Unite

Unite members began a indefinite strike over pay on Monday 6 June in Arriva buses in West Yorkshire and some services in North and East Yorkshire. Over 650 drivers and engineers had voted 96% for strikes following the company’s pitiful offer of a 4.1% pay rise. At the Wakefield depot there have regularly been between 60 and 100 workers on the picket, and in Castleford around 50. Very few staff have crossed the picket, and no buses have been running in the Wakefield area since the strike began. Workers told Solidarity that no Arriva buses have been running from any of the affected depots since...

On 11 May, Unite members at four south London bus garages struck for 24 hours over pay. Three of these garages, Norwood, Thornton Heath, and South Croydon, struck in April. The fourth, Brixton, had been prevented from striking due to a “clerical error” in the ballot notice to the employer. The error (lack of the dates for the ballot period on the notice to the local management) shows the narrow and punitive nature of the anti-union laws, but also led to members raising questions about their full time union officer who made the error. Following a re-ballot at the Brixton garage with a 65% turn...

The public services union Unison has consulted with their members in local government about the NJC (joint unions) pay claim for the year from April 2022 with two options: 10% or a flat-rate £2,000 increase. The consultation went for £2,000. We agree with a flat rate claim, but £2,000 will be a real-wage cut for the vast majority of workers in local government. All pay points above NJC scale point 6 (£20,043 per year) would be worse off with £2,000 than a 10% rise. The GMB and Unite have not yet established what their claim is going to be and have not met with Unison to put a claim to the...

The public services union Unison has been consulting on the local government pay claim for April 2022, with the results being fed through to Unison representatives on the National Joint Council alongside other public sector unions. Members haven’t yet been given a timeline for future decisions. The options given to members were a flat rate claim, or RPI plus 2% The claim is to be for pay from 1 April 2022, and yet hasn’t even been submitted yet. RPI inflation is currently 9.0%, so we have to build confidence in an urgent fight for a serious pay award. Many Unison members will receive the 1.75%...

In the first week of April the Daily Mirror and Guardian carried reports of a police raid on Unite headquarters. According to the reports, the raid was part of “a major bribery, fraud and money-laundering investigation” involving a Unite employee whose “files, documents and computer” were seized. The investigation, reports continued, concerned contracts relating to the union’s recently built hotel and conference centre in Birmingham, and contracts relating to services provided to Unite members. It would be inappropriate (and probably illegal) to speculate on the identity of the Unite employee...

Unite branches in local government in all eleven councils in Northern Ireland are striking for improved pay at a local level by raised pay grades, reduced work hours, and more paid holidays. Unison and the GMB have agreed the 1.75% pay deal for 2021/22 after disappointing ballot results. Unite has not confirmed industrial action in local government outside of Northern Ireland. A consultation is taking place within Unison over the local government pay claim for the year from April 2022. We argue for a big increase in basic pay but also reforming the grading structure, increasing annual leave...

In mid-February, Paul Holmes, elected national president of Unison in June 2021, was re-elected as secretary of Kirklees local government branch. After the branch’s AGM in February, union officials said that the branch would be returning to normal functioning after two years under regional control while Holmes and other branch officers were suspended by the council. The council sacked Holmes on 2 February. He is appealing. Today, 28 March, we tried to contact the Kirklees branch office and got an answerphone message that the branch cannot respond to phone or email enquiries. Members wanting...