GMB

General, Municipal and Boilermakers' Union

North Sea: fight for the workers’ plan

As we enter another hot summer and emissions hit an all-time high, the Labour leadership sought headlines with a series of feeble announcements on environmental policy. Labour’s policies are an improvement compared to the denialists in charge of the Tory party, but far too timid as an answer to the ecological crisis. Rank-and-file offshore workers and environmentalist groups have published a set of demands for a worker-led just transition. The Our Power report calls for a wage guarantee and an offer of free retraining for workers made redundant as the oil fields are decommissioned. But at the...

Mass pickets at Amazon

The latest round of strikes at Amazon’s BHX4 warehouse in Coventry, on 12-14 June, saw mass pickets of nearly 500 workers. Activists report that morale amongst workers remains high, with new workplace leaders stepping up to join the organising group. Further strikes are planned, but with no dates set. Ballots for industrial action at other Amazon sites in Mansfield and Rugeley returned large majorities for strikes, but missed the 50% turnout threshold. GMB plans an immediate re-ballot at Rugeley. The union estimates that Amazon is spending between £1.3 million and £2.6 million per month on...

Amazon workers say: the fight continues!

Amazon workers have sent a message to the support group established to support their ongoing fight for improved wages and conditions, and for union recognition. A push for recognition has been scuppered by Amazon, with the collusion of the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the government body which oversees requests for union recognition, skewing the figures by suddenly creating thousands of new jobs. This pushes the GMB union's membership level back below the 50% required for statutory recognition, even though a reasonable approach to due process would take the workforce figures from when...

Combat bad politics with good politics

Bad politics should be combatted with good politics, not by bureaucratic disciplinary measures. On that basis, the suspension of GMB member Bert Schouwenberg should be lifted. Earlier this year Schouwenberg proposed a motion about links between the GMB and the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) at his branch. The motion was for this year’s GMB congress and was passed unanimously. The motion is certainly pretty whacky and factually inaccurate. It also incorporates traditional themes of left antisemitism. According to the motion, the GMB’s work with the JLM has brought “the union into disrepute.” The...

Two more Amazon sites to ballot

Workers at two more Amazon warehouse will launch formal ballots for strikes, hoping to join workers at the BHX4 facility in Coventry who have so far struck for 14 days in total in a dispute over pay and workplace conditions. The ballots at the facilities in Rugeley, Staffordshire, and Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, begin on 12 May and conclude on 9 June. Workers in the warehouses voted for action by 98% and 100% respectively in consultative ballots held during April. The GMB union has also submitted a formal application for union recognition at BHX4, where its membership has now exceeded the 50%...

Push forward after May Day weekend strikes

The return to strikes by nurses’ union RCN, from 8pm on 30 April until 2 May, is an important opportunity to revive and accelerate the pay fight in the NHS. Unite members in various NHS trusts, including several ambulance trusts, will also strike on 1 and 2 May. If GMB members in the NHS also reject the pay offer in their ballot closing 28 April (possible, despite the GMB leadership recommending acceptance), their members in ambulance trusts and elsewhere in the NHS could also strike, officially from mid-May, but sooner if GMB members refuse to cross other unions’ pickets. Although junior...

Amazon workers step up action

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...

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