 20 offshore Bilfinger workers has been suspended following discussions between Unite and Bilfinger aimed at resolving issues raised by the workforce. Bilfinger workers on the Alba Floating Storage Unit (FSU) and its Floating Production Facility (FPF1) were due to undertake eight days of rolling industrial action. However, following progress in talks between the parties, strike action has been suspended while the agreed process is concluded. The Bilfinger employees involved include scaffolders, engineers, deck crew and rope access workers read more

CWU

CWU welcomes plans for new pro-worker public contracts (7 Aug) – Commenting on the government statement on procurement yesterday by First Secretary of State Louise Haigh MP, Communication Workers Union (CWU) General Secretary Dave Ward said:  “Public procurement is a significant economic policy lever in the government’s control, so I strongly welcome the First Secretary of State’s commitment to prioritise British jobs and support young workers in public contracts going forward. The plans are important step towards rebalancing the economy by compelling businesses to put more skin in the game within the local communities in which they operate. This new approach which holds companies to account can help workers develop new skills and create more apprenticeships and work placements alongside delivering wider community and local economic benefits.” Read more

“Put this proposal to bed”, Liverpool workers and politicians tell BT (30 July) – “Put this proposal to bed”, Liverpool workers and politicians tell BT. Protesting BT workers and local politicians urged that “sense be heard” today, as they protest against plans to relocate hundreds of jobs out of Liverpool. Dozens of workers stood together outside The Plaza, BT’s Liverpool city centre offices on Wednesday against the company’s proposals to move the jobs out of the area. The company claims that down to a rise in cost for renewing the lease on the building, continuing at the site isn’t feasible after the contract ends next March. The move looks set to impact 600 employees – while some will be forced to commute to Manchester or Leeds should they wish to keep their jobs, others will lose their work entirely. They were joined with several prominent politicians from the local area, including Labour MPs Paula Barker, Ian Byrne, Peter Dowd and Kim Johnson, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram and council leader Liam Robinson 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]     

Ofgem workers to strike on day of price cap announcement (14 Aug) – PCS members at Ofgem will take three days of strike action this month over pay, job security, working conditions and industrial relations. In an escalation of a long-running dispute, they will strike on 24 and 25 August. They will also walk out on 26 August – the date of Ofgem’s next price cap announcement, which limits how much energy suppliers can charge households for gas and electricity. Since the last strike action, Ofgem’s pay flex case has been approved, giving the energy regulator a headline pay award of 9.9% over two years. However, the employer is still refusing to reach a fair compromise on jobs and industrial relations. At a time when there are more restructures than ever, it has not allowed PCS to properly represent its members read more

Security guards at National Crime Agency set to strike (13 Aug) – The PCS members will strike on Monday and Friday in response to employer OCS threatening the long-serving guards with job losses and detrimental changes to terms and conditions. The NCA plays a vital role in protecting the UK from serious and organised crime. Frontline security for the NCA has largely been delivered through an outsourced model, involving several external providers, including OCS Group UK Limited. The closure of the NCA facility at Spring Gardens, Vauxhall means that outsourced NCA security workers now face redundancy or having to apply for new roles on inferior terms with no guarantee of employment. The new roles lose key contractual protections: reduced occupational sick pay, less annual leave and the move from a salaried contract to hourly pay. Nearly 40 security officers working at the NCA are under threat and those who are members of PCS voted to strike in a ballot that ended on 4 August. Show support for our members on the picket line on Monday which runs from 7am to noon at Citadel Place, Spring Gardens, Tinworth Street, London SE11 5EF. PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote will be addressing the strikers. Highly experienced guards are being replaced. Outsourcing and cost-cutting should never take priority over experience and safety. Use our e-action to write to your MP about the dispute. We are committed to talks with OCS at conciliation service ACAS on Tuesday and Wednesday read more

National Crime Agency members vote for strike action (10 Aug)

Strong showing on FCDO picket line (13 Aug) – Our members at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office had another very successful day of strike action with well-supported picket lines with more than 50 strikers outside Abercrombie House in East Kilbride and Kings Charles Street, London. Yesterday’s action was the latest in a dispute over a planned restructure and lack of assurances over compulsory redundancies…The next day of strike action is 26 August, please show your support by sending a message of support to [email protected], donating to the strike fund and visiting a picket line read more

Picket lines:-

  • FCDO, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH – All four entrances to the building will have picket lines each day from 8-10am
  • FCDO, Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA – Picket lines each day from 8-10am

PCS alarmed no Defence Equipment and Support pay rise until 2027 (12 Aug) – PCS has called on the arm’s-length body which provides equipment and support to the UK Armed Forces to implement its pay award as soon as possible at a time of financial hardship for our lowest-paid members. We have criticised the offer as falling well short of the standards set out in our national pay policy, so we cannot accept it, but believe that further negotiations would be unlikely to improve it, given the constraints imposed by the Civil Service Remit Guidance. However, we are encouraging the employer to implement the award as soon as possible, so that our members receive the increase in their salaries without delay. Despite our clear statement, we are alarmed to hear from DE&S that pay increases will not be received until the early part of 2027. While PCS will attend any meetings that could potentially lead to an improved offer, these delays do not help with the immediate situation, and DE&S should have proceeded with an initial payment to staff, as we requested. We are holding an online members’ meeting for DE&S staff at noon on Tuesday (18 August) read more

The victims of Capita’s pensions chaos (12 Aug) – Retired or retiring civil servants affected by the Capita scandal continue to share their stories with PCS. Thousands of retired or retiring members of the civil service pension scheme are yet to receive their pension because of Capita’s mishandling of the contract. PCS continues to meet weekly with representatives of the Cabinet Office to address this unacceptable situation. And last month, dozens of protesters took to the streets of Westminster to voice their anger over this crisis. The protest came as the government sent signals that it is considering bringing the scheme back in house to be serviced by civil servants read more

PCS calls for urgent action on coastguard rescue officer rights (12 Aug) – PCS has written to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) calling for urgent action to resolve outstanding issues affecting Coastguard Rescue Officers. We are urging the MCA to act immediately to ensure CROs, who are trained personnel forming local rescue teams that respond to emergencies along the UK coastline, receive the worker rights and protections they are legally entitled to, including payment of the National Living Wage. PCS is also calling for a full set of policies to support CROs as workers, with proper consultation with recognised trade unions before they are introduced. The issue follows a Court of Appeal ruling in Maritime and Coastguard Agency v Groom, which confirmed that CROs can have worker status when they attend activities for which they are entitled to claim payment read more

V&A director’s refusal to attend talks is ‘shocking’ and ‘disrespectful’ (10 Aug) – With a strike ballot underway, Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A Museum, must come to the bargaining table. Otherwise, PCS may take coordinated action alongside Prospect. PCS members who work for the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London are being balloted over industrial action until 20 August. They are considering strike action over pay, conditions and dignity at work. V&A management has failed to offer an acceptable pay offer for workers or become a Real Living Wage accredited employer. Our members are also demanding 1.5x pay on bank holidays and heat mitigation measures, including convenient access to drinking water, a policy of closing public-facing areas at 30 degrees for the safety of staff and visitors – as well as additional measures for back-of-house staff. PCS and Prospect today issued a joint statement to call on Hunt and the V&A to find a resolution and “start showing that they care about their workforce and get properly back around the negotiating table”. The two unions have also committed to cooperating in any forthcoming industrial action to increase the chances of  a swift positive result for members read more

We feel taken for granted say MOD caretakers threatened with redundancy (7 Aug) – Fears over homelessness, stress and anxiety and a perception that their work is taken for granted are among the views expressed by some of the 125 MOD caretakers who help keep military bases safe who have been told their jobs and homes are at risk. The staff, including those working within military bases and also the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association (RFCA), facing redundancy and the loss of their homes under plans being considered by the Ministry of Defence, have shared their fears with PCS. PCS is opposing the plan, which effectively scraps all existing caretaker posts and ends all the tied housing arrangements they currently have with caretaker staff. For many, redundancy would also mean losing their home, with around 88% currently living in tied accommodation linked to their job. We are urging for the posts to be retained, including the tied housing arrangements. We welcome our caretaker members’ thoughts on the proposal, which they can share by emailing [email protected]. We will support and help those members affected by these proposals read more

Email your MP to save MOD caretaker jobs and homes (5 Aug)

