Strikes and lock-outs

Industrial news in brief

Teachers at Merrill Academy, Derbyshire, have been on strike for six days through January in a dispute over unattainable appraisal targets and denial of pay progression. Both teaching unions, the NUT and the NASUWT, are taking part in the strike and have been staging daily picket lines. However picket lines were suspended on January 29 after drivers, believed to be a non-striking members of staff, drove aggressively at pickets over several days, leading to a striker and a student being hit by a car. School management have aggressively attacked the unions in the local press, and have run...

Industrial news in brief

On Tuesday the 13 January the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) branch of the PCS union voted by an overwhelming majority to call strikes over pay. The ICO has been lagging behind civil service pay for some time, with members’ salaries a grade behind what the rest of the civil service receive. This year’s pay offer was limited to a 3% rise for workers who have been in the job longer, and bumping newer workers up the pay scale. Whilst this allows management to bribe newer staff with superficially large increases in pay this is money they are contractually obliged to over time. It does...

NHS pay: what's been gained?

As Solidarity went to press on 27 January, news of a deal on NHS pay had just been announced. Unison, Unite, GMB and the Royal College of Midwives have all confirmed they have suspended strikes planned for Thursday 29 January to consult members on an offer from the government. A GMB official said the offer included “the implementation of the 1% pay rise for all NHS staff from April 2015 plus some further improvements for the lowest paid NHS staff.” The details are unclear. However initial publicity suggested that it includes: • A consolidated 1% payment for all staff up to Band 8B from April...

Industrial news in brief

As Solidarity went to press on 20 January, health unions were meeting with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The NHS pay dispute is escalating. It started timidly with two days of four-hour strikes. But now there will be a 12 hour strike on 29 January, followed by a 24 hour strike on 25 February involving most of the unions in the NHS. There were problems with the two four hour strikes. In some areas unions scuppered their own action by granting lavish “exemptions”, encouraging many members to go to work. However there has been large public support for strikes, and picket lines have been lively...

Bus drivers fight for fair pay

As of 2015, new drivers with Arriva — the lowest payer for starter drivers — get £9.69 an hour. The previous starting rate with Arriva, before 2015, was £9.30 an hour. After eight years, a driver is on £12.89 an hour. For Stagecoach drivers — the highest payer for starter drivers — the rate is £11.46. After two years, they reach the top rate of £15.63 an hour. There are 80 different pay scales for drivers in London, across 18 different companies. They vary based on the company and the year that a driver started. TfL gives drivers a pass that works on public transport — buses, the tube and the...

Industrial news in brief

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...

Tax the rich to save the Health Service!

Spurred by waiting times in Accident & Emergency departments which are the worst since records began in 2004, the Tories have promised an extra £2 billion a year above inflation for the health service. Labour says it will go £2.5 billion a year above that (funded by a mansion tax, a levy on tobacco companies and closing tax loopholes). Both are completely inadequate NHS boss Simon Stevens says that the NHS will need at least £8 billion a year above inflation even with dramatic “efficiency savings” – by which he means attacks on NHS workers. “Efficiency” could have a different meaning however...

Industrial news in brief

Health workers in Unison, Unite and GMB will strike for 12 hours on Thursday 29 January, with a planned follow up of 24 hours on Wednesday 25 February. This follows a series of 4 hour strikes in October and November over NHS pay. Unions are also calling on members to “work to rule” for the days between the two strikes. Health unions are calling for an immediate 1% consolidated pay rise for all NHS staff, with a further consolidated award for 2015-16 and future increases that they hope will restore the value of NHS pay. However pay in the NHS has been frozen for four years, resulting in a 12-15...

Belgium: general strike on 15 December

The three union confederations in Belgium — the FGTB, linked to the social democratic parties, the CSC, the Catholic confederation, and the liberal-linked CGSLB — have called a general strike for 15 December against the new right-wing government’s cuts plans. There have been regional general strikes on 24 November, 1 December, and 8 November and a demonstration on 6 November. The demonstration was the biggest labour protest in Belgium for many years. The regional strikes have been well-supported too: in each area, nothing has moved on the day of the strike. Teachers have struck nationally for...

Industrial news in brief

London Underground has announced its schedule for closing every ticket office on the Tube, starting from early 2015. It has done this despite the publication of a passenger survey conducted by independent watchdog London TravelWatch which shows the strength of public opposition to the closures. TravelWatch says that its wider research, from 2013, “clearly demonstrated the strong feeling that passengers place significant value on the presence of ticket offices”. It also says that the data from its 2014 survey “indicates that ticket offices are more used by minority groups, and the loss of...

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