Strikes and lock-outs

Amazon workers at Coventry’s BHX4 warehouse are striking again on 16-18 and 21-23 April, following strikes on 13-17 March, 2 March, and 27 February. The workers, currently paid £10.50, are demanding a £15/hour minimum wage. Since 31 March, the GMB union has been conducting consultative ballots for industrial action at warehouses in Mansfield, Coalville, Kegworth, Rugeley, and Rugby, and hopes to move to formal ballots in due course. Amazon worker and GMB union rep Darren Westwood spoke to us. We’re feeling very optimistic. People are looking forward to striking, we feel like we’re pushing...

On 6 April French workers staged another major day of strikes and protests against President Macron’s reform to increase the pension age in France. A further day of strikes is planned for 13 April. The 6 April action was called by union leaderships (the “Intersyndicale” committee of the general secretaries of eight confederations) after talks with Macron’s prime minister Élisabeth Borne broke down after just an hour. Numbers on last week’s protest were down according to the CGT, with 400,000 reported demonstrating in Paris, down from 450,000 a week earlier. But the strikes are continuing to...

Royal Mail has offered postal workers a three-year pay deal, averaging just over 3% for each year of the deal. The company is still ploughing ahead with its plans to radically overhaul workers’ conditions, including extending hours and tightening sickness and attendance procedures. It has guaranteed no compulsory redundancies, but only for the life of the deal. Despite the offer clearly coming nowhere near union demands for an above-inflation pay increase and an abandonment of planned cuts, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called no further strikes. Union leaders continue to stress...

Junior doctors, who struck for three days in March, struck for four days from 11 April. They are demanding “pay restoration” — a clear timetable for reversal of the 26% real terms pay cut they have suffered since 2008. For the first time in its history, the British Medical Association (BMA) has set up a strike fund . Taking only her normal doctor’s salary rather than the increased payment for working for the union part-time, the deputy chair of the BMA’s Council, socialist junior doctor Emma Runswick, has donated £22,000 . Grace Allport, a junior doctor in the North West, told Solidarity :...

What are the lessons from the Budget; the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse; and the figures showing Feb-2022-to-Feb-2023 UK inflation a tad up on Jan-2022-to-Jan-2023, after three months of slight decline in those year-on-year figures?

Drivers working for the National Express bus company have won a 16.2% pay rise, better accident pay, and higher rates for Christmas holiday working, in a one year deal. The 3,100 drivers from nine bus garages across the West Midlands struck for six days and had stayed on strike while the company offer was voted on by members. The campaign had been coordinated by the reps working closely with the Unite Bus Combine. The reps were critical of the role of union full-time officers in previous disputes, and had failed to get over the threshold in a ballot of members in the last pay round. The strike...

Amazon workers at the BHX4 facility in Coventry have been striking, most recently from 13-17 March, in their fight for a £15/hour minimum wage and other improvements to terms and conditions. Darren Westwood, an Amazon worker and GMB union activist, spoke to Solidarity about the ongoing campaign. See also: "Building workers' power at Amazon" , interview with an Amazon worker from December 2022. The mood in the workplace is really good – we've grown the membership, so we're obviously doing something right. Management has calmed down a bit recently, backing off from some of the more...

British Medical Assocation (BMA) activist Grace Allport spoke to Solidarity . The first round of strikes [13-15 March] was fantastic. At my hospital [in Wigan] we had a good turnout on strike, and probably 30 pickets out of about 200 junior doctors. There was positive energy and morale stayed high. We had visits from other trade unionists and some strikers went on the big cross-union demo in Manchester, with good feedback. We also had strong support from the public. Our clear core message is that doctors are not worth less than they were in 2008 [the BMA demand is for a clear timetable for...

The PCS union is to take one day of all-member industrial action on Friday 28 April. Along with that, selective action will continue. The decision was made against the background of no current substantive pay discussions or offer from the Civil Service. Between the selective action and the all-out action, hopefully sufficient pressure will be brought to bear on the government so that it makes us a serious offer. In parallel to the action is the re-ballot which started on 20 March. To help maximise turnout, voting will continue until 9 May. Within a few weeks of that, PCS national conference...

Manchester-based junior doctor and British Medical Association (BMA) activist Grace Allport spoke to us about junior doctors’ strikes over pay. Here we publish some more from the discussion. I work in Wigan. I started my activity with the BMA as a medical student at Manchester University, which was a good place to get involved because it was quite a political campus and a very big one in terms of medical students. That meant we also sent big delegations to the medical students conference and the ARM [Annual Representative Meeting, the BMA’s national conference]. After graduating I sat on the...