National Gallery director ignores concerns over racially divided facilities (7 Aug) – Security staff at the National Gallery, most of whom are Black and Asian, aren’t allowed to use the same break facilities as white colleagues. Outsourced PCS members who work in security at the National Gallery are forced to use dangerous basement facilities for their breaks, when the majority white gallery staff have access to an award-winning ‘accommodation hub’. Dozens of our members on the CIS Security contract – the majority of whom are Black and Asian – are barred from entering this well-lit, airy hub and using its heavily subsidised canteen. Instead, they are restricted to a windowless basement area that is dingy, dirty, and dark. It is also unventilated and accessible only by ducking under pipes. The employer cites capacity concerns, but this would be negligible considering minimal staff usage in the evenings and weekends read more

National Galleries of Scotland members to strike during Edinburgh Fringe (6 Aug) – The PCS members will take four days of strike action in a dispute over detrimental changes to working practices. PCS members at National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) will take four days of strike action during the Edinburgh Fringe in a dispute over changes to an agreed staffing model for members working as Gallery Attendants, and failure to consult on the changes. Management have imposed detrimental changes impacting on both staff wellbeing and the quality of the visitor experience. These changes can make it harder for staff to take breaks, present difficulties in honouring reasonable adjustments for staff with disabilities, and potential challenges for reps accessing facilities time in affected roles. There is also the potential for room and exhibition closures due to short staffing. In addition to the four days of strike action, members will also take action short of a strike including a refusal to wear NGS uniforms and working to rule. The branch will hold a rally on the first day of the strike at the National Gallery on Edinburgh Mound from 10:30am on Saturday 8 August. All supporters are welcome. In addition to Saturday’s rally, picket lines will be held as follows:-

  • Saturday 8 August, 8-11am
  • Wednesday 12 August, 8 – 11am
  • Sunday 16 August, 8 – 11am 
  • Thursday 20 August, 8 – 11am.

Messages of solidarity can be sent to the branch by emailing Anthony O’Hanlon at [email protected]  read more

PCS members in Sodexo on strike again (17 July) – PCS members working in Sodexo started their second wave of strike action today (17) against cuts to hours and jobs. PCS members working for Sodexo, who previously took two weeks of strike action to oppose cuts to hours, redundancies and changes to job roles and responsibilities, have now received letters from the employer notifying them that the individual consultation has concluded and Sodexo is planning to impose the changes. PCS does not yet have trade union recognition with Sodexo, but supported members through the individual consultation process, met with Sodexo management and continue to seek to engage with them in finding a resolution to the dispute. Despite repeated requests for information from Sodexo to explain their proposals and justification for the cuts, Sodexo has not provided it, making it difficult for PCS to offer detailed alternatives at this stage. PCS members work as receptionists, cleaners, porters and kitchen staff, providing essential services in Erskine House, the UK Government Hub building, and Carne House Belfast. They are paid on or around the national minimum wage and are committed to fighting the cuts by Sodexo, a multinational outsourcing company which reported profits in the region of £679 million. Today’s successful picket marked the first day of the second wave of strike action. There will be a picket line at Erskine House, Chichester Street, Belfast every day from 8am to noon, from Monday 27 July to Friday 31 July 2026. Please visit and support our members on the picket line and reps from the Revenue and Customs branch, donate to the strike fund, marking it Sodexo or send solidarity messages to [email protected]  read more

Get the PCS Samba Band to your protests and demonstrations – go to their Facebook page and on X/Twitter @PCS_Samba_Band

Prospect

Prospect seeks clarity from government over devolution and civil service reform (17 Aug) – Prospect is seeking clarity from government over its plans for devolution and wider reform, and what they could mean for our civil service members and their organisations. Prospect has written to the Cabinet Office and, through the new Partnership Framework, we will be engaging with government to understand the implications of its plans for our members. Prospect is also seeking clarity on how the new direction will affect existing civil service change programmes, including the review of arm’s length bodies and plans for wider civil service reform read more

Royal Museums Greenwich workers take strike action on day of the solar eclipse (13 Aug) – Royal Museums Greenwich workers were on the picket lines for two days of strike action this week, with members taking a stand at entrances across the organisation, including at the Royal Observatory read more

Prospect air traffic controllers at Norwich Airport to take industrial action over pay and conditions (7 Aug) – Air traffic control staff working in the tower at Norwich Airport Ltd (NAL) have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action in a dispute over pay read more

Prospect wins toilet break dispute with V&A (6 Aug) – Prospect has won its dispute with V&A over Collections Access workers at the flagship V&A Storehouse site, not having time to use the toilet or have a drink of water. Members had voted to take strike action over V&A’s refusal to grant two paid breaks a day. V&A notified members this morning that they were changing their policy and granting them the requested two paid customary breaks a day. Prospect members are still set to strike over wider issues on pay, terms and conditions, with PCS union also balloting their members for strike action read more

GMB  

Almost 600 Coastguards sign vote of no confidence in MCA chief (13 Aug) – Almost 600 Coastguards have called for a vote of no confidence in the chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). GMB Union wrote to the MCA chair Lord Stevens in July to ‘formally express our lack of confidence in the leadership of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency under Chief Executive Virginia McVea’. Since then, 580 Coastguards across the UK have signed up to the no confidence vote. Lord Stevens has thus far not responded to GMB and the union has now written a further letter to ‘formally escalate the concerns previously raised’. Coastguards are calling for an expression of no confidence, and independent review into leadership culture, the chance to submit evidence to the review and a clear timetable for responding to concerns raised read more

Plans to move council jobs out of Enfield ‘inexcusable’ (12 Aug) – GMB Union, which represents hundreds of local government workers in Enfield, has learned that nine outsourced workers will have their jobs moved out of the borough. The workers, who are employed by NSL to monitor CCTV, will be made redundant as their roles move to either Rochdale or Inverness. GMB has criticised the decision saying it will take jobs and tax revenue out of Enfield, and lose the local knowledge required for CCTV review. The union has also accused the council of double standards, pointing out that an inhouse council worker would never expect to see their job relocated to another part of the country. GMB has written to the council’s Chief Executive and political leadership to raise its concerns read more

Asda outsources 3,500 cleaners in ‘detestable’ move (11 Aug) – Asda has today announced it will outsource 3,500 its cleaning staff in a move GMB has described as ‘detestable’. The troubled supermarket giant will now begin the process of moving the cleaner to third party providers Bidvest and NIC Cleaning Services. This will be yet be the latest consultation process Asda has opened in recent months, on top of those in retail and security read more

Tyrrells crisp makers sign union deal (7 Aug) – People who make Tyrells crisps have won the right to negotiate for better pay, terms and conditions after the company struck a deal with GMB Union. Around 130 workers will be covered by the agreement, signed this week, which will see GMB negotiate with bosses on behalf of staff – including an annual pay deal. It’s the first ever union agreement at the Herefordshire site, where workers hand make crisps on the farm where the company was founded read more

Private water must take blame for fouled waterways (6 Aug) – Privatised water must shoulder a huge chunk of the blame for the terrible state of England’s waterways, GMB Union has said. A new report from the Environment Agency released today [Thursday] shows just 14% of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters are in good ecological health read more

Gardeners at Royal Parks begin vote on strike action (29 July) – Dozens of gardeners working at The Royal Parks are today voting in a strike ballot organised by their union, GMB, following a row over pay. The workers, who are employed by sub-contractor Idverde, look after some of London’s most prestigious parks including Kensington Gardens, St James’s Park, Hyde Park, and Brompton Cemetery. The dispute arose after skilled gardeners and team leaders were offered a pay rise amounting to just 70p an hour. Such a small rise in pay will see a significant narrowing of the gap between these senior workers and those on London Living Wage (LLW), suggesting that Idverde is treating LLW as a ceiling rather than a floor. GMB members have already indicated their willingness to take strike action after voting in 85 per cent in favour in a consultative ballot. The ballot closes on Friday 14 August read more

1,000s of Evri drivers reject pay deal (15 June) – Thousands of Evri drivers have rejected a pay deal from bosses with a massive majority. More than 6,000 couriers voted on the offer– which dates back to 2025 – with almost 97 per cent voting to turn it down. GMB Union, which has had a recognition deal with Evri since 2019, recommended drivers reject the deal for the first time. GMB will meet with couriers to discuss next steps read more

NJC Pay 2026/27 Update (23 June) – GMB Regions have met to consider next steps following rejection of the “Full and Final” pay offer from the Local Government National Employers. The offer applies to GMB members working directly for Local Authority employers, Local Authority schools and Academy Trusts. GMB members rejected the pay offer and the employers were invited to open pay negotiations – as there have not been any – and the employers refused. Further consultation will now take place at local level to determine potential employers and workplaces where GMB can deliver targeted local industrial action read more

