Shadow foreign secretary says party needs to show it is fit for government by seeking negotiated outcomes over strikes
Labour should categorically refuse to back demands from airline workers for a pay rise of about 10% in order to show it is serious about seeking negotiated outcomes to disputes, David Lammy has said.
The shadow foreign secretary said Labour had to act like a party of government and that responsible governments believed in negotiation and compromise.
Continue reading...PM’s spokesperson says workers should not be ‘chasing inflation with wages’ as that would increase inflation
Moderna has announced that it will open a vaccine research and manufacturing centre in the UK. In a visit to mark the announcement, Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said:
We all saw during the pandemic the differences that cutting edge vaccines and treatments can make and we all particularly saw that the mRNA technology has been very transformational. It has literally saved millions of lives over the last couple of years.
And that’s why I’m thrilled to announce this new partnership between the UK government and Moderna, where Moderna will established here in the UK, a global R&D facility with over £1bn for investment in this cutting edge technology, and also a huge manufacturing centre, their largest outside of the US, and so this is a great investment in the UK, and gives huge confidence to our life sciences sector already leading in Europe.
Continue reading...Prime minister signals he will not give in to RMT demands and says rail reforms must be pushed through to cut costs for commuters
In interviews this morning Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, reaffirmed the government’s intention to change the legislation to allow firms to use agency workers to fill in for staff who are on strike. (See 11.14am.) As we report in our overnight lead on the strike, Whitehall sources say No 10 and the Cabinet Office are pushing for this, rather than the business department.
Yesterday the TUC and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) put out a joint statement opposing the idea “in the strongest possible terms”. They said it was unworkable.
I don’t know how bringing in untrained, non-safety critical, inexperienced workers into a dangerous environment like the railway - with high speed trains, there are high voltage distribution systems, there are rules and regulations that have the power of statute - how that will help anyone, whether they are a passenger or a worker or manager or whatever?
I don’t see how the use, the deployment of students or people who have got no work experience that are working for an agency will help anyone to resolve this situation, so as usual [Grant Shapps is] just spouting nonsense given to him from some policy unit which doesn’t help to resolve the situations which are in front of us.
Continue reading...Unions condemn measure as potentially against international law as 40,000 staff prepare for first day of industrial action
Boris Johnson has responded to the biggest rail strikes in a generation with plans to break the industrial action by allowing firms to bring in agency staff, a move unions have decried as unworkable, unsafe and potentially breaking international law.
As 40,000 workers prepared for Tuesday’s strike, the most wide-reaching on the railways in 30 years, Downing Street brought forward changes to enable employers to replace employees with temporary staff.
Continue reading...Unions critical of leader’s instruction to senior MPs to ‘show leadership’ by not publicly siding with workers
Labour’s frontbenchers have been warned to stay away from picket lines on the eve of the biggest rail strike since 1989.
As staff get ready to take part in the RMT strike on Tuesday, Keir Starmer’s office told shadow cabinet members that to “show leadership” frontbenchers “should not be on picket lines”.
Continue reading...General secretary Mick Lynch confirms strike action will proceed, as transport secretary Grant Shapps says rail unions to blame
Tim Shoveller, the chief negotiator for Network Rail, told the Today programme this morning that he did not think the government needed to get involved in the talks on the rail dispute. He said this was an issue for the industry to resolve with trade unions.
He said managers wanted to make the rail industry “more efficient to generate the funds so that we can make the pay awards that our colleagues want”.
I think it would be a disaster for the country. It would be a disaster for our passengers and, look, really bad for our employees, who would lose loads of money by having a long, drawn-out strike – that really is the worst place we can get to.
At the end of the day, the facts about the support the government’s provided in terms of the £16bn through Covid, etc – all of those are well-known and documented.
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which represents barristers in England and Wales, said several days of court walkouts will begin from next week.
The promised industrial action, announced on Monday following a ballot of members, comes at a time of significant backlogs across the court system.
This extraordinary commitment to the democratic process reflects a recognition amongst criminal barristers at all levels of call and across all circuits that what is at stake is the survival of a profession of specialist criminal advocates and of the criminal justice system which depends so critically upon their labour.
Without immediate action to halt the exodus of criminal barristers from our ranks, the record backlog that has crippled our courts will continue to inflict misery upon victims and defendants alike, and the public will be betrayed.
Continue reading...Rail unions set to walk out on Tuesday, as clashes loom over public sector pay offers falling short of inflation
A wave of 1970s-style economic unrest is threatening to spread from the railways across the public services, as unions representing teachers and NHS workers warn of potential industrial action over pay.
With the country preparing for rail strikes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday which will see half the network shut down, the biggest teaching union, the National Education Union (NEU), told the Observer that unless it receives a pay offer much closer to inflation by Wednesday, it will be informing education secretary Nadhim Zahawi of its plan to ballot its 450,000 members. The move could lead to strikes in schools in England in the autumn, the union said.
Continue reading...Demonstration organised by TUC calls on government to make ‘better deal’ for people struggling to cope with soaring inflation
Thousands of people have gathered in London to protest against the government’s lack of action in tackling the cost of living crisis.
