Unite

Unite the Union’s policy conference takes place in Brighton, 11-14 July 2023. It’s immediately preceded by its rules revision conference (9-10 July), motions at which may include proposals for disaffiliation from the Labour Party – but they haven’t been published yet. However the motions to policy conference have been. Here are some highlights. The deadline for amendments (each branch, etc, can amend one motion) is 21 April. The full motions document from which the page references below are taken is here . Strike strategy There’s not a lot of motions about strike or broader industrial strategy...

Members of Unite the Union are receiving ballot papers from 30 March to vote (by 25 April) for the union’s national Executive Council (apart from the 14 seats which are not contested). There are two slates in the elections: The United Left (UL) slate and the Sharon Graham (SG) slate. The UL has been the "traditional" left in Unite since the union’s creation. According to its website, “we are socialists … we campaign for socialist candidates in Unite elections to ensure our union is led by socialists.” But the UL’s socialism has always been mostly of the Morning Star variety. Despite a sizeable...

The NHS Workers Say No! group has put out a leaflet calling on health workers to vote no to the current offer and organise for renewed industrial action at a higher tempo. Click here for the PDF

Over 3,000 bus drivers and more than 200 bus engineers who work for West Midlands Travel were due to start an indefinite strike across the West Midlands on Thursday 16 March. The strike plan produced a last-minute improved offer: workers are voting on it, and if they reject the offer, then the strike starts 20 March. The ballot for action was a massive step forward for Unite in National Express: the Bus Combine worked with local reps to deliver a 73% turn out and 96% yes vote by the drivers. West Midlands Travel is wholly owned by National Express and is the largest bus operator in the West...

The strikes over pay for Agenda for Change (i.e. most) NHS employees in England are paused for negotiation. After the RCN cancelled their strikes in England at the beginning of March to go into unilateral negotiations, Unison, GMB, CSP and then Unite called off their planned action to join too. The government preconditions for negotiations with these unions were: cancellation of strikes; any uplift for 2022-23 would be a one-off unconsolidated payment; the talks to cover 2023-24 pay and “efficiency” reforms; and any offer coming from the negotiations to be recommended by trade unions to their...

Unison’s representatives on the local government National Joint Committee (NJC) that cover pay for local government and school support staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland — voted on Friday 10 March to reject the £1,925 flat rate offer from employers and go to an industrial action ballot. The ballot, which will be disaggregated by employer, is likely to run from 23 May to 4 July, and could see local government workers joining taking strike in the summer and autumn. The offer did not meet the claim for a 12.7% pay-rise for all workers, or come close to the starting salary of £15 per...

On 23 February, council employers offered a flat rate award of £1,925, or 3.88% for those on higher wages, from April 2023, for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland The claim from the unions (Unison, GMB and Unite) was for RPI + 2% (interpreted as 12.7%), a £15 per hour minimum wage in two years, pus extra leave and other improved conditions. The value of council workers’ pay has fallen by 25% in real terms since 2010, and the lowest grades have now almost been caught up by the government’s legal minimum wage of £10.42 (from April 2023). With this backdrop, it is not surprising that council...

This report was written before the RCN called off its action. We have seen some important announcements in the ongoing NHS pay dispute. Re-ballots in Unison: from ten ballots run in England, Unison got a mandate for strike action in another nine trusts. Junior doctors vote to strike: A ballot by the British Medical Association, junior doctors went 98% for strikes, on a 77% turnout: they will strike for 72 hours in March. Junior doctors in the smaller Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association already voted for strikes in January (97% for, 75% turnout), and will be out on 15 March. The...

Bus drivers working for Abellio in London have had over 20 days of strikes and continue to be in dispute. Abellio are notorious for being one of the lowest paying bus companies in London. Forensic accountants from the drivers' union, Unite, showed that the parent company Abellio Transport Holdings BV Netherlands had systematically removed £20 million from the London bus operation over 20 years and had held down wages to reduce staff costs from 65% of sales in 2010 to 50% of sales in 2020. Unite balloted members three times in 2022. The first two ballots failed to reach the anti-union law...

Until 3 February Unite union branches will be nominating candidates for the union’s Executive. Voting is 27 March to 25 April. There are two slates: United Left (UL), and what could be called the Sharon Graham (SG) slate. The United Left, long dominant on the Executive, was always primarily an electoral machine in the tradition of the old Broad Lefts, dominated by the politics of the Morning Star . Apart from a sometimes substantial dissident minority, it was uncritical of Len McCluskey, general secretary 2011-21. It declined, then was thrown into disarray when Steve Turner, its candidate in...