UNISON

The strikes over pay for Agenda for Change (i.e. most) NHS employees in England are paused for negotiation. After the RCN cancelled their strikes in England at the beginning of March to go into unilateral negotiations, Unison, GMB, CSP and then Unite called off their planned action to join too. The government preconditions for negotiations with these unions were: cancellation of strikes; any uplift for 2022-23 would be a one-off unconsolidated payment; the talks to cover 2023-24 pay and “efficiency” reforms; and any offer coming from the negotiations to be recommended by trade unions to their...

Unison’s representatives on the local government National Joint Committee (NJC) that cover pay for local government and school support staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland — voted on Friday 10 March to reject the £1,925 flat rate offer from employers and go to an industrial action ballot. The ballot, which will be disaggregated by employer, is likely to run from 23 May to 4 July, and could see local government workers joining taking strike in the summer and autumn. The offer did not meet the claim for a 12.7% pay-rise for all workers, or come close to the starting salary of £15 per...

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...

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 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...

This report was written before the RCN called off its action. We have seen some important announcements in the ongoing NHS pay dispute. Re-ballots in Unison: from ten ballots run in England, Unison got a mandate for strike action in another nine trusts. Junior doctors vote to strike: A ballot by the British Medical Association, junior doctors went 98% for strikes, on a 77% turnout: they will strike for 72 hours in March. Junior doctors in the smaller Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association already voted for strikes in January (97% for, 75% turnout), and will be out on 15 March. The...

The RCN looks likely to call a 48-hour strike on 1-3 March, with a reduction of derogations in A&E, intensive care, and cancer units. Unison is thought to be looking for unified strike action with other unions. Escalation and co-ordination are vital and supported by members on the picket lines. For the strikes to win a strategy of increasing action over a short period of time will be much more effective than a long haul of strike days here and there. It’s also important that striking members articulate their demands to maintain pressure on the union leaderships. The RCN demand of 5% above...

A round of balloting before Christmas in Unison Higher Education disappointingly failed to deliver a new tranche of branches for the 2022/23 pay action. Only three more branches got over the 50% turnout threshold; these were branches that had taken slightly longer over balloting. This highlighted that a lot of the problems with delivering a vote for strike were technical: a shortened timescale for balloting as Unison tried to catch up to the UCU timetable; problems with issuing and receiving ballot papers in the post throughout the CWU strikes; balloting around Christmas time; little support...

In the week of 6 February, we have had the biggest strikes in the NHS dispute so far, with RCN members in 73 Trusts, GMB ambulance workers, physiotherapists and Unison ambulance workers all coming out. There are possibilities for escalation. Some Unison branches that did not reach the threshold are starting to push for reballoting, and the BMA strike ballot closes on 20 February. However, the RCN leadership has called off strike action in Wales to consult on a feeble offer. They also suspended strikes in Scotland for negotiations. The Welsh government has offered an additional 1.5% plus 1.5%...

To win, NHS workers need escalation, and that also means pushing for re-ballots, especially in trusts where Unison missed the thresholds. Currently RCN strikes are being undermined where Unison members have been instructed by their branches to cross picket lines. We have advocated support for Unison members who decide not to cross RCN picket lines. Thousands of Unison members have left their union and joined the RCN because they want to strike. Beyond that, the best way to achieve solid action in a workplace is for all the unions to win legal mandates and strike together. Winning second...