Strike action at rail manufacturing giant Vossloh (15 June) – Workers at Vossloh in Scunthorpe will down tools this week. GMB Union has today announced that workers at Vossloh will begin industrial action this week. The news comes after pay talks between the company and GMB failed to reach agreement. Workers are furious after company managers offered a below inflation pay rise, despite staff in other parts of the company abroad being offered packages worth over 5.5% and company Directors pocketing 10% bonuses. The company manufactures rails and connector components, currently planned for Sheffield’s tram network. Workers will down tools from 6AM from today, Monday 15 until June read more

Chase Farm Hospital staff at ISS to take strike action (4 June) – Dozens of staff at Chase Farm Hospital have voted overwhelmingly to take strike action following allegations of bullying, overwork, and a toxic workplace culture. The staff, who are represented by GMB Union, are employed by outsourcing giant ISS in a variety of roles including catering, cleaning, and security. They voted 95 per cent in favour of industrial action, which is set to begin on Wednesday 15 July. Serious allegations made by staff include bullying from managers – including racist comments – failure to properly pay overtime for bank holidays, changes to working patterns causing unmanageable workloads, and workplace grievances taking months to be resolved. Despite repeated attempts by GMB and its members to resolve these concerns with ISS, ISS has yet to make any formal counteroffer to attempt to avert industrial action read more

Strike threat as ‘unacceptable’ delays to equal pay (3 June) – Workers have today written to the City’s lead Commissioner demanding action, says GMB. GMB Union members have today written to Birmingham City Council Lead Commissioner, Tony McArdle, calling on the authority to do more to end delays to equal pay settlement. The open letter, co-signed by hundreds of GMB members, calls on Tony McArdle and the city’s Commissioner team to intervene to end the deadlock in settling outstanding claims. Hundreds of equal pay claimants still await settlement details from the authority, despite commitments from the council bosses to speed up the process read more

Sandwell school workers strike (1 June) – Workers from The Orchard School have been pushed to the edge, says GMB. Teachers, Teaching Assistants and Midday Supervisors will begin strike action in Sandwell next week as part of the ongoing dispute at The Orchard School. The strike is joint action between GMB, the union for school support staff, and NASUWT, Britain’s teachers union. Ninety workers at the school are anticipated to join the strike action which comes weeks after overwhelming support for industrial action in a recent ballot of staff at the school. Workers are furious after school bosses failed to respond to grievances and concern raised about student and staff safety at the facility 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 

 

 

Families urged to make voices heard over under-threat Suffolk children’s health services (17 Aug) – Suffolk families need to make their voices heard as the county council considers the future of its healthy child service, UNISON says today. A proposed shake-up puts support to some of Suffolk’s most vulnerable residents at risk, warns the union read more

Mining museum warned of its legal duties by Charity Commission (12 Aug) – The watchdog opened an investigation after striking workers raised concerns over decisions being made read more

Hundreds of low-paid women in Kirklees to lodge equal pay claims (7 Aug) – It comes after UNISON research into the legal system governing equal pay in the UK. More than 200 low-paid women employed by Kirklees Council are to lodge claims for money they say they’re owed after years of underpayment. Workers, including teaching assistants, business support officers and care workers, have been paid less than male colleagues doing work of equal value for a number of years, says the union read more

Gloucestershire care workers announce strike action over transfer plans (7 Aug) – Reablement workers will take two weeks of strike action from Monday 17 August over plans to outsource their roles to a private company read more

University of Essex staff vote to strike against cuts (31 July) – Professional services staff back walkouts to stop the loss of 400 jobs. Staff at the University of Essex have voted to strike over cuts to jobs and services, UNISON says today. Admissions advisors, IT techs, administrators and other professional services staff at the main campus in Colchester voted 84% in favour of strikes. In December, the university announced plans to axe 400 jobs and close the Southend campus — which shuts its doors today. Staff, local politicians and residents have all warned that the closure will be felt across south Essex, with people studying to become nurses, midwives, social workers or entrepreneurs no longer having the option to settle down in Southend. University leaders are now turning their attention to Colchester, says UNISON. The union warns the planned cost-cutting measures will undermine the quality of classes and leave students without proper support for their studies. Strike dates are expected to be announced in the coming weeks read more

NHS workers in Leeds to march on trust board in their campaign for fair pay (29 July) – The theatre assistants are currently on strike in their efforts to secure fair wages. Low-paid NHS workers in Leeds who play a key role in keeping patients safe during operations will lobby their health trust’s board as they step up their campaign for fair wages. Theatre assistants at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust are currently paid at the lowest grade of their NHS pay scale. But the workers regularly carry out clinical tasks UNISON says should be paid at a higher rate. These include supporting clinical teams during operations, assisting with specialist surgical equipment and helping patients with recovery after surgery. The theatre assistants are currently on strike over fair pay and grading. It’s the latest in a series of walkouts, the first of which took place in December 2025 read more

Leeds Teaching Hospital – National appeal request (24 July) – The dispute has now reached a stage where maintaining an effective and visible presence on picket lines is essential. The branch request to launch an appeal will enable the purchase of flags, banners, placards, and other campaign merchandise to enhance the visibility and impact of the industrial action. These resources are vital in demonstrating solidarity, raising public awareness, and encouraging support for members taking action. Currently all resources that are being used belong to the region, it was initially envisaged that this would be a quick dispute but unfortunately this is not the case read more

Critical Care staff win fair overtime pay at Northern Care Alliance (24 July) – Staff in Greater Manchester now have the option to be paid their fairly for the additional shifts they work. Critical Care staff at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) won fair overtime pay after UNISON members took industrial action to secure the rate they are contractually entitled last month. The agreement means Critical Care staff now have a choice: they can either take up additional shifts paid at the correct overtime rate of time-and-a-half, or continue to work them through NHS Professionals (NHSP). The breakthrough follows a determined campaign by UNISON members, who took several rounds of industrial action read more

Strike threat as Gloucestershire care workers call on council to halt transfer plans (21 July) – Gloucestershire County Council care staff will urge councillors not to move them to a private provider when they meet later today to scrutinise the plans read more

Donation Appeal for members on strike at Ash Field Academy (9 July) – Members at Ash Field Academy are taking strike action in defence of their rep, Tom Barker who was suspended after members at the school voted to strike on a previous dispute. The employer has allowed an investigation to be elongated, failed to provide detailed allegations and sought to undermine the collective strength of the union.  The members did not choose this fight — it was forced upon them — and they are showing remarkable courage in standing up for what is right. There have been discontinuous strike since April 2026, with the next scheduled dates taking place 6th to 9th July 2026.

  • Donations can be made via BACS transfer to the following:-

Bank: Unity Trust

Account name: UNISON Leicester City Branch

Account Number: 20059879

Sort Code: 60−83−01

Reference: Ash Field Strike Funds

Sign petition to: Paul Stone, CEO, Discovery Schools Academy Trust

Stop union-busting: protect union reps! Reinstate Tom Barker!

UNISON’s council and school members vote on pay strikes (9 July) – ‘There’s still time for employers to improve this pay offer and avoid a dispute’. Around 200,000 council and school workers at more than 500 employers across England and Wales begin voting today (Thursday) on whether to strike over pay, says UNISON. The ballot follows the union’s rejection of a 3.3% pay offer from local government employers, which UNISON says falls well short of restoring the value of staff pay after years of decline. Teaching assistants, social workers, waste collection staff, trading standards teams, housing officers and librarians are among those voting in the four-week ballot, which closes on Thursday 6 August. If workers back industrial action, walkouts could begin early in the autumn read more

Bedfordshire hospital staff to strike next week in overtime pay row (22 June) – NHS operating theatre staff in Bedfordshire will strike next week in a dispute about overtime pay, says UNISON today. Hospital workers say they will walk out on Thursday and Friday (25 and 26 June) unless managers reverse plans to cut pay for staff working extra hours. Workers employed by Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bedford and Luton & Dunstable hospitals, are upset bosses have scrapped a payment worth up to £120 a shift for staff who work beyond their contracted weekly hours. The union says the payment is urging the trust to reverse its decision to bring overtime payments back in line with national agreements paying time and half for the extra shifts. In February, hospital bosses said they were switching to a system where staff doing extra hours had to take shifts paid at a flat rate. UNISON fears the change will lead to staff shortages and more cancelled operations read more

