Workers' Liberty

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A judgement in the Appeal Court this month upheld all the substantive elements of a case brought against the GMB union by a group of women workers in Middlesbrough. The GMB were found to have “indirectly discriminated” against these women in order to pursue a “Single Status Agreement” deal with the local council that focused on future pay and pay protection. The union ignored their right to significant amounts of back pay. The GMB now want to appeal to the House of Lords as they potentially face large financial penalties as the women’s lawyers pursue their case.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The decision by members of Unison’s Local Government National Joint Council to agree to binding arbitration effectively brings this year’s pay dispute to an end.

UNISON: activists in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are angered by news from the national office on progress on pay negotiations.

The two day strike by hundreds of thousands of local government workers [on 16/17 July 2008] has demonstrated that there is a real mood to defeat the government’s imposed pay cut.

The 16th and 17th of July was the first time I have ever been on strike and I picketed outside the council building where I work with a couple of other workers.

• TEACHERS: NUT members in two Leeds schools voted for strike and non-strike action in June in opposition to increased workload.

As we go to press (20 August 2008) a 24-hour strike action by local government workers, members of UNISON, UNITE, and the GMB is taking place.

CIVIL SERVICE JOB SECURITY

PCS members are currently being balloted on a job security agreement struck with the Civil Service. This agreement, called the protocols, is the result of long running union agitation over job security. Members should vote in favour, but be clear as to limitations and weaknesses.

Well over a hundred people attended the "Save Our Services in Lambeth" meeting hosted by Lambeth local government Unison on 11 June, and agreed to launch a Public Services Not Private Profit campaign to unite the various workers' struggles and anti-cuts initiatives currently taking place in the borough.

In June both the RMT and Unison conferences passed motions in solidarity with Palestinian and Israeli unions and supporting dialogue rather than boycotts.

• TEACHERS: The Executive of the National Union of Teachers on 29 May considered alternative timetables for a ballot for discontinuous strike action to continue the pay campaign.

Two out of three Unison members voted to reject the local government pay deal in a consultative ballot. The yes vote was helped by the action taken on 24 April. These strikes gave a public profile and some urgency to the issue.

A pay offer covering the next three years is being put to health workers this month. The national leadership of UNISON is completely split on whether it should be accepted or rejected. Workers’ Liberty supporters are convinced we should reject the offer. We also believe that industrial action is possible and we can win.

Lambeth Council bans trade union from Staff Conference

The Probation Service is proposing to remove the automatic annual increments awarded to most workers. It is the first public-service sector to come out with this proposal.

Members of the public service union Unison should have already received ballot papers for the Service Group Executive (SGE) elections being held now.

Following the health conference of the public services union Unison in mid April, members have received ballot papers inviting them to accept or reject the Government’s proposed three year pay deal.

In sharp contrast to the health sector, members of the public sector union Unison in local government are being given a clear direction to reject their current pay offer and prepare for strike action.

Birmingham City Council workers will strike again on 23 and 24 April over the council’s plans to use “single status” negotiations to cut pay and jobs.

Several weeks overdue, the health service Pay Review Body finally made its recommendation to the government on 4 April — three days after the rise should have been implemented.

Birmingham council workers to strike 23-24 April

It's clear that Birmingham City Council and their corporate backers want to use the "Single Status" settlement to make fundamental attacks upon the council workforce and the users of City Council services: the entire Birmingham working class.

The health workers' section of the public service workers' union Unison has its conference in April. The Unison Health Service Group Exec met on 26 March, and a very strong minority opposed the top union officials' line that the union should accept a multi-year deal at whatever the official Pay Review Body proposes.

Driving examiners strike
 

A statement from “Defend the Five” Campaign —
This campaign has been launched because of the attack by Unison’s leadership on four London branches and five officers of these branches.

Recently there have been a number of strikes and protests in local government in response to settlements of Single Status Agreements.

Statement from the Defend the Five campaign

Submitted by Guy's and St Thomas's Unison.