Industrial news in brief

Submitted by AWL on 3 October, 2018 - 12:04 Author: Ollie Moore, Sacha Ismail, Gemma Short and Patrick Murphy

Drivers on London Underground’s Piccadilly Line brought the line to a standstill with a discontinuous strike across 26-28 September.  The strike saw different shifts of drivers striking across 26-28 September, with Night Tube drivers striking on Friday 28 September.

This was the first strike involving Night Tube workers since the service was launched in 2016.  The strike, organised by the RMT union, was a sequel to one planned for 11-14 July, which was suspended after union reps agreed a last-minute deal with Piccadilly Line bosses. Several activists criticised the suspension, arguing that the bosses couldn’t be trusted to uphold their commitments; these voices were vindicated after agreements about staffing levels were reneged upon almost immediately. 

The dispute involves a range of issues, many stemming from what union activists call an overly-disciplinarian culture of petty authoritarianism amongst Piccadilly Line bosses. Staffing is also a key issue, with the union demanding that London Underground increases staffing levels at Piccadilly Line depots.  The strike was totally solid, and saw well supported picket lines at depots at both ends of the line. Night Tube pickets ran from 8:30 p.m. until midnight, leading to the complete suspension of the Night Tube service.

Members of the driver-only union Aslef, which is a minority union amongst Piccadilly Line drivers but a majority amongst drivers across the Tube network overall, respected RMT pickets.  One union activist described how Piccadilly drivers feel ground down by constant attacks. “You can only push people so far”, they said. Some activists are now arguing for the union to name further dates to keep the pressure on management.

An RMT rep told Solidarity: “Muscles atrophy if you don’t use them. It’s been some time since we had significant strikes amongst operational workers on the Tube; you have to go back to the stations strike of January 2017, or the network-wide strikes in summer 2015. 

“The Piccadilly Line strike should shake us up, as well as shaking up the bosses. It reminds us how powerful we can be when we organise to take action. The issues faced on the Piccadilly Line are not unique to that line, or to drivers. “We have to make it a spark for more action across the whole network.”

Concessions on DOO at Merseryrail

The ACAS talks between RMT and Merseyrail in the dispute over proposals for Driver Only Operation (DOO) have produced a major concession. There will remain a second safety-critical person on every train the company runs in passenger service. This is fundamental as it preserves the union’s industrial strength.

In future if RMT guards strike, trains will not be able to run. However, there are no other details of what the settlement will mean for guards at the franchise. A joint press release talks of extra money being provided by Merseytravel, the local transport authority, and concessions to the RMT on what the guards’ duties will be. It must be disappointing to Merseyrail train crew, as well as train crew at other franchises where DOO is being proposed, that so little detail is provided after months of secret talks. But the guarantee of a second safety critical person is a hugely important step forward.

Meanwhile, at South Western Railway, the RMT reports that the employer continues to refuse “serious” talks to resolve the DOO dispute there. The next round of industrial action by SWR guards will be a 48 hour strike on 5 and 6 October. At Northern, RMT has taken strike action for five consecutive Saturdays starting on 25 August and continuing all through September. No new strike dates have been announced, despite the employer apparently refusing to engage with any seriousness in ACAS organised talks. The company has accused the union of moving the goalposts in the talks.

Workers prove they, not the committee, run the pub

Workers at the Ivy House pub in Nunhead, south London, went on strike after the morning of 30 September in a dispute about four sudden, unexplained dismissals, zero hours contracts and union recognition. They wanted reinstatement or at least suspension with pay and a proper process for reviewing the cases; secure, fixed hours contracts; and recognition of their union, the BFAWU. The workers’ Facebook page is reporting a complete victory on all their demands.

During the strike, the pub remained completely shut down, meaning that its normal extensive Sunday lunch crowds got not their normal meal but conversations with the pickets — who got overwhelming support, as they have from the community more generally. There were a number of unusual things about this dispute, in particular the fact that pub workers have organised and gone on strike at all, and the fact that they’ve simply walked out and shut the place down. In addition, the Ivy House is a “community owned” pub which projects an “ethical” image.

