Category Archives: Trade unions

Rail strikes: Aslef announces industrial action in December

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Drivers to stage fresh series of 24-hour strikes and overtime ban, as RMT signals possible breakthrough

The train drivers’ union, Aslef, will stage a series of one-day strikes and call an overtime ban across England’s operating companies at the start of December, ratcheting up the national rail dispute again.

Drivers at each company will strike for 24 hours on dates between Saturday 2 and Friday 8 December, and will refuse to work overtime between Friday 1 and Saturday 9 December, causing more disruption for operators that rely on rest day working.

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Large parts of Port Talbot steelworks could be shut under Tata Steel cuts plan

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Unions say move could force Tata’s automative steel factory at Llanwern to close, costing 600 jobs

Large parts of the Port Talbot steelworks will be closed or mothballed for years, and would leave the plant and its few remaining workers reliant on imported steel, according to proposals under consideration by the owner, Tata Steel.

Tata Steel has briefed union representatives on the proposals but has yet to announce a final decision. Workers, who marched through the town in protest on Saturday, were left in limbo two weeks ago after the company’s board in India decided to pull an announcement about its plans for the plant at the last moment.

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Port Talbot steelworkers braced for up to 3,000 job cuts

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Tata Steel board thought to be meeting in India and decision over blast furnaces expected about noon

Tata Steel is expected to confirm as many as 3,000 job losses at its steelworks in Port Talbot on Wednesday, in what would be a devastating blow to the south Wales economy.

The board of Tata Steel is thought to be meeting in India, where it is headquartered, to make a final decision.

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Ticket office U-turn ditches hated rail policy but where will savings come from now?

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Unpopular proposal for England came on back of crisis that has engulfed the industry in Britain since Covid hit

So, welcome back, ticket offices – not yet four months after their wholesale closure across England was announced by train operators. Back then rail executives breezily assured us that virtually no one bought an actual ticket from a person in an office: just for 13% of journeys, in an era of trains filled by happy smartphone users.

But then it turned out, according to the passenger watchdogs who compiled and analysed 750,000 responses to the public consultation, every single one of the 1,007 menaced offices needed to stay open after all. Transport Focus – independent, but not notable for outspoken condemnation of either industry or government – said serious concerns remained despite long discussions over the detail of options proposed by train operators to serve all passengers.

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Tory peer warns Labour over Israel-Hamas war protest ban

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Sayeeda Warsi criticises party for strongly advising its councillors not to attend pro-Palestine-related demonstrations

A senior Conservative peer has warned the Labour party not to join a race to the bottom over Israel-Hamas war protests as a council leader urged Keir Starmer to show “sympathy to the plight of Palestinians”.

Sayeeda Warsi criticised Labour for strongly advising its councillors not to attend pro-Palestine demonstrations last weekend, “despite having spent months before the recess fighting the government to protect the right to protest in the public order act”.

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Holiday pay ruling ‘entitles many UK workers to thousands in unfairly deducted wages’

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Unison says decision affects other types of employee payments and is ‘victory for underpaid workers’

Many UK workers could be entitled to thousands of pounds “unfairly” deducted from their pay after a supreme court decision, according to unions.

The judgment relates to a long-running row about holiday pay but Unison, which participated in the case, said the ruling affected all other types of payment to employees and called it a “victory for underpaid workers”.

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Boris Johnson government ‘always hoped’ Northern Ireland protocol would collapse – UK politics live

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Lord Frost, Brexit negotiator for former PM, tells House of Lords that government never wanted ‘unsatisfactory’ protocol to work

Rayner says Labour will update trade union laws to make them fit for the 21st century.

The laws affecting union reps and officials do not take into account technological advancements, she says.

First, we will update regulations to outlaw the use of predictive technologies for blacklisting and safeguard against singling out workers for mistreatment or the sack without any evidence of human interaction.

Second, we will act to end the loophole that allows employers to pass the dirty work down to third party contractors, so that any third party found to be carrying out blacklisting can legally be held to account.

The Tories pushed through the 2016 Trade Union Act, preventing fair bargaining and holding back living standards.

And this year they gave us the minimum service levels bill [the Strikes Act] …

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Rishi Sunak says he told China actions to undermine British democracy are ‘completely unacceptable’

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Prime minister says he told Li Qiang, the Chinese prime minister, at G20 that Chinese interference with the work of parliament will ‘never be tolerated’

Simon Clarke, who was the levelling up secretary during the Liz Truss premiership, has defended the government’s decision not to explicitly label China as a threat. In posts on X, or Twitter as many of us still call it, he said:

There are legitimate reasons why it is difficult for ministers to say China is a threat – that’s the nature of international relations. What matters more than words is that our policy choices change to reflect the undoubted danger of China’s actions.

Here I think the Government’s record stands up pretty well. You have the soft power of our new Pacific trade bloc membership in the CPTPP (which notably does not include China) and you have the hard power of the new AUKUS alliance - itself a response to Chinese aggression.

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UK’s net zero ambitions at risk after ‘disastrous’ offshore wind auction

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Industry figures and the TUC warn of missed carbon reduction targets and lost jobs unless government boosts green investment

Fears are growing that existing offshore wind projects could be shelved, after industry insiders warned that “disastrous” handling by the government had created a big shortfall in future renewable energy.

Ministers revealed last week that no additional offshore windfarms will go ahead in the UK after the latest government auction. No bids were made in the auction, after the government ignored warnings that offshore schemes were no longer economically viable under the current system.