Sacked mining museum worker submits unfair dismissal claim (18 June) – Neil Williams was removed from his position as health and safety manager at the National Coal Mining Museum last Decemberread more

Children’s social care managers in Bath escalate strike action over pay and grading (14 May) – Workers will walk out from Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 May. Bath and North East Somerset Council workers protesting in Bath. They’re holding placards. Children’s social care managers at Bath and North East Somerset Council are to strike for a further three days in an escalating dispute over pay and grading, says UNISON today (Thursday). Team managers and deputy team managers will walk out from Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 May. Workers at the local authority unanimously backed strike action following concerns about the council’s job regrading programme, says UNISON. Those affected by the scheme say it was imposed without proper consultation, and has left many on the wrong grade and underpaid. The union says the dispute comes at a time of wider upheaval in children’s services. In March, the council announced a restructure of which UNISON says has left staff facing further uncertainty read more

Defend Ameen Hadi and Salford City UNISON against the Far Right sign petition – ‘We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with trade unionist and lifelong anti racist campaigner Ameen Hadi. He has been placed under investigation by Salford City Council, following a malicious allegation, driven by far right YouTubers and Fascist Tommy Robinson, after a TOGETHER unity rally in Manchester on International Women’s Day’

Support Camden Unison school support staff members at Richard Cobden school for fair pay and safe staffing levels Camden New Journal: School strike over cuts to support staff

NIPSA

NICS Member Update: Pay Award (18 Aug) – Maria Morgan, Deputy General Secretary: In the bulletin of 26 June, members were advised that we had not yet received a pay offer because the NI Executive parties had not agreed a budget. We understand that the NI Executive parties are still seeking to improve the Treasury allocation before a budget can be agreed. NIPSA continues to press political leaders for a needs-based budget so that pay and public services are properly funded. Whilst we are cognisant of the fact that we are almost 5 months past the date by which the pay uplift was due, we are not, in the circumstances, pressing for an immediate offer which is likely to be unacceptable to members. We will continue discussions with Management Side on pay-related issues and maintain our political engagement, including seeking a meeting with the Secretary of State, to highlight the ongoing delay and its impact on our members. Further updates will be issued as necessary read more

Member Update: Public Sector Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy (17 Aug) – Members may be aware, The Executive Office (TEO) launched a consultation on a draft public sector AI Strategy on 12 August. NIPSA has raised serious concerns about the lack of meaningful trade union engagement before the launch. Although we attended a brief introductory meeting with TEO officials on 23 February, there has been no further engagement or discussion since read more

NIPSA Urges Full Trade Union Consultation on Executive Office AI Strategy (14 Aug) – NIPSA has raised deep concerns about the lack of trade union engagement before the launch of the Executive Office’s public consultation on its draft Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy read more

NIPSA Condemns threats and abuse directed at DAERA Staff (11 Aug) – NIPSA has welcomed the response from DAERA senior management following concerns raised by the union regarding the safety and wellbeing of staff in the wake of the recent Fivemiletown cattle cull incident. After receiving reports from members of abuse, hostility and intimidation, including online harassment, NIPSA formally wrote to the Department seeking assurances on the protection measures and support available to staff carrying out their official duties read more

NIPSA Condemns DAERA Threat of Pay Deductions Against Veterinary Staff Engaged in Lawful Industrial Action (29 July) – NIPSA has condemned DAERA’s decision to threaten pay deductions against veterinary staff participating in lawful Action Short of Strike (ASOS), describing the move as an unnecessary escalation of the ongoing dispute. The union was responding to correspondence issued by the Department on 22 July 2026 indicating that staff participating in elements of the industrial action could face deductions of up to 25% of their daily pay read more

   

Royal College of Nursing     

UK heatwave: nursing staff working in ‘impossible and inhumane’ conditions (13 Aug) – A heat-proof overhaul of NHS buildings and services is needed to protect staff and patients, the RCN says read more

RCN calls for end to ‘grotesque’ exploitation of migrant nursing staff (7 Aug) – Social care staff are being left at the mercy of employers who control their immigration status, according to new evidence from the RCN read more  

RCN disappointed to see NHS pay process begin before talks conclude (16 July) – health secretary has written to the NHS Pay Review Body about pay for 2027/28 read more

RCN opens donations to strike fund in response to public desire to support striking staff – We’ve launched a donation page for people to financially help nursing staff on strike read more 

RCM

South Tyneside and Sunderland midwives vote overwhelmingly for strike action (19 June) – Midwives in South Tyneside and Sunderland have voted overwhelmingly for strike action to prevent being rostered on-call on their days off. In a ballot of impacted members that closed this week, 92 per cent of RCM members voted yes to strike action. The RCM has been in negotiations with South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust for more than three years, seeking a solution that keeps maternity services safely staffed, without forcing midwives onto on-call shifts at busy times. The union has warned that the proposed on-call system is unsafe and unsustainable, risking increased burnout and damage to the recruitment and retention of midwives read more

BMA

Consultants demand talks following mandate to strike (7 July) – SAS doctors fall short of turnout threshold but vow to continue struggle for better remuneration read more

Northern Ireland Resident Doctors strike for better pay (29 June) – Primary and secondary care in Northern Ireland in dispute with government simultaneously. Resident doctor leaders accused Northern Ireland’s health minister of ‘burying his head in the sand’ as they prepared to go out on strike owing to pay erosion. A 24-hour walk-out began today at 7am today as resident doctors continue their battle for pay restoration. It follows a 24-hour strike (in the form of Christmas Day cover) by consultants and specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors in Northern Ireland on Thursday read more

Consultants and SAS doctors begin strike (24 June) – Senior doctors in Northern Ireland announce 24-hour strike owing to failure to meet agreement on better pay.  For the first time, consultants and specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors in Northern Ireland will go on strike today because of pay. The 24-hour strike takes the form of Christmas Day cover, which means most routine or elective work will be cancelled but emergencies will be treated and runs from 7am today until 6.59am tomorrow. Representatives of the Northern Ireland BMA consultants and SAS doctors’ committees will go to Stormont around lunchtime to meet the chair and deputy chair of the health committee to discuss the dispute read more

NEU

NEU comment on the death of Jason Arday (15 Aug) – Commenting on the death of Jason Arday, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “A month ago, I was asked by someone I know and trust to sign the Good Law Project statement in solidarity with Jason Arday. I didn’t know a great deal about Jason, but what I could see was that, like many prominent black people in public life, the press coverage surrounding him was vile and disproportionate. So I signed without hesitation. Sadly that was only the beginning. What followed was a public and brutal takedown that unleashed a tirade of racism by the worst elements of the British media and the right wing commentariat…” read more

NEU snap poll confirms teachers are ready to take action on pay and funding (17 July) – In an online snap poll, conducted this week, teacher members of the National Education Union who work in maintained schools in England were asked their views of the government’s plan to only partially fund the pay offer of 3.5 per cent for 2026/27 and 3 per cent for 2027/28. NEU pressure to date has resulted in the government shifting ground, from an unfunded to partially funded pay offer, and to an offer of 6.5 per cent over two years rather than three. However, the government expects schools to find ‘efficiencies’ in their budgets to cover the remaining 1.1 per cent of the pay offer for 2026/27, which amounts to £460 million. Heads were informed of this on 1 July, leaving little time to plan budgets. A snap poll of NEU members, conducted this week, found strong support for action on pay and funding read more

Judge orders reinstatement for dismissed NEU Rep at the centre of on-going dispute at renowned London Hospital School (8 July) – On Friday 3 July, Kate Williams – dismissed NEU rep at the centre of the long running dispute at The Hospital School at GOSH and UCLH – was awarded Interim Relief by the judge presiding over her hearing. The decision made by Judge Davidson, at the Interim Relief Hearing, has meant that the Board of Governors at The Hospital School at GOSH and UCLH have been instructed to reinstate Kate paying her full salary until her full Employment Tribunal is heard. Kate Williams was dismissed by her employer in March 2026 following a disciplinary hearing overseen by Camden HR. Her dismissal followed her suspension from the workplace, 8-months earlier, in July 2025, after she raised concerns about chaotic and bullying management. Prior to her suspension, Kate had taught at the specialist setting for nearly 15 years with an unblemished record. Three senior staff remain suspended after also attempting to raise concerns and for their trade union activity. The Deputy and two Assistant Heads – who have a combined 30 years of service at the setting – have been suspended from the workplace since 24 October 2025. This was the day after Camden NEU submitted a collective grievance on behalf of 15 of their members. The school has lost approximately a combined 100 years of specialist hospital school experience through resignations, dismissals, and suspensions since a new headteacher took post in September 2024 read more