Protesters marched from Portland Place to Parliament Square for a rally with speakers including Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, which organised the event.
Continue reading...Unions accuse transport secretary of threats and intimidation of workers, and government of trying to make political capital out of the strike
The transport secretary has told rail staff not to “risk striking yourself out of a job”, before industrial action that will close much of the railway next week.
In a speech in which Grant Shapps said he was “appealing directly to workers” instead of unions, he claimed the strikes were “a bid to derail reforms that are critical to the network’s future, and designed to inflict damage at the worst possible time”.
Continue reading...Passengers in Great Britain told not to attempt to travel on 21, 23 and 25 June unless necessary
Network Rail said there was “no real hope” of avoiding the biggest railway strike in 30 years next week, as it told passengers to plan ahead and only travel if necessary.
The full timetable will be published on Friday but operators including Southern, Northern, TransPennine and Transport for Wales have already told passengers not to attempt to travel on strike days.
Continue reading...TSSA union ballots could lead to complete national shutdown by time of Commonwealth Games in July
Managers and train drivers could join the strikes across the railway, potentially setting up a complete national shutdown by the time of the Commonwealth Games in July.
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) union, whose members manage control rooms, signalling and power for train operators and Network Rail, has launched its first strike ballot, while the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) union has called the first regional walkouts by drivers.
Continue reading...GMB union says passengers should consider not checking bags into hold amid shortages of ground and air staff
Holidaymakers facing long queues at UK airports amid shortages of ground and air staff have been told they should travel with only hand luggage to minimise the disruption.
GMB, one of the unions that represents aviation workers, said passengers should consider taking a small bag and not checking anything into the hold, as the country’s travel hubs battle delays and cancellations amid a surge in half-term demand.
Continue reading...Rebecca Tuck says internal investigation into president-elect Shaima Dallali will take priority
The QC leading an independent investigation into alleged antisemitism within the National Union of Students has announced she will examine the election of the organisation’s incoming president as well as wider concerns.
Rebecca Tuck, who was appointed to head the inquiry after consultations between the NUS and the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), said an internal investigation into Shaima Dallali, the president-elect, under the NUS’s code of conduct would take first priority, with her findings to be announced within weeks.
Continue reading...EasyJet cancelled 14 flights, while ferry passengers at Dover face queues, and jams await drivers
Half-term holidaymakers are navigating the busiest day at British airports since the start of the pandemic with some hit by further flight cancellations, while cross-Channel ferry passengers face long queues at Dover and drivers are warned to expect jams.
EasyJet cancelled 14 more flights at London Gatwick in the early morning peak, in the aftermath of IT problems on Thursday that took out 200 of its flights around Europe.
Continue reading...RMT calls out 4,000 members in protest at TfL plans to cut 600 posts to reduce costs
London Underground station staff will stage a 24-hour strike on Monday 6 June, the day after the platinum jubilee holiday weekend, in a dispute over job cuts.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has called 4,000 members out on strike in protest at Transport for London’s plans to cut 600 posts to reduce costs.
Continue reading...Francis O’Grady writes to Insolvency Service, which is investigating the sacking of almost 800 crew
The head of the Trades Union Congress has written to the Insolvency Service calling for it to disqualify the directors of P&O Ferries after they sacked nearly 800 crew without notice.
In a letter seen by the Guardian, Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s general secretary, said the Insolvency Service should “initiate disqualification proceedings against the directors of P&O Ferries Division Holdings Limited”.
Continue reading...With 40,000 RMT members voting, union warns of ‘potentially biggest rail strike in modern history’
Contingency plans are being drawn up to try to keep passenger and freight trains running and prevent empty supermarket shelves after unions warned of “potentially the biggest rail strike in modern history”.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) is balloting 40,000 members on the industrial action, which network sources have reportedly said would create “serious challenges” in keeping goods moving and supermarket shelves stocked.
Continue reading...Postal service says it needs to adapt to post-Covid business world amid near-9% drop in profits and union pay battle
Royal Mail has warned that the company is at a “crossroads” and needs to urgently adapt to the post-pandemic environment as parcel deliveries, originally boosted by Covid lockdowns, continue to wane.
It piles further pressure on the postal company, as it struggles to reach a pay deal with unionised staff who are pushing for an inflation-based pay rise as the cost of living soars.
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Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, has warned that inflation will experience a further “bump” before prices are likely to stabilise.
In a Q&A after delivering a speech on green trade at Bloomberg’s HQ in London, she said countries around the world were facing a “a global battle against inflation”. She went on:
This is something we have to tackle across the board.
And the worry we always have is that inflation tends to have two bumps to it.
Continue reading...Union says oil refinery’s ‘strategic importance’ means talks about possible threats are urgent
Trade union bosses are seeking an urgent meeting with Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon amid uncertainty surrounding the future of the Grangemouth oil refinery.
Grangemouth is one of just six oil refineries in Great Britain and supplies two-thirds of the petrol and diesel for forecourts in Scotland as well as large volumes for the north of England and Northern Ireland.
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