GMB

Following the historic vote for strike action by RCN members in 176 NHS trusts, the ballot result from the largest NHS union, Unison, is due on 25 November. Yes votes will win with high percentages. Healthworkers across the country are convinced that they have no choice but to take a stand on pay now as the service crumbles around them. With union organisation on the ground weak in many NHS Trusts, the turnout in some ballots will be below what it is demanded by the Tories’ 2016 law. Despite that, with targeted organisation and a boost from the RCN vote, Unison is likely to meet the threshold...

Teachers in Scotland have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action to force the Scottish Government to improve the 5% pay offer already on the table from three months ago. With a 71% turnout, 96% of EIS members voted in favour of taking industrial action. The first one day strike is scheduled for 24 November. Ambulance workers in the Scottish Ambulance Service have also voted to take industrial action over pay. A one day strike has been called by the GMB for 28 November, and Unite has called a work to rule from the preceding Friday. Nurses in the RCN are planning industrial action...

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced on 9 November that 176 Trusts across the UK had passed the threshold in their strike ballots and voted for action. That’s 100% in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Wales missed the threshold in only one of its Trusts (by only nine votes!). The shortfall comes from England, where Trusts are much larger. This RCN result should encourage members and activists in the bigger health unions, Unison, GMB, and Unite, to push for big turnouts in their ballots. The Unison ballot closes on 25 November, GMB on 29th, and Unite on 30th for their first wave. The RCN...

The GMB union is re-balloting members in Amazon’s BHX4 warehouse in Coventry for strikes to win higher pay, after a previous ballot resulted in a 99% vote for strike action, but missed the 50% turnout threshold by three votes. BHX4’s workforce of around 1,400 workers includes many migrant workers, including a significant proportion of migrants from East Africa and Eastern Europe. Many live in flats or house-shares which mean receiving individual mail is sometimes difficult. Although the ballot is due to run for several more weeks, union activists are confident they are generating the momentum...

The National Education Union (NEU) is balloting its support staff members in state schools (whose pay is either determined or indirectly influenced by local government pay negotiations) for strikes over pay and increased funding for schools. Shamefully, Unison’s bureaucracy has reacted by declaring that it is suspending cooperation with the NEU, accusing it of breaching an agreement which prevents the NEU negotiating for support staff in state-funded schools. However, rank-and-file activists in Unison, GMB and Unite who want to see an effective fightback over pay in 2023 will welcome the NEU’s...

Local government members of the GMB union have voted by 67% to accept the local government pay offer in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (£1,925). Unison (the largest local government union) voted 63% to accept in September, and Unite (smaller in local government) 75% to reject. Unite’s calling for a reject vote made the difference. In the Local Government Joint Council the three recognised unions have a custom of going by majority vote and it appears that Unite has conceded. The three unions must start next year’s pay negotiations immediately with a bold claim that fights to win a £15 per...

For health workers in Scotland, a bit as with Scottish local government workers in September, the mere threat of action has led to the Scottish government increasing its initial offer of 5% to £2,205 flat rate per worker, an average of perhaps 7% across the workforce. That is slightly better than the Scottish local government offer accepted by the three main local government unions (Unison, GMB and Unite). Calling off the live strike ballot which was due to close only days later was still an expensive mistake by the Scotland Unison health committee. It weakens health workers’ hand in future...

One of the markers of the significance of the current strike wave is that it includes, alongside national strikes in nationwide industries such as the rail and post, a proliferation of local disputes. That indicates not only the general conditions of mounting inequality and worsening wages and conditions, but an increasing confidence of workers to fight back. In Aintree, near Liverpool, nearly 700 workers in the GMB union at the Jacob’s Bakery factory have held a rolling strike since 26 September, striking for 12 hours at a time, for a total of 14 strikes so far. They are fighting for an...

With a series of disaggregated ballots being conducted by a variety of health unions, we could end up with a complex picture of mandates for strike action across different Trusts and sectors. It could still be used to launch an effective campaign of strike action in defence of national pay, if co-ordinated. It is vital in this situation that the health unions communicate and plan together effectively. With the leaderships nationally and at branch level of all the health unions having more experience of competing, pitting union against union, than of acting in solidarity, members will need to...

Health workers were eagerly awaiting September’s pay day, as the backdated pay increase was due to be paid. The NHS Pay Review Body recommendation was for a full-time-equivalent £1,400 rise, effective from 1 April 2022, for staff in Agenda for Change [the main NHS pay system], increased to 4% for staff at the top of band 6 or in band 7. The increase also included the National Living wage adjustment made on 1 April 2022, which applied to Bands 1 and 2. However, what was seen in pay packets didn’t meet expectations. One work colleague whispered to me: “Can I have a word? Do the union know about...