   

EIS   

Lecturers take fourth day of strike action at Glasgow Caledonian University over job cuts (4 Aug) – Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland University Lecturers Association (EIS ULA) at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) take their fourth day of strike action (Tuesday, 4th August 2026). The walkout forms part of an escalating dispute over university management’s proposals to cut up to 100 staff jobs and its continued refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. Following three initial strike days held in late June and early July, academic staff are returning to the Cowcaddens Road campus picket line to continue opposing management’s redundancy plans. The EIS ULA action will be taken alongside colleagues from the University and College Union (UCU), who are also taking strike action at GCU tomorrow read more

EIS Lodges New Dispute with City of Glasgow College over Management and Culture (30 June) – The EIS has lodged a new dispute with City of Glasgow College (CoGC) over the management style and institutional culture within the college. The EIS believes that the culture and ethos of CoGC is having a detrimental impact on the health, wellbeing, professionalism, operational effectiveness and morale of lecturing staff read more

INTO

Public service unions to prepare strike ballots as no basis for pay talks is established (3 July) – The INTO’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) will meet next week to discuss a decision taken by the ICTU Public Services Committee on 3 July. The Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) today confirmed that its 19 affiliated unions – including the INTO – will convene their national executive bodies to prepare for potential industrial action ballots, following the failure to establish a basis for talks on a new public service pay agreement read more

UCU     

UCU Stop the Cuts campaign  

Sign petition against the education cuts  

The tragic loss of Professor Jason Arday (17 Aug) – UCU statement: On Friday a wife lost a husband, children lost a father, and so many people lost a friend and colleague. The death of Professor Jason Arday is a tragedy. UCU calls now, as it did at the weekend, for our thoughts and actions to be driven by the example that has been shown by Jason’s family in the past few days. We also reiterate our demand for full accountability for the way some areas of the press disproportionately, obsessively, and relentlessly targeted, harassed and sought to humiliate Jason in recent weeks. We must call this out for what it is – a product and manifestation of systemic racism, which runs not only throughout education and the media, but also our society. In times of injustice, we must speak out, and our union will support Jason’s family, friends and colleagues until they have answers and justice read more

University of Sussex staff vote to strike in redundancy fight (14 Aug) – Staff at the University of Sussex have overwhelmingly backed strike action in a battle to save jobs. In a ballot that closed yesterday 81% of UCU members voted in favour of strike action on a turnout of 70%. The vote is over management’s threat to cut 200 jobs in plans to save £35m a year. Sussex UCU has put forward proposals to protect jobs and student provision, including allowing staff to volunteer to move part-time and working to bring down the pay of senior management, alongside campaigning to lobby policymakers to invest in the future of higher education. Management is now considering the union’s feedback but has already agreed to extend timelines and to consult with staff over voluntarily moving to part time read more

Exeter University shuts down geography courses while consultation still live (13 Aug) – Exeter University today announced it is closing geography programmes, UCU has revealed. Management is shutting down the university’s BA/BsC geography, including history and geography and politics and geography courses at its Penryn campus in Cornwall next month (September 2026). The announcement comes on the same day that prospective students receive their A-level results and go through the clearing process. The cuts also come as UCU ballots for strike action and while the university management are supposed to be consulting on cost saving measures. The union is balloting against plans that include putting more than eight in 10 academics in the faculty of humanities, arts and social sciences at risk of redundancy, and would see 200 staff axed read more

Heriot-Watt University staff back strikes in re-ballot (13 Aug) – Members of the University and College Union at Heriot-Watt University have backed further possible strike action in a re-ballot over cuts and compulsory redundancies. In the ballot that ended at 5.00pm yesterday University and College Union Scotland members at the university voted to back strikes by 70%.  As well as strike action, members also backed action short of strike, such as working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and a possible marking and assessment boycott, by 85%.  The mandate for strike action will last for 12 months, meaning teaching, research and student support at the university could be disrupted well into the new academic year.  Branch members will now decide what further action to take. Staff at the university were on strike last Friday and on Monday this week, making a total of 12 days lost to strikes since the dispute began.  The latest round came after management rolled back on earlier promises for no compulsory redundancies in the university’s Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies before spring next year, and with jobs also due to be lost, including by compulsory redundancy, in the Scholar programme which provides online learning to Scottish schools read more

Strike at Heriot-Watt University in dispute over jobs (7 Aug) – Members of UCU at Heriot-Watt University today begin two days of strike action in a dispute over job cuts and possible compulsory redundancies read more

NEET crisis will only be tackled by higher college funding (6 Aug) – Responding to the Department for Education’s report on ‘Post-16 education: pathways and outcomes for disadvantaged learners’, UCU general secretary Jo Grady today said: ‘This research confirms what staff working across further education see every day: too many of our young people are not receiving the support they need. If ministers are serious about tackling educational disadvantage and reducing the number of people who become NEET, they must invest properly in post-16 education…’ read more

Glasgow Caledonian University strike today over jobs (4 Aug) – Members of UCU at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) today are striking today over job cuts and the threat of possible compulsory redundancies. Today’s strike follows on from two days of well supported strike action earlier in the summer and follows a ballot where members supported strike action by 79% with a turnout of 69%. Members are also taking part in action short of strike by working to contract, not undertaking voluntary duties or covering for absent colleagues. Striking staff will be on picket lines at GCU as they attempt to save jobs at the university. The strike is over proposals, announced in March, by senior managers to cut up to 100 posts despite the university not being in deficit, holding healthy cash reserves and having a lean staff to student ratio compared to many other universities. While the university sector across Scotland is facing challenges the union said that GCU was in a very strong financial position read more

Sunderland University attacks pensions with 2-tier workforce (31 July) – The University of Sunderland is set to deny newly appointed academic tutors access to the industry standard Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) from tomorrow, UCU announced. New tutors will be employed through a sham company, wholly owned by the university, so it can avoid having them on its books. All directly employed academics can access TPS meaning the changes will create a two-tier workforce. Management claims it is attacking pension benefits because it needs to make savings, but admits it is likely to only save a maximum of £36k during the next academic year. The changes are being brought in just weeks after the Government confirmed employer TPS contribution rates will fall by more than a third. UCU estimates this will save Sunderland over £3m each year from April 2027 read more

Five-week strike at Dundee University starting in September (16 July) – Five weeks strike action from 21 September. Lobby of court today, 12.30pm at the Bonar Hall, Nethergate, Dundee. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at Dundee University will strike for 25 days over five weeks at the start of the new academic year in a long running dispute over cuts and job losses including compulsory redundancies. Staff at the university will be on strike each weekday from Monday 21 September through to Friday 23 October, meaning the strike will last for the first five weeks of the new term.  As well as taking strike action, staff will also be taking part in action short of strike which will include action such as not covering for colleagues or undertaking voluntary activities read more

Graduation chaos at London South Bank as marking boycott & strikes hit exams (13 July) – Staff at London South Bank University (LSBU) began a marking and assessment boycott today and will strike during the crucial exam resit week, from Monday 20 to Friday 24 July. UCU members are taking the action in a fight against fire and rehire tactics being used by university bosses to bypass collective bargaining. The boycott, which will hit graduations, covers all marking and assessment, including online and in-person. It also covers assessment-related work such as exam invigilation and the administrative processing of marks. Likewise, the strike will impact students’ ability to resit exams. LSBU management plans to terminate the contracts of all academic members of staff and pit them against each other in a sham redundancy selection process. It then wants to rehire them onto two separate tracks, ‘teaching and research’ (‘T&R’) and ‘teaching and scholarship’ (T&S), and intends to increase working time without any corresponding pay rise. All new T&S staff would be employed through a sham company to deny them access to the industry standard Teachers’ Pension Scheme and leave them outside the national pay framework. UCU believes the cuts will seriously impact the university’s nursing and midwifery provision, which would have knock-on effects on nursing throughout London’s hospitals. LSBU educates one in four of the city’s nurses. UCU has called on university management to urgently get round the negotiating table and work to resolve the dispute so students can graduate. Last week, politicians wrote to university regulator the Office for Students over the unprecedented scale of the cuts and staff have also unanimously backed a motion of no confidence in the vice-chancellor read more

