Health & safety

Catering staff at the University of Manchester have won a deal for no compulsory redundancies, no loss of hours, and no pay cuts. Their employer, UMC, a subsidiary company wholly owned by University of Manchester, had said in March that it would sack 46 of its 280-odd catering workers and move the rest to term-time only contracts — meaning a pay cut of about one third. Hannah McCarthy, the student union Campaigns and Citizenship Officer and vice-chair of Manchester Momentum, spoke to Solidarity . This is far from a complete victory. There will still be restructuring. But there will be no...

UCU at the University of Nottingham is balloting for industrial action against threatened compulsory redundancies in the Faculty of Arts. The University that claims to be Britain's global university wants to reduce its offer in archaeology, and theology and religious studies, and close language courses including Dutch. 11.5 FTE posts are at risk. The student body is up in arms over the threat. They have organised several protests, a petition and a Facebook group: Resist Restructuring Nottingham. The proposed cuts come against a background of changes to the way students access student services...

CCTV workers employed by Glasgow Community Safety – a Glasgow City Council Arms Length External Organisation (ALEO) – are back at work having won a 24% pay rise after twelve strike days over six weeks. The 19 workers, all Unison members, struck to achieve equal pay, i.e. parity of shift allowance payments, with other employees who work the same pattern of 12 hour shifts in a round-the-clock service. A campaign by Glasgow school janitors, also Unison members, in primary, nursery and Additional Support for Learning schools continues, with another three-day strike in late April following on from...

I have been talking with Brussels transport workers and trade unionists in the aftermath of the 22 March Daesh bombings which killed 32 people and injured hundreds more. Amidst the news reporting and political demagogy, it is important that their voices are heard. Two workers died in the Brussels airport bombing - one working on check-in, the other in baggage handling. Others were injured, and still more were traumatised by what they experienced: helping the injured and dying, seeing body parts among the baggage. At least 14 passengers also perished. I was told that once the airport has been...

Library workers in Lambeth struck on Monday 8 February in an ongoing fight to stop the closure or privatisation of many of the borough′s libraries. Library workers in Greenwich and Bromley also struck on Monday 8 February The strike in Lambeth was well supported across all ten of the borough′s libraries, with all libraries shut and large picket lines. Activists from other local trade unions came down to show solidarity on the picket lines. In the evening Lambeth council cabinet met to discuss and vote on the proposals for a third time (the final full-council decision is expected to be in April...

Teachers at Small Heath School in Birmingham have won significant successes in their campaign against academy status and in defence of the suspended NUT rep, Simon O’Hara. In fact they appear to have defeated the academy proposal entirely and can now focus on lifting Simon’s suspension. On 28 January school unions the NUT, ATL and NASUWT received a letter from Birmingham City council informing them that the proposed academy sponsor, The King Edward Foundation “has confirmed in writing …that the Foundation is not in a position to take on sponsorship of Small Heath School”. The letter went on to...

Lambeth Libraries staff have voted overwhelmingly for strike action to save jobs and keep all ten Lambeth libraries open. Staff voted 89% to strike against plans to close libraries and cut jobs. Unison will now be discussing extended strike action with the library workers in the borough. This strike vote follows a community campaign to keep the libraries open, as well as a walk out by staff in December when news circulated that books were already being taken out of one of the libraries. Several Labour Party wards have passed motions criticising their own council’s library closure programme and...

Service controllers on the Waterloo and City Line on London Underground (LU) have been fighting for regrading. They struck from 28-30 September. One of the activists spoke to Tubeworker. What’s happening to us is part of a wider picture. London Underground is cutting staff in a variety of areas, and our experiences – of essentially being promoted to more responsible roles, involving more work, without that being reflected in our pay – mirror what’s currently happening to station staff. They’ve picked on us particularly because we’re a small unit, but if we can win our fight for justice it...

United Voices of the World (UVW) union continues its protests in support of sacked union members Barbara and Percy. Barbara and Percy were sacked from Sotheby’s auction house, where they worked as porters and cleaners, after they helped organise a protest to demand sick pay and for trade union rights. On Monday 7 September UVW organised a protest at a car auction Sotheby’s was holding in Battersea park. Two of the four UVW activists originally sacked by Sotheby’s have got their jobs back, but Sotheby’s continues to victimise Percy and Barbara. • Find out more here Gallery strikes continue...