Category Archives: Trade unions

Royal Mail workers poised for strikes after Easter as talks fail

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CWU union lines up action as MP brands bosses’ threat to put service into administration as ‘scandalous’

Postal workers at Royal Mail are poised to stage a fresh wave of strikes after Easter as talks stalled, amid a “scandalous” threat by bosses to put the company into administration.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents about 115,000 postal workers, is close to agreeing multiple strike dates to take place later in April, the Guardian understands, in the long-running dispute between the company and union. A formal announcement of the strike dates is expected this week.

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Union leader urges TUC to unite in defying planned anti-strike law

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Fire Brigades Union chief says joint action needed to oppose ‘pernicious’ minimum service levels bill

A leading trade union has called for a concerted campaign of defiance and civil disobedience against the government’s planned anti-strike laws.

Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), urged a coordinated campaign among trade unions of “mass non-cooperation and non-compliance” against the minimum service levels bill.

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Rail strikes: RMT votes to accept Network Rail pay offer

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Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the offer, worth 9% over two years, in deal that should bring worst of disruption to end

Members of the RMT union have voted to accept a pay offer from Network Rail.

Thousands of rail workers including signalling staff voted by three to one in favour to accept the offer, a 9% pay increase over two years, in a referendum that closed on Monday.

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North Sea oil and gas workers vote to strike amid bumper profits

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Series of actions planned this spring as union members call for more pay since firms are ‘raking it’

Oil and gas workers have voted in favour of a series of large-scale North Sea strikes amid bumper profits for fossil fuel firms.

About 1,400 workers across five rig-servicing companies plan to strike between late March and early June as part of a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions – potentially shutting down platforms in the region.

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NHS union members step up campaign to reject ‘paltry’ pay deal

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Cross-union group sends out leaflets and hold online calls to persuade staff to vote against package agreed by leaders

Members of Britain’s biggest health unions are organising a campaign to reject the pay agreement being recommended by union leaders, in a move that threatens to destroy the tentative truce between the government and NHS staff.

A cross-union group called NHS Workers Say No has sent out thousands of leaflets, held online calls and started WhatsApp networks in an effort to persuade members to vote against the 5% increase hammered out during months of talks.

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NHS strikes: Steve Barclay expected to announce formal pay offer

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Offer to unions involved in strikes in England expected to include one-off payment of up to 6% for this year

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, is expected to announce a formal pay offer to key unions involved in NHS strikes in England, including a one-off payment of up to 6% for this year, in an effort to end months of industrial action.

Last-minute talks between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the unions were understood to be continuing on Thursday morning, but an offer was expected to be made public later in the day.

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UK rail strikes: what would a deal mean for passengers, unions and operators?

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We look at who might be the winners in the industry’s biggest industrial dispute in decades

After 23 days of national strikes, two years of talking and hundreds of thousands of cancelled trains, rail workers are contemplating a pay rise that barely catches the coat tails of inflation. The rail industry’s biggest industrial dispute in decades may be approaching its final chapter – but with little chance of a happy ending for anyone involved.

The pain for passengers is not yet over – four more 24-hour strikes across 14 operators by train and station staff in the biggest rail union, the RMT, start next Thursday, 16 March.

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Labour pledges to overhaul England’s school ratings with ‘report card’

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Shadow education secretary to announce policy aimed at giving parents more information than Ofsted’s current system

School ratings such as outstanding and inadequate would be scrapped in England under a Labour government and replaced with a “report card” aimed at helping parents, the shadow education secretary is to announce.

Bridget Phillipson will tell a headteachers’ conference in Birmingham on Saturday that Ofsted’s current system of ratings “is high stakes for staff but low information for parents” because it fails to convey important details about a school’s strengths and weaknesses.

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Teachers’ strikes in Wales called off after revised pay offer

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NEU members had been due to strike for two days next week but will now consider Welsh government’s proposal

Two days of strike action by teachers in Wales next week have been called off after the Welsh government proposed a revised pay offer.