A significant number of customers own shares and were shocked about the way the management run the place. The workers appropriated the slogan from when the pub originally became community owned — Save the Ivy House. It’s a small dispute but it tells you a lot about the nature of capitalism, and about the power of workers’ struggle.

UberEats wildcat

UberEats couriers blocked roads outside the company’s London HQ on Thursday 20 September in a protest over pay.
Supported by the IWW and IWGB courier branches, workers effectively held a wildcat strike for several hours during the day. UberEats had cut the pay rate per delivery from £4.26 to £3.50 the day before. But couriers are demanding more than the reinstatement of the old rate — they are demanding a minimum £5 per delivery in London. Similarly to pay structures in Deliveroo which has led to a number of wildcat strikes, UberEats’ pay structure often leaves workers earning well below the minimum wage outside of the busiest parts of the day. UberEats workers will be taking part in the 4 October food workers’ strike.

Fast food’s 4 October

4 October will see coordinated strike actions by fast food workers in McDonalds, by Wetherspoons (Bakers’ Union), TGI Fridays (Unite union) and Uber workers (IWW, IWGB, GMB and UPHD).

About a year ago McDonalds locations went on strike demanding union rights, £10 an hour and secure hours. Now the fast food rights campaign has expanded to more McDonalds outfits and Wetherspoons. Fast food work is hard and undervalued work. Workers deal with abusive customers and dismissive managers, understaffing and infrequent breaks, low wages and virtually no sick pay.

The “McStrike” action gave voice to these workers in the labour movement, when they are frequently ignored and dismissed as being too hard to organise.  Excitement over the prospect of a Labour government is giving hope to fast food workers. Corbyn’s promise to raise the minimum wage to £10 an hour for all workers would meet the major demand of the campaign. Some want to wait until there’s a Labour government to better lives of low-paid and precarious workers. But the workers’ movement should never wait until there are better laws; we need to create a bottom-up and lasting campaign of workers in their unions that fights both smaller and larger issues within their workplaces. The goal is ultimately workers’ control.

By empowering individual fast-food workers through union activism we are starting to move in that direction. Like many other low paid industries, a large number of fast food workers are migrants. The future for EU migrants is unclear. Anything short of a full commitment by Labour and the unions to defend and extend freedom of movement will be letting these workers down.

The wider labour movement cannot fully support the McStrike campaign while if it also regards immigration as “social dumping” and champions the call for more border guards. Workers need to be ready to pressure their union and the Labour leadership to defend the rights of migrant workers.  The wider fast-food rights campaign will hopefully be able to learn from the experiences of Uber Eats and Uber drivers who will be joining the action on 4 October. In a short period of time couriers were able to build a strong network of militant activists who aim to win their demands purely through workers’ action. Hopefully we’ll see an alliance of these workers which goes beyond the strike action. 

Defend these dinner ladies!

Nine lunchtime supervisors at a primary school in Grimethorpe, Barnsley, struck on 12, 19, 20, 25, 26, and 27 September to defend their jobs. The Headteacher and Board of Governors of Ladywood Primary School want to make all nine School Meals Supervisory Assistants redundant. The school’s proposals affect their colleagues who work as Teaching Assistants, as the plan is for get TAs to supervise children at dinnertime.  

The school’s management have said they do not believe the supervisors have the skills to support the children. All the staff are women and members of Unison which is campaigning to save their members jobs. The redundancies will be devastating for these workers who are locally-based and low-paid. It will also put additional pressure on the already over-worked Teaching Assistants to pick up this important job.

According to Unison, the proposed saving of £23,625 by making the redundancies has nearly been achieved through staff leaving, or reducing hours, and not being replaced. The change in job role is also likely to increase salaries for the teaching assistants and further money would be saved by not paying the teaching assistants to cover dinnertimes. In a statement urging the school to withdraw the proposal the union says, “The dedicated dinner ladies are at the heart of school life and have been supporting the children for generations.  Unison does not believe the school has to make these redundancies because of budget cuts”.

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