Lincoln Uni strike ballot looms as over 140 staff put at risk (3 July) – The University of Lincoln has put more than 140 staff at risk of redundancy and could axe them as soon as next month. The union said it will be forced to launch a strike ballot if management continues with the plans, which would see more than 34 staff go across the schools of humanities and heritage, engineering and physical sciences, social and political sciences, chemistry, geography, and design and architecture, as well as the Lincoln international business school. Management says the cuts are needed to match student demand, but they come after staff overwhelmingly backed a no confidence vote against the vice-chancellor and senior leadership team over their poor leadership of the university, including more than one in three staff leaving over recent redundancy rounds and damaging the quality of teaching and research read more

Strike ballot looms at Macclesfield College as staff reject lowball pay offer (30 June) – Macclesfield College staff have overwhelmingly voted to reject a pay offer worth just 1.5% in year and backed strike action in a fight for fair wages. In an online ballot, UCU members at the college overwhelmingly voted by 95% to reject the low-ball award and indicated they are prepared to strike if the college does not come back with a decent offer. Macclesfield initially made an offer of just 2%, lower than any other college in the region, well below inflation and the 4% recommended by the college’s employer body, the Association of Colleges. Management belatedly made a further offer of 3%, but refuse to backdate it to August, meaning it is only worth 1.5% in year. Despite offering staff a real term pay cut the college has a forecasted surplus of over £650,000, generated through the hard work of UCU members. The college is due to be taken over by Cheshire College South and West on Saturday 1 August (2026) meaning staff could be striking within weeks of the college’s takeover read more

University of Nottingham condemned after latest attempt to end industrial action (19 June) – University and College Union (UCU) has today (Friday 19 June) condemned University of Nottingham management for their lack of willingness to help resolve the current dispute. UCU officials met with University of Nottingham management yesterday in a bid to end the ongoing dispute over large-scale job cuts, course closures and workload concerns. UCU had earlier this week provided potential further savings and a more detailed financial counterproposal to the employer’s plans and on top of the number of staff who may leave voluntarily. With graduations in just a few weeks, this was the ideal time to seek a resolution read more

Staff at Northumbria University to be balloted for strike action in job cuts row (18 June) – UCU has today formally declared a dispute with Northumbria University and will ballot members over potential strike action. The dispute is in response to management plans to slash around 1 in 10 jobs before Christmas, across Geography and Natural Sciences; Engineering, Physics & Maths; Humanities; Theatre & Performance; and Design departments.  Management has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies. The £5 million cuts follow an already damaging restructure, plans to push staff out of pension schemes and the folly of expensive building projects, including a £2.5m Centre for Writing which would house some of those staff who survive the cull. The move to a dispute and potential strike action follows votes of no confidence in both the senior executives and the Board of Governors read more

Global academic boycott imposed on University of Sheffield over job cuts & pay docking (4 June) – The University of Sheffield has just been hit with the ultimate sanction of a global academic boycott by the biggest higher education union in the UK read more

UCU responds to threat of over 100 job cuts at Aberdeen University (29 May) – Speaking following the announcement from the University of Aberdeen that it plans to make over 100 job cuts, UCU Aberdeen co-chair Dan Cutts said: ‘This is absolutely devastating for the workforce. There is a lot of anger, distress and worry amongst our members who have been working tirelessly to support their students. Our members are baffled as to why senior management are choosing to make these drastic job cuts when the university’s financial situation has improved and they report we are in surplus. Management plans are illogical and will be damaging to the student experience here at Aberdeen University. UCU will be gauging the feelings of our membership over the next few days and there is no doubt that our union will be fighting back against these devastating cuts.’ Read more

Ten-day strike at Aberdeen University starts today (13 Apr)

Indefinite strike action to begin Monday 8 June over Goldsmiths lockout (29 May) – Staff will commence an indefinite strike on Monday 8 June at Goldsmiths, University of London. The union said the imposition of 100% pay deductions for participation in action short of strike is an effective lockout, and staff will refuse to work because management refuses to pay them. UCU began a marking boycott, as part of its action short of strike, on Monday 27 April, refusing to mark all work and assessments in a fight to protect jobs. Management responded by threatening to dock 100% of pay even if staff continue to complete all their other duties, including teaching, research and recruitment. The employer confirmed its intention to dock pay from Friday 22 May, ahead of a bank holiday weekend, and UCU has now responded by giving notice for indefinite strike action beginning Monday 8 June. Worryingly, university management has also reportedly issued an ultimatum to students, threatening to ban them from campus for protesting in solidarity with staff. Currently 269 professional services staff and academics are in scope of redundancy, more than one in five of the 1,230 strong workforce. Further academic staff cuts are also slated to start from September. This is the third round of redundancies at Goldsmiths in the last five years, and these cuts are going ahead despite close to £24m being saved in the two previous rounds read more

UCU fighting fund: the link is here and donations to the fund are spent on supporting members involved in important disputes.     

     

FBU   

FBU claims victory after Kent County Council reject all fire service cuts proposals (6 Aug) – The Fire Brigades Union has credited Kent firefighters and the local community for forcing the Fire Authority to back down on proposed cuts to the fire service. Following a mass campaign by Kent FBU, the union has delivered a vital win and saved fire stations from closure, kept fire engines available, and saved firefighters’ jobs. In a crunch Fire Authority meeting, the proposals were overwhelmingly rejected 17-2. Kent Fire and Rescue Service had originally proposed 63 firefighter posts be cut along with the removal of six fire engines and earmarked five fire stations for closure read more

FBU launches national ‘Cuts Kill’ campaign – Our fire and rescue service is stretched to breaking point. The demands on firefighters are rising fast, with climate change creating more extreme wildfires, flooding and severe weather. Yet the service responsible for protecting us is being asked to do more with less. For over a decade, deep cuts have hollowed out the service. Across the country, fire engines are arriving at emergencies without enough crew on board to respond and save lives. Some engines aren’t leaving the fire station at all because there simply aren’t enough firefighters to staff them. Response times are getting longer every year. And in an emergency, every second counts. Cuts kill. Firefighters and communities have raised the alarm repeatedly, but those warnings have been brushed aside while politicians made decisions that stripped vital resources from the frontline. After 14 years of cuts and austerity, it’s time to draw a line in the sand… Join the fight

This fight is for every job, every station and every community. Wherever they try to force through more cuts, we must stand together and push back. Write to your MP and call on them to sign the Early Day Motion demanding investment in the fire and rescue service

POA     

General Secretary update read more

National Chair update July 2026 read here  

NEC minutes July 2026 read more

Right to Strike Campaign – contact your MP (6 Aug) – POA Circular 33/2026 requested membership assistance, regarding contacting MPs about the Right to Strike. To date 71 Members of Parliament have responded to members’ letters, in both a positive and negative way. These responses have been posted on our social media and have been noted in the ‘corridors of power’ at Westminster read more

POA calls for trade union solidarity as Guernsey prison officers continue industrial action (29 July) – The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has expressed its full support and solidarity with Prison Officers at Les Nicolles Prison in Guernsey who are currently undertaking industrial action in response to long-standing concerns over pay, staffing, recruitment, retention and increasing workplace pressures. The POA has become aware that retired Prison Officers are being actively recruited through a private agency to undertake temporary roles at Guernsey Prison during the ongoing dispute. The Union believes these appointments are intended to provide operational cover while Prison Officers are engaged in lawful industrial action. The POA is calling on retired Prison Officers not to apply for, accept or facilitate temporary appointments which would undermine the legitimate industrial action being taken by their colleagues read more

NAPO

Wildfires – Advice for Members and Napo Health & Safety Representative (14 Aug) – Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess changing risks and adapt work accordingly read more

Press Release: 90.76% of Napo members back strike action as probation workloads crisis deepens (11 Aug) – Napo members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of potential industrial action over workloads, with 90.76% backing action and warning government that probation staff are at breaking point, putting public safety at risk. Thousands took part in the indicative ballot amid chronic staff shortages, excessive workloads, burnout and reliance on overtime to keep the service running. The result should come as a blow to government as it prepares to expand early release from prison and implement Sentencing Act changes, increasing the number of people managed in the community while probation is already struggling to cope read more

Detailed Probation Pay Claim Submitted (26 June) – The Probation Trade Unions have now formally submitted the detailed 2026–27 pay claim to senior HMPPS management, marking the next stage in our campaign to secure the pay, recognition and respect that probation staff deserve. This follows the opening of ‘without prejudice’ discussions earlier this month. Further talks will take place throughout July and August and Napo remains absolutely clear: members must have a pay offer to consider before 1 September read more

BFAWU     

Spring Foodworker 2025 read more

Support the campaign to unionise Samworth Brothers – get organised, sign the petition read more     

