Strikes and lock-outs

Industrial news in brief

A recent survey of workers at Lambeth Council, south London, conducted by the Unison union uncovered high levels overwork, stress and anxiety among staff, following years of job cuts. The survey found that 56% of staff do not feel that they can continue at the council unless workloads improve. Unison is launching an indicative ballot asking members if they’d be willing to take industrial action around workload and job losses. Ruth Cashman, Unison branch secretary explained; “Lambeth Council has lost thousands of jobs but people still need our services so we are left with workers doing two...

Industrial news in brief

Members of the RMT union on Southern Rail have struck again, this time for five days, as they continue their battle to defend the role of the guard. Southern, which is owned by Govia Thameslink Railway, a train company which operates other services, including Gatwick Express, wants to de-skill the guard's role, meaning the safety-critical on-board tasks would be carried out by the driver only. Unions say that this would hit passenger safety. Prior to the strike, the RMT wrote to Southern offering to suspend the action in exchange for a commitment from the company that current competency and...

Industrial news in brief

On Wednesday 20th July, library workers in Lewisham took their third strike day to defend our libraries. In the evening the workers, service users and community activists held a lively lobby of Lewisham council. The council wants to make £1 million of cuts to the library service. They propose taking staff from four libraries, hoping that local voluntary organisations will take over the running of these libraries. This would leave only three full libraries open in the borough. The library workers’ union, Unison and the local community has mounted a vigorous campaign against these cuts. There...

Teachers and lecturers strike and protest on 5 July

Teachers struck on Tuesday 5 July in a well supported national strike for guaranteed terms and conditions across all schools, increased funding to schools, and the resumption of negotiations on teacher workload. The strike saw large protests. The march in London was overwhelmingly young, and many young teachers told Solidarity sellers that they had joined the Labour Party in the past year. The government claims two thirds of schools remained open. However that figure masks a whole range of partial closures, and the increasing use of cover supervisors and support staff to keep schools open. The...

Junior doctors reject deal

Six in ten junior doctors have voted to reject the re-negotiated contract offered by the government. In a referendum run by the British Medical Association (BMA), 58% voted to reject the contract on a turnout of 68%. It is clear that many junior doctors do not think this contract is a sufficient improvement on the old one, and that it will do significant harm to the medical profession and the NHS. However many who voted to accept the contract also have serious concerns. We must now win them over, and galvanise their support. Yesterday Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that implementation...

Industrial news in brief

On 7 July the International Dockworkers’ Council (IDC), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) called a one-hour world-wide strike, from 8 a.m. local time. Under the slogan “Defend Dockers Rights,” the Global Day of Union Action was organised to call for: Improved health and safety in the workplace, an end to job deregulation, respect for bargaining rights and collective agreements, the need for universal labor standards in GNTs, the concerns over automation processes in terminals, and social justice. IDC coordinator Jordi...

Industrial news in brief

Workers at Southern struck again on 21 June in their dispute against “Driver Only Operation” (DOO). One of the strikers spoke to rank-and-file railworkers’ bulletin Off The Rails . The strike is about keeping the role of the guard (conductor) on the train. People think conductors just sell tickets, but we have safety responsibilities. For example, when a train is in a platform, it’s up to us to close the doors and make sure people don’t get trapped. If I close the doors and give the driver the “tip” to go and the signal is red and the train moves, then the responsibility is on the guard. We...

Teachers: all out on 5 July!

Members of the largest teaching, union, the NUT, will take strike action on 2 July in England to demand nationally agreed terms and conditions for all teachers in all state-funded local authority and academy schools. The action is also demanding increased funding for schools and an end to cuts. 60% of secondary schools in England and 15% of primaries are now academies and can set their own terms and conditions. Back in March the government announced they would force all schools to become academies. That prompted the NUT Executive to propose strike action to demand all teachers have agreed...

Industrial news in brief

Workers at Pennine Foods in Sheffield have suspended their strikes after negotiations meant bosses agreed not to implement changes to their contracts. Negotiations also got bosses to agree to all employees receiving a lump sum for their 2015 pay rise. Negotiations will continue on the contract and further strikes are not ruled out. The contract changes at Pennine Foods were in order for bosses to try to recoup some of the money from implementing the government′s new ″living wage″. A similar fight by members of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers′ Union (BFAWU) has been going on at Samworth...

French strikers defy bosses

Lutte Ouvrière (editorial 12 June) The government, the bosses and the media ... have used the victims of the floods as part of their grotesque moral blackmail [in a fight over France’s new labour laws]. They used Euro 2016 to demand that the strikes stop. And, in spite of everything, the SNCF [French rail] strike is carrying on, the refuse workers are sticking to their guns, and Air France pilots have carried out their threat to strike. They are right to do so. Are the government and the bosses observing a truce in their offensive against the workers? Clearly not — so why should the workers...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.