Unite

Unite members vote for action

Unite has secured an industrial action mandate across LU and most of TfL. Their ballot was over pension cuts and the pay freeze for centrally-employed TfL staff.

Mandates were secured in LU, Surface Operations, Network Management Control Centre, Compliance, Policing, and On-Street Service (CPOS)...

Bus workers strike over pay

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...

Get moving on council pay!

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...

Unite ballots on TfL/LU: vote yes!

Unite is balloting its members across TfL and LU for industrial action. The ballot began on 21 April, and runs until 26 May. Tubeworker encourages readers in Unite to vote yes for action!

Unite is balloting over threats to the TfL pension scheme. If their ballot returns a majority for action, it...

Speed up on 2022-23 pay!

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%...

Questions after police raid

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...

Local government strikes in Northern Ireland

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...

Stalling in Kirklees union impasse

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...

Campaign on the April 2022 pay round

The local government branches of the public services union Unison are only now being consulted on the pay claim for the year starting 1 April 2022. Following a failure in a union ballot to reach the 50% turnout threshold required by the Trade Union Act 2016, last year’s pay deal (1.75%) was settled just weeks ago. The options for a 2022 claim offered by the union leaders are 2% above the Retail Price Index (RPI) or a flat rate rise of £2,000. Our fight to challenge low and unequal pay normally points to support for a flat-rate claim, but there are problems with a flat-rate claim this year. If...

Why has the Morning Star ignored Unite on Ukraine?

Last Thursday the executive council of the big union Unite met and passed a resolution on the war in Ukraine. The resolution “unreservedly condemns Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and stands in full solidarity with the millions of victims of the attack. Unite calls for an immediate cease-fire and a withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukraine.” It congratulates union members “such as those at the Stanlow refinery – who refuse to unload Russian oil from any ship regardless of the nationality of the vessel that delivers it, and Unite repeats the call on the UK government to close the loophole that...

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