BALPA

Loganair base closures (17 Aug) – Following Loganair’s announcement of the closure of its Dundee and Southampton bases, BALPA has moved quickly to formally engage with the company on behalf of affected members. Our message to every Loganair pilot facing this news is simple: you are not facing this alone. We will ensure your circumstances are heard. If you are affected, get in touch with your Company Council as early as possible read more

BALPA responds to easyJet takeover by Apollo (7 Aug) – Commenting on the news that easyJet has agreed a £5.7bn takeover deal with Apollo,Chris Jones, BALPA’s Director for Industrial Relations and Employment Policy, said, “As the recognised trade union for airline pilots at easyJet, BALPA will ensure our members priorities and concerns are heard during the takeover process and beyond…” read more

NUJ   

NUJ issues notice of ballot at The Lancet over pay (6 Aug) – Members at The Lancet NUJ Chapel have overwhelmingly rejected the company’s latest pay offer, with the union now having sent notice to ballot for industrial action. Management presented two offers to our members, both of which were structured as a two-year pay deal. More than three-quarters (78%) voted against the first offer and 87% rejected the second on a turnout of 92%. Despite the chapel’s willingness to broaden negotiations beyond pay, the employer declined to engage read more

Musicians Union

Sign the Petition to Protect the BBC’s Future (3 July) – A collective of arts, entertainment and broadcast unions, including the Musicians’ Union, have launched a joint petition to protect the future of the BBC read more

Community

Community signs recognition agreement with Mitie Care & Custody at HMP Millsike (10 Aug) – Community Union has signed a landmark recognition agreement with Mitie Care & Custody, marking an important step forward for members working at HMP Millsike. The agreement gives Community sole recognition rights at the facility, creating a formal and direct route for staff to influence decisions about their workplace, safety, pay, terms and future read more

USDAW

Usdaw urges employers to keep workers safe as temperatures rise and calls for a maximum workplace temperature (13 Aug) – Retail trade union Usdaw has called on employers to mitigate issues with high temperatures, to keep workers safe in the current heatwave. Usdaw is also calling for a maximum workplace temperature, as recently recommended by the advisory Climate Change Committee read more

UVW   

Butlin’s Resort Safety Officers: 100% YES to strike action. Walkouts possible from 24 August in Bognor Regis resort (14 Aug) – The workers are responsible for responding to incidents across the resort, including violence and aggression, lost children and medical emergencies. They say chronic understaffing, faulty equipment, lack of paid breaks, what they believe are unlawful wage deductions and poor management are undermining their ability to do their jobs safely and putting unnecessary pressure on staff responsible for protecting guests and colleagues. The workers say they have repeatedly raised their concerns with management and have given Butlin’s opportunities to address them. They now say the overwhelming ballot result demonstrates the strength of feeling among the Resort Safety Officer team. The workers say they do not want to strike and would prefer to resolve the dispute through negotiations but believe industrial action may be necessary if Butlin’s does not take meaningful action. The workers want their union, UVW, to be present during talks and to be officially recognised by the company. At the heart of the dispute are workers’ concerns that the conditions in which they are expected to work are undermining their ability to keep guests and staff safe read more

Hospitality workers demand an end to zero-hours insecurity as bosses lobby again planned new protections (11 Aug) – The number of people on zero-hours contracts has hit a record high with more than 1.2 million people now on them, despite government reforms aimed at cracking down on their use. For hospitality workers particularly, zero-hours contracts mean unpredictable hours, unstable incomes and being left at the mercy of employers. Migrant hospitality workers in United Voices of the World (UVW) are speaking out as employers lobby over new legal protections due to take effect in 2027 read more

Migrant cleaners at South London school Ark Globe Academy vote for strike action (30 June) – Outsourced migrant cleaners, members of United Voices of the World (UVW), at Ark Globe Academy in South London have voted unanimously to take strike action after months of campaigning to restore the full London Living Wage and address persistent payroll issues. Every worker who participated in the ballot voted YES for industrial action, giving a 100% mandate to strike. The cleaners, employed by subcontractor Atlas Cleaning Limited, won the London Living Wage in 2020 and have consistently received it over the past five years. However, from 1 April 2026 they were given only a partial uplift to £14.27 per hour, marking the first time the full annual increase has not been implemented.  Months of payroll errors and delayed wage corrections have also left many workers struggling to pay rent, bills and other essential living costs. Atlas Cleaning Limited has told UVW that it cannot fully implement the 2026 London Living Wage increase because of contractual arrangements with Ark Globe Academy. The school told UVW that it decided “to pause alignment to the Real Living Wage for this financial year” due to wider financial pressures across the organisation and education sector…The cleaners’ campaign has attracted growing support from the local community, including National Education Union (NEU) members, teachers across Southwark, and residents; Green Party councillors have also backed the workers’ call for fair pay and treatment read more

Solidarity Financial Appeal: UVW’s office was targeted in a break-in! – in January 2025, laptops, essential equipment and other valuables worth several thousands of pounds were stolen, disrupting critical support for low-paid, migrant and precarious workers. This won’t stop our fight for justice. The theft comes as UVW leads critical campaigns with hundreds of workers taking strike action across London. Please support UVW during this critical time. Help replace stolen equipment and ensure campaigns for dignity and equality continue. Every donation makes a difference. Donate now: https://www.uvwunion.org.uk/donate. Read more on UVW Facebook page   

IWGB

‘Don’t boycott GTA VI’: Fired workers urge fans to back legal fight instead (18 Aug) – GTA VI workers fired by Rockstar in what they believe was an unlawful attempt at union-busting have released a video telling fans not to boycott the game when it comes out later this year. Instead, they are asking supporters to back their legal battle against Rockstar over the dismissals, with a new range of T-shirts launched to raise money towards their legal costs. The final hearing of the workers’ legal proceedings will begin in Glasgow next month.

RCA cleaners fired after protesting sexual harassment and workplace abuse (13 May) – Two cleaners at the Royal College of Art have been dismissed after taking part in a letter hand-in protest over alleged workplace abuse and sexual harassment, involving supervisors employed by the university’s cleaning subcontractor, PfP Students. The workers, who are members of the IWGB Union, say they are being victimised for speaking out about harassment and safety concerns in the workplace read more

SIPTU (Ireland)   

Update on Public Service Balloting (13 Aug) – MEMBERS BALLOTING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR! Health Division members across the country have commenced ballots for industrial and strike action over the Government’s failure to meaningfully engage in a successor Public Service Pay Agreement. Throughout July and August, SIPTU Organisers and Shop Stewards have been holding consultations and briefing sessions in hospitals around the country. The message coming from members is clear. We’ve been hearing the same thing everywhere: workers are fed up waiting for the Government to act read more

SIPTU welcomes progress at WRC with St Joseph’s Centre dispute (28 July) – SIPTU has welcomed progress at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) today (Tuesday, 28th July) between the Union and St Joseph’s Centre, Shankill, concerning a pay dispute. As a result of constructive engagement between the parties, a set of proposals has been put forward to address a dispute involving the pay rates of household staff. As a result of the progress made, planned strike action for this week has been called off to allow SIPTU members to ballot on the proposals. Both parties have agreed to remain committed to maintaining a constructive working relationship into the future read more

SIPTU members in RTÉ vote for industrial action to prevent further outsourcing (3 June) – SIPTU members employed in RTÉ have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking industrial action if there is any further outsourcing of production or roles at the national broadcaster. In a ballot, the results of which were released today (Tuesday, 2nd June), the vote was 85% to 15% in favour of proposals for industrial action if management attempts to implement any further outsourcing of roles and production responsibilities. SIPTU organises approximately 600 RTÉ staff carrying out a wide variety of roles read more

SIPTU healthcare workers to begin strike action over pay failure (11 May) – SIPTU members of Blanchardstown and Inner-City Home Care will commence strike action on Tuesday (12th May) for failure by management to fully implement the 2023 Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Agreement. Within the agreement, SIPTU members were to receive an 8% pay increase backdated to 1st April 2023. However, Blanchardstown and Inner City Home Care have failed to fully implement these increases or provide any of the outstanding money owed read more

  

Other news     

Lucas Plan 50th Anniversary Celebration – REGISTER HERE. AN IDEA WHOSE TIME MUST COME! A conference for trade union, left, green, peace, community activists and students and academics. Nov 21st 2026 at University Place, Manchester FREE – REGISTER NOW

Sign this petition: Protect the Residents of St James Estate in Southwark, South London – We, the undersigned, call on Southwark Council to take urgent action to protect residents of the St James Estate from eviction, excessive rent increases, and housing insecurity. More than 100 families, including many who were previously homeless or housing insecure, face eviction from a long-established community they have called home for up to 35 years, risking homelessness and placing further strain on overstretched housing services  St. James Tenants Association    Support us   read more on the website of Unite LE/1111 Housing Workers Branch

Timms Review: calls for Welsh govt. to back independent disability review – A powerful coalition of Welsh disability, carers’, and trade union organisations have today written to the Welsh Government asking ministers to lodge their “strongest possible grievance” with the UK Government over the Timms Review into the PIP disability benefit. The UK-wide review was announced in parliament late last year, with promises of “co-production” with disabled people, and a pledge of no further cuts until its conclusion. However, Welsh Disabled Peoples’ Organisations are adamant that co-production is not happening, with Welsh disabled people, they claim, treated with particular contempt. The intervention comes in the final week before the Senedd summer recess, after local authorities, including Swansea Council, admitted they have made “no provision” for impending disability cuts in their medium-term budgets. The groups have asked the new Welsh Government to deliver on its promise of providing practical assistance in achieving a “long standing demand” of “a genuine disability review, led independently and democratically by disabled people and our organisations, including our trade unions.”

