Industrial news in brief

Submitted by Matthew on 14 January, 2015 - 12:35 Author: Gemma Short, Darren Bedford, Gerry Bates, Charlotte Zalens and Micheál McEoin

As Solidarity went to press on 13 January, bus drivers across London were staging a 24 hour strike in a bid to level up pay across the capital.

London’s bus network is outsourced to 18 different companies. Each one of these companies has their own pay scales and the union Unite must separately negotiate pay with all 18 companies. As a result pay differs by up to £3 an hour across the capital for drivers doing the same work. Unite is calling for a London wide pay scale.

Solidarity visited picket lines on Tuesday 13 January. Each one had upwards of 20 pickets in a lively mood. In many depots no or very few buses were being moved.

Strikers at Holloway told Solidarity that fewer than 15 of their 200 services were being moved. Management driving a small number of rush hour services or to ferry them to scab drivers waiting down the road.

Unite has not yet called further strikes. Workers on picket lines felt sure that more strikes would be necessary to beat Transport for London and the bus companies, and that Unite would call them.

Last year the capital’s bus operators made a combined profit of £171.1 million, with directors’ pay totalling at least £7.24 million a year. On Monday 13 January a survey of over 1,600 members of the public showed that over two thirds supported the campaign to end pay disparity.

Creative industrial strategy, combined with a public political campaign against private profiteering and for a publicly run transport service, can win.

Essex firefighters strike on cuts

Firefighters in Essex are preparing for strikes on 14–16 January in a dispute over frontline cuts and staffing conditions.

Essex fire and rescue service want to cut 179 firefighters and control staff — a 25% reduction in full time uniformed firefighters. Almost one hundred firefighter jobs have already been cut in Essex since 2010.

The strike includes nine-hour strikes from 09:00 to 18:00 on all three days as well as one hour strikes from 06:30 to 07:30 on the Thursday and Friday. After the strikes, industrial action short of a strike kicks in.

The FBU’s pension campaign reached a turning point in December. The union had campaigned to get a motion to revoke the firefighters’ pension regulations. It won support from the Labour leadership and ended up with 280 MPs opposing the regulations — the highest EDM this parliament. However the government whipped its supporters into line and most Liberal Democrats voted to impose the regulations. The vote was lost 313 to 252, so the regulations became law.

The union is now pursuing the promises made by the fire minister that no firefighter will be sacked on fitness grounds as part of the new pension scheme.

Although the political and legal fronts of the campaign are continuing, no new pension strikes have been called.

Sign or be sacked says Barbour

Workers at clothing company Barbour are on strike for four weeks over a “sign or be sacked” ultimatum on new terms and conditions.

Workers struck for six days in December before starting the month long strike on January 5. The strike will be from 07:00 until 13:00 every day.

The Gateshead-based clothing company wants to impose new working conditions that remove unsociable hours payments and would see workers working until 23:00.

Union Unite says that workers are facing a “sign or be sacked” ultimatum, and management are bullying workers into taking the new terms and conditions.

On Friday 9 January workers marched to the company headquarters where they handed in a letter for Dame Barbour, company chairman, asking for her to intervene.

As Solidarity went to press Unite was still in discussions at ACAS with Barbour, which started on Monday 12 January.

College cuts mean job cuts

UCU members at Sheffield college have voted for strikes in a dispute over job cuts.

86% voted for strikes after management announced that 75 jobs are at risk, and that it is looking to cut back on staff costs by a further £3.7 million to build up reserves. The UCU union is concerned this may mean sacking some and downgrading pay and conditions for others.

As well as striking, UCU members will be boycotting systems being used by the college to target staff for redundancy.

UCU members at Lambeth college continue to fight contract changes.

Workers struck for two days in the week 5-9 January and three days in the week 12-16 January in the lead up to an indefinite strike due to start on Monday 19 January.

Haringey council cuts

Over 60 trade unionists, community campaigners and local residents met in Wood Green on 12 January to oppose Haringey Council’s £70m cuts proposals.

Called by Haringey Unison, with Haringey Alliance for Public Services (HAPS), the meeting resolved to continue as a united effort bringing together campaign groups and local unions.

Consistent with the Ed Balls’ insistence that austerity will continue under a Labour government, the Blairite leadership of Haringey Council is insisting on voting through a three-year budget, locking in cuts until well after the General Election. This £70m follows more than £100m of cumulative cuts over the previous three years.

633 directly employed workers could lose their jobs — 22.8 % of the workforce — not including those in Homes for Haringey, or in partner providers who receive reduced funding.

Proposals also include the closure of children’s centres, three of the four day centres for adults with autism and learning disabilities, a day centre for elderly people with dementia, and Pendarren House outdoor education centre, a retreat centre providing an opportunity for young people from Haringey to leave London to visit the Welsh countryside.

A 100% cut in Youth Services is disguised by merging the budget with the Youth Offending budget — though these have been two separate budgets. The youth service budget this year is £2.1m and the proposed cut is £2.1m.

A lobby of the council cabinet meeting has been called for 10 February at 17:30 outside the Civic Centre in Wood Green. On 23 February, a demonstration will assemble at 17:30 at Ducketts Common near Turnpike Lane tube station, and march to the Civic Centre for a 18:30 rally.

Local government unions should prepare their members for strike action. Unions affiliated to the Labour Party should pass motions through the local Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) calling on Labour councillors not to pass on cuts, and should hold local councillors to account through Labour’s ward branches.

Sacked rep reinstated

RMT has won its campaign to secure the reinstatement of London Underground Customer Service Assistant Vicky Hayward.

A disciplinary panel sacked Vicky last September for allegedly dishonestly reporting an accident at work, but it relied on "evidence" consisting of what managers said they had seen on CCTV footage which was not available for Vicky or her reps to scrutinise.

Tubeworker commented, "It’s nice to see senior management see sense. But forgive us if we think that the persistent, active, rank-and-file-driven RMT campaign also had something to do with it.

“The key features of this campaign were: early on, recognising the broader principle involved and raising it at the highest level of the union; pushing and arguing the case in detail at every level, both in the disciplinary process and legally; publicising and explaining the case to Underground workers, through leaflets and visiting workplaces; and preparing for industrial action should that have been necessary."

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.