Strikes and lock-outs

St. Mungo’s workers end strike

Workers at homelessness charity St. Mungo’s will return to work on 4 September, after they voted to end a three-month strike and accept their employer’s latest pay offer. Unite says the offer is based on a £3,125 flat-rate increase, which St. Mungo’s says is equivalent to an increase of between seven and 15% depending on pay grade. The settlement also includes other concessions from the employer, including three additional annual leave days, the scrapping of renewed probationary periods following internal moves, and a freeze on executive pay for 2023/4. All of these gains are real and...

US Teamsters: the giant strike that didn't happen

On an average day, US corporation United Parcel Service (UPS) moves the equivalent of 6% of US and 2% of global GDP! A strike by its heavily unionised US workforce – 330,000 International Brotherhood of Teamsters members out of half a million workers – would have been an event of global significance. That seemed to be in the offing this summer, but now won’t happen. On 22 August it was announced that 86% of Teamsters members voting on a new “contract” (collective agreement), on a 58% turnout, had opted to accept. This despite a vocal and by many accounts unexpectedly vigorous No campaign. In...

St. Mungo’s workers end strike

Workers at homelessness charity St. Mungo's will return to work on 4 September, after they voted to end a three-month strike and accept their employer's latest pay offer. Unite says the offer is based on a £3,125 flat-rate increase, which St. Mungo's says is equivalent to an increase of between seven and 15% depending on pay grade. The settlement also includes other concessions from the employer, including three additional annual leave days, the scrapping of renewed probationary periods following internal moves, and a freeze on executive pay for 2023/4. All of these gains are real and...

Amazon: not just a number

Amazon workers at two sites struck again in early August, with workers at Rugeley in Staffordshire striking on 3 and 4 August, and workers at the larger BHX4 site in Coventry striking on 4 and 5 August. The strikes saw the biggest mass pickets of the dispute so far, with just short of 600 workers on the streets on both Friday and Saturday mornings. A rally in support of the strike took place at BHX4 on 5 August, mobilising several hundred supporters. Amazon took the decision to shut down operations at the site from 3pm on 5 August, meaning workers on the night shift were paid without having to...

Amazon strikes spread

Amazon workers' strikes over pay and conditions are due to spread, as workers at a fulfilment centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire, have voted for industrial action. The GMB balloted just over 100 workers, who voted by an 86% majority to strike. Although the union's membership represents a small minority of the workforce, union membership at the BHX4 site in Coventry exploded as an ongoing campaign of strikes began, and activists will be hoping for a similar effect at Rugeley. The GMB says its membership in the Coventry site is now over 1,000. The fight there has an additional dimension, as the...

Agitate for socialism!

The working-class movement is on an uphill journey. The latest official (Certification Officer) statistics on union membership, published 6 July, are thankfully out of date, but sobering. Between December 2019 and December 2020, union membership rose a bit. Between December 2020 and December 2021, it fell a bit, despite lockdowns and work-from-home beginning to fade. The figures depend on unions compiling returns at their year-ends (mostly December 2021, a few as late as September 2022) and sending them in. Even now, the result is incomplete because Unite the Union has done no report since...

Mass pickets at Amazon

The latest round of strikes at Amazon’s BHX4 warehouse in Coventry, on 12-14 June, saw mass pickets of nearly 500 workers. Activists report that morale amongst workers remains high, with new workplace leaders stepping up to join the organising group. Further strikes are planned, but with no dates set. Ballots for industrial action at other Amazon sites in Mansfield and Rugeley returned large majorities for strikes, but missed the 50% turnout threshold. GMB plans an immediate re-ballot at Rugeley. The union estimates that Amazon is spending between £1.3 million and £2.6 million per month on...

Debating the Royal Mail deal

Royal Mail workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are currently debating an agreement reached between their employer and their union leadership, which is due to be put to a vote in an all-members' referendum. Solidarity advocates a no vote in that referendum (see here for more). However, we also believe in open debate and accurately reporting on and reflecting the discussion amongst workers. To that end we publish this contribution by a postal worker and CWU rep, which gives a different view. Further comments and contributions are welcome. When the agreement the union reached with...

Why the strongest have done poorly in the strikes

By most statistical measures — levels of union density; number of members covered by collective bargaining agreements; numbers of workplace reps — workers in the railway, including the London Underground, and in the postal service can be considered among the best organised in Britain. They are also able to hit their bosses’ or the government’s income directly by strikes, unlike most public service workers. Despite ostensibly extensive strikes, neither group has been able to win victories in their 2022-3 campaigns, while gains have been won by some weaker-placed workers. Why? Part of the reason...

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