Pay, hours, conditions

A Royal Mail worker and CWU rep spoke to Solidarity about their ongoing dispute. Royal Mail and the CWU have issued a joint statement, with a longer appendix. Royal Mail has paused its “executive action”, the unilateral imposition of its planned cuts and restructure, and the joint statement effectively devolves negotiation over these issues down to local level. It sets a 10 March deadline for local resolution, but this seems ridiculous to me – I can't see how this will happen. Given what Royal Mail has already imposed so far, in many larger workplaces you have well over 100 people displaced...

Unison has issued the information below. For information on the unions' claim, the bosses' offer, and the case for rejecting the offer, click here . The Committee voted to move straight to an industrial action ballot of all members covered by the NJC, without holding a consultation of members first. The Committee decided that the ballot would be for strike action (not action short of strike), and they decided not to offer an ‘opt out’ for any branches. The Committee received a draft industrial action timetable which provides for a ballot period from 23 May to 4 July. There is clearly lots of...

This article is based on campaign materials by Hookers Against Hardship. For more information on the campaign and ways to show support visit: decrimnow.org.uk/hookers-against-hardship • Donate to sex worker-led organisations which support sex workers in crisis: here . The cost of living crisis has hit everyone hard, and sex workers are in an especially precarious position. Many are experiencing a sharp fall in income as customers cancel appointments and workplaces close. Unlike most other workers, sex workers are denied basic labour protections, such as paid sick leave, maternity pay and...

The mass strike on 15 March must be used as a springboard - not only for further, escalating strikes, but for renewed efforts by rank-and-file workers to take control of their own disputes, and make links with other strikers. Coordinated, or at least parallel, action across multiple sectors creates opportunities for workers to come together for joint picketing and rallies. Wherever possible, assemblies and discussion forums must be planned as well as marches and rallies. Without such forums, strikers can feel like foot soldiers waiting for further orders from above, rather than conscious...

The National Education Union (NEU) National Executive (NEC) met on 25 February to consider the progress of our strike campaign on pay and funding.

March 15 will see teachers, civil servants, Tube workers, and junior doctors, and possibly others, strike together. Some of those workers, including teachers and junior doctors, will also strike on 16 March, when they will be joined by workers on the national rail. 15 March is Budget day. It is an opportunity to press not only the demands of individual disputes, but a broader package of pro-working-class policies: rebuild the NHS, scrap anti-strike laws, increase benefits... Lively, well-supported picket lines and a strong presence in central London, with local strike rallies elsewhere, could...

On 23 February, council employers offered a flat rate award of £1,925, or 3.88% for those on higher wages, from April 2023, for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland The claim from the unions (Unison, GMB and Unite) was for RPI + 2% (interpreted as 12.7%), a £15 per hour minimum wage in two years, pus extra leave and other improved conditions. The value of council workers’ pay has fallen by 25% in real terms since 2010, and the lowest grades have now almost been caught up by the government’s legal minimum wage of £10.42 (from April 2023). With this backdrop, it is not surprising that council...

The PCS union will reballot members over the ongoing dispute concerning pay, pensions, redundancy moneys and job security. Although I could not attend the National Executive that made that decision, I welcome the re-ballot. As in the original ballot, voting will be done on a disaggregated basis, with 186 separate ballots taking place, covering over 124,000 members. The current levy of members, which in essence is an increase in subs, will stay in place allowing the union to run selective action. The current dispute mandate runs out on 6 May, and so the new ballot will run from 20 March until 9...

The BMA junior doctors have announced strikes from 7am 13 March to 7am 16 March, following a 98% vote for strikes on a 77% turnout. The new potential for all the health unions to co-ordinate, including the BMA, must increase pressure on the government both on pay and on rescuing the NHS. Unions have called ambulance strikes on 6 and 20 March. Unison has called a strike in ambulance and other trusts on 8 March, and won additional mandates in trusts it reballoted. Christine McAnea, Unison’s General Secretary, has tweeted, “Talks alone won’t be enough to call off these [strikes]. We want to see...

On the evening of Friday 17 February, a small group of UCU officials, not all of whom are even elected by UCU members, decided to suspend university workers’ strikes due to begin on Tuesday 21 February. The suspension was justified on the basis of “progress” having been made in negotiations, such that what UCU general secretary Jo Grady called “a period of calm” was now warranted. In fact there seems to have been little “progress”, as we discuss elsewhere. Even if there had been more, the suspension poses a major democratic question that resonates beyond the UCU: who makes decisions about...