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‘It’s going to cost billions’: UK councils face huge bills over equal pay claims

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GMB union is supporting 3,000 claims in Birmingham – and is gathering evidence from 20 other councils

Councils in the UK are facing compensation bills running into billions of pounds over equal pay claims, campaigners have warned, as they called on the government to intervene.

The GMB union is supporting more than 3,000 equal pay claims against Birmingham city council, and has disputes against councils in Coventry, Westmorland, Cumberland, Glasgow, Dundee and Fife.

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UK universities face more strikes unless employers resume talks, union warns

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University and College Union is preparing a new ballot that could lead to marking boycott continuing and strikes lasting into 2024

Universities across the UK will face another round of strikes next month unless employers agree to return to the negotiating table, the University and College Union has warned.

A marking boycott that has left tens of thousands of students without their degree result this summer will continue, the union said, while preparations will get under way for a new strike ballot to renew the union’s mandate.

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Nearly 4m fewer UK working days in past year due to strike action, study says

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Resolution Foundation report says much of industrial action ‘fuelled’ by public sector workers’ anger over falls in real-terms pay

About 3.9m working days have been lost to industrial action in the past year, more than at any point since the 1980s, according to a new analysis.

The Resolution Foundation, which focuses its research on low- to middle-income households, said many of the strikes were “fuelled” by anger among public sector workers over real-terms pay declines, which amounted to an average cut of more than 9% since 2021, adjusted for inflation.

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Landmark NHS recruitment plan in danger from applicant shortfall

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The huge increase in students needed to fill medical training places, and supplying the staff to teach them, may not be feasible

A “once in a generation” NHS recruitment plan requiring an extra 50,000 clinical training places in less than a decade risks being derailed by difficulties in finding enough applicants and a shrinking number of staff to teach them.

A new analysis seen by the Observer reveals the sheer scale of the proposed increase in NHS staff implied by the government’s long-awaited workforce plan, unveiled at the start of the summer and given a broad welcome across the NHS.

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Sunak’s ‘intransigence’ on pay will lead to more NHS strikes, warns top doctor

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Exclusive: BMA council chair says medics will have no option but to stage more industrial action until ministers make ‘credible offer’

Rishi Sunak’s “increasingly intransigent” and “belligerent” stance on medics’ pay is blocking the path to ending the industrial action in the NHS, leaving no option but to strike until the next general election, one of Britain’s top doctors has warned.

Speaking to the Guardian on Friday after junior doctors launched a fifth round of industrial action, Prof Philip Banfield, the chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, said the union was standing firm and that doctors would continue to hold stoppages until they received a “credible offer”.

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Dowden’s jibe at fire union over migrant barge safety ‘disgraceful’

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Deputy PM suggested FBU’s Labour affiliation influenced its decision to raise concerns about the Bibby Stockholm

The deputy prime minister has been accused of making “disgraceful” comments after claiming that the firefighters’ union had raised safety concerns over a barge due to house asylum seekers because of close links to Labour.

Oliver Dowden suggested that the Fire Brigades Union’s affiliation and donations to the opposition were a motivating factor behind fire and overcrowding concerns raised about the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset.

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TUC urges Bank of England to halt ‘reckless’ interest rate increases

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Unions say widespread job losses in recent months have left UK ‘teetering on the brink of recession’

The TUC has urged the Bank of England to call a halt to interest rate increases after warning that widespread job losses in recent months have left the UK “teetering on the brink of recession”.

Employment had fallen in more than half of Britain’s 20 industrial sectors in the three months to June, the union body said as it predicted a fresh increase in the cost of borrowing would put tens of thousands more livelihoods at risk.

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Relief as teachers in England settle for 6.5% – but there may be battles ahead

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While many welcome the end of strike action, the campaign for fair pay and better funding for state schools looks set to continue

Ministers will have heaved a huge sigh of relief to see teachers and school leaders in England vote to accept a 6.5% pay offer and end strike action in state schools in England.

After months of disruption as a result of strikes by members of the National Education Union (NEU), there were real fears in government of an escalation of the dispute, with coordinated strike action in the autumn term by four unions.

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Battle over two-child benefit cap looms at Labour policy event

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Keir Starmer will face discontent from unions and MPs at the National Policy Forum in Nottingham

Keir Starmer faces battles over the two-child benefit cap and other flashpoints at a key Labour policy gathering this weekend where trade union delegates will cite new evidence of the mounting cost of living crisis facing their members.

Discontent at all levels of the party over his resistance to pledging to scrap the cap if Labour wins power forms the backdrop to potentially stormy negotiations behind closed doors at the National Policy Forum (NPF).

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RMT leader says government has not contacted him since January

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Mick Lynch downplays prospects of a resolution to dispute over pay, jobs and conditions

The RMT leader, Mick Lynch, has claimed he has not met a government minister since January as he downplayed prospects of a resolution to the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

The next strike by members of the of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union takes place on Thursday, with strikes also scheduled for Saturday and 29 July.

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Keir Starmer: ‘We can’t win power by spending. We need to reform and create wealth’

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Exclusive: Labour leader urges left to ‘care more about growth’ and rules out spending ‘vast sums of money’

Labour will only succeed in winning power and rebuilding Britain if it prioritises economic growth, wealth creation and radical reform of public services over reckless spending promises, says Keir Starmer.

With four days to go before a crucial set of parliamentary byelections, the Labour leader delivers the most robust defence to date of his strategy for returning his party to power after 13 years, in an exclusive article for the Observer. Starmer takes on, directly, those who say his agenda is dull and uninspiring, insisting that the hard grind of rebuilding economic credibility must come first, as opposed to Labour retreating to its normal “comfort zone” of promising “vast sums of money”.

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