  • The letter was coordinated by Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru). Co-signatories include Disabled Peoples’ Organisations, unpaid Carers’ Organisations, and trade union organisations including the Social Workers Union, BFAWU, PCS Wales, TSSA Wales No 1. Branch, Unite Community Wales, the NSSN, and Welsh trades councils.
  • The letter to the Welsh Government, the full list of signatories, and a briefing, is available here: Non-Easy Read version  Easy Read version

For any press enquiries please email [email protected]

Or for anything else please email [email protected]

This May Day, Strike Map launched the Solidarity Fund. A simple to use permanent place, you can contribute to support striking workers read more

Centenary of the 1926 General Strike – Monday May 4, marks the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and an event appropriately called Centenary will be held at Glasshouse Gateshead to commemorate that momentous occasion, which was the biggest rupture in British society since the English civil wars of the 1640s. Centenary will comprise songs, comedy sketches, stand-up comedy and recitations.  

Producer Ed Waugh penned Carrying David, Wor Bella, Hadaway Harry and The Cramlington Train Wreckers which transfers to Newcastle Theatre Royal in July.  

Ed explained: “Centenary is an appropriate name for the show because it’s amazing to think we’ll be performing the show exactly 100 years to the day that the General Strike actually started. “While Centenary will commemorate the UK’s only General Strike it will also celebrate other working class struggles from the Napoleonic Wars to the present time using popular culture.”

The one-off show will be compered by Micky Cochrane, who is the current  Performer of the Year (North East Culture Awards) for his outstanding performances in the Cramlington Train Wreckers and Carrying David.

Ed continued: “Paul Weller and Tom Robinson have has given us personal permission to use their  songs. Likewise the tremendous Paul Simmonds of The Men They Couldn’t Hang and the estate of the late-great Alan Hull of Lindisfarne.” He added: “Not only will it be first-class entertainment, we think people will come away inspired, having learnt about real, working class, history.”

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – adapted by Neil Gore from the book by Robert Tressell, directed by Louise Townsend details

Alan Hardman ‘Need not Greed’ – Alan Hardman’s razor-sharp political cartoons collected for the first time. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike, Need Not Greed is a career-spanning collection of visual art by one of Britain’s greatest unsung political cartoonists. Alongside Alan Hardman’s essential work, the book also includes a contribution from former President of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill, as well as a foreword by Jeremy Corbyn order a copy – £45 each   

Affiliate with STAMMA – at this year’s NSSN Conference, Gary Clark retired CWU Royal Mail rep and a member of the NSSN Steering Committee spoke about 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    

STAMMA website    

Sign this petition: To the Right Honourable Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and The Right Honourable Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister – Make toxic landfills safe – Support ‘Zane’s Law’!  Find out more about this campaign here   

From Strike Map – Our final instalment of the ‘Industrial Unionism’ series with Manifesto Press is here. Building on this success of our other pamphlets- which has sold over 2,000 copies, our next pamphlet in our series is the infamous ‘A Manual of Industrial Unionism’ by William Z Foster. Click the button here to pre-order your copy for you and your organisation   

     

Oppose blacklisting & union victimisation

Statement from the Independent Blacklisting Collusion Inquiry legal team (31 July) read more

Spycops inquiry condemned as “fundamentally flawed” in statement by blacklisted workers – The SpyCops public inquiry that restarts evidence hearings this week is described as “fundamentally flawed” by the Blacklist Support Group (BSG). The comments appear in an opening statement for the inquiry’s Tranche 3 hearings. The statement opens with a section stating:

“Undercover police officers infiltrated and spied on trade unions. SDS reported on union meetings, union activists, union campaigns, and industrial disputes. For decades, police and security service records were used to blacklist trade union and leftwing political activists from employment. Through official and unofficial routes, the police intelligence was disseminated to government departments, major private sector employers and the unlawful blacklisting bodies; the Economic League and the Consulting Association”. The statement goes onto catalogue 10 years of missed opportunities and broken promises in relation to blacklisting, including highlighting how intelligence gathered by undercover police is used to provide state organised vetting for employers known as ‘List X companies’. One section of the statement reads: “The failure to fully investigate blacklisting is either a remarkable lack of curiosity, or an intentional self-imposed restriction of the Inquiry’s terms of reference. Either way it is against the public interest and is a failure to fulfil the Inquiry’s terms of reference as laid out by Parliament”. 

BSG’s opening statement is published on the inquiry’s website as part of the submission by Imran Khan KC, who also represents Baroness Doreen Lawrence OBE, Suresh Grover and the Monitoring Group. Full statement in link below – BSG section starts at page 35.

https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/T3P1-Opening-Statement-Imran-Khan-Partners.pdf

Opening statement to the Undercover Policing Inquiry on behalf of:

Lois Austin, Richard Chessum, ‘Mary’, Dave Nellist, Hannah Sell, Youth against Racism in Europe read here

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/blacklistSG/

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

   

        

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     

Taiwan: Stop union busting at TaiDoc read more from LabourStart

Turkey: SPOT Statement on the arrest of Deniz Göktaş read more on the website of SPOT – Solidarity with the People of Turkey

Turkey: Mehmet Türkmen released but the fight for workers’ rights in Turkey continues – The release of Turkish trade union leader Mehmet Türkmen after 57 days in prison is a victory for workers, trade unionists, and all those who stood in solidarity against repression in Turkey. But his case has exposed something far deeper than the unjust imprisonment of one union organiser: it has shone an international spotlight on the deadly working conditions faced by textile workers in Gaziantep and the growing criminalisation of labour activism read more on the website of Solidarity with the People of Turkey

Germany: International solidarity against union busting – CWI member under attack for his defence of workers’ rights (19 June) – Cologne’s swimming pool operator, Köln-Bäder GmbH, a subsidiary of Cologne’s council’s municipal services provider, Stadtwerke-Köln GmbH, has filed a motion for the extraordinary termination of employment of works council member, Martin Löber. The reason given for this termination is alleged working-hour fraud. Experts from ver.di (the public sector union) who have reviewed the case have stated that this incident does not even warrant a discussion. Various claims made in the justification for the termination have been proven false, as evidence has already shown. There is a strong suspicion that the grounds for the termination have been fabricated. For Martin, the termination is yet another attempt by his employer to get rid of him. He has already been suspended twice during previous conflicts…Send letters of protest to Köln-Bäder GmbH at [email protected] with copies sent to [email protected]  read more

Nigeria: A Call for Solidarity – Drop Trumped-Up Charges against Soweto and Dele Frank Now! On March 11, 2026, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and spokesperson of #EndBadGovernance Movement Lagos, and Dele Frank (Arole Fela) are expected to appear before a magistrate court in Yaba, Lagos for the commencement of a sham trial on the trumped-up charges preferred against them by the Lagos State Police Command over their participation in a peaceful protest read more, including model letter of protest. Send copies of letters of protest to the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) is [email protected]

Workers unity against the far-right

The far-right are again trying to whip up racist division by scapegoating refugees and migrants. The NSSN calls for the unions to play a leading role in opposing this offensive, which will only weaken our movement in the interests of the employers. We call on the TUC to implement the policy passed at its 2018 Congress, to launch a campaign of ‘Jobs and homes NOT racism.’

For details of protests, check your local trades council and go to the website of Together Alliance

   

   

Diary      

  

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