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) were due to stop work on 15-16 March in a dispute over pay.

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Tens of thousands of teachers prepare to strike in England and Wales

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Teachers in north of England to strike on Tuesday followed by members in other regions over course of three days

Tens of thousands of teachers will strike this week resulting in the closure of some schools as members of the National Education Union (NEU) take part in three days of industrial action.

With little sign of a solution to the dispute on the horizon, teachers in the north of England will strike on Tuesday, followed by members in the Midlands and eastern regions on Wednesday.

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London Underground drivers to strike on 15 March

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The 24-hour strike kicks off on budget day in dispute over pensions and working arrangements

London Underground drivers are to strike on 15 March – budget day – in a dispute over pensions and working arrangements.

The Aslef union announced on Wednesday that members would strike for 24 hours, in a row over changes to working arrangements and pensions.

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Strikes by university staff called off after pay breakthrough

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Move follows agreement from employers on lowest-paid workers and review of salary grades

Strikes by university staff over the next two weeks have been called off after a breakthrough in negotiations over pay, pensions and working conditions, unions have announced.

Five unions – Unison, UCU, GMB, Unite and EIS – issued a joint statement with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) confirming three days of strikes will be suspended following talks at the conciliation service Acas, though discussions will continue.

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Number of days lost to strikes is highest since the Thatcher era

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Squeeze on households as pay growth falls at among fastest rates for 20 years

The number of working days lost to strike action last year reached the highest level since 1989, according to official figures showing that wage growth failed to keep pace with inflation amid the biggest real-terms fall on record.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics further highlight the squeeze on households in the cost of living crisis.

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Nurses’ union in UK warns of exodus of young staff

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RCN says nearly 43,000 nurses in UK have quit early in their careers over past five years

The UK’s largest nursing union warned of a workforce “exodus” with tens of thousands of young staff leaving the profession, as NHS bosses backed calls for ministers to meet unions to agree on a pay deal and avoid further strike action.

Nearly 43,000 nurses across the UK in the early stages of their careers have quit over the past five years, figures from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) show – almost equal to the record 47,000 nursing posts now vacant in NHS England.

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Nurses set to withdraw from A&E and intensive care units as strike intensifies

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UK’s biggest nursing union prompts alarm among senior officials by calling on intensive care workers to join walkouts

The UK’s biggest nursing union is preparing an escalation of its pay dispute with the government that will see members working in emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care services being asked to join the next round of strikes.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is also planning to announce the first continuous 48-hour strikes running through two days and two nights, rather than limiting walkouts to the 12 hours from 8am to 8pm, as they have done to date.

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Union leader calls Rishi Sunak deluded as NHS pay row escalates

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GMB’s Rachel Harrison says staff will not be ‘fobbed off’ by PM ‘kicking the can’ into next year’s pay round

A health union leader has described Rishi Sunak as deluded for suggesting NHS staff should abandon their campaign to secure a bigger pay rise this year.

The GMB’s national secretary, Rachel Harrison, made the remark in response to Downing Street’s insistence that it would not talk about improving the £1,400 pay award for frontline personnel for 2022/23 even though it has triggered the wave of NHS strikes.

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Ministers and unions dig in amid widespread strike action across UK

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Little prospect of breakthrough as strikes hit schools, trains, universities and border checks across country

Unions and the government appeared as far apart as ever, after Wednesday’s widespread strike action closed thousands of schools across England and Wales.

Striking workers from participating unions held rallies in cities including Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham and London, as teachers, university staff, rail workers and civil servants stopped work to demand better pay.

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Up to half a million to strike across UK as talks go ‘backwards’

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Action by teachers, civil servants, Border Force staff and train drivers to go ahead, with ministers accused of ‘stonewalling’

Up to half a million workers will go on strike on Wednesday with thousands of schools shut, rail lines closed down and significant border disruption, as unions said negotiations on ending strikes were “going backwards”.

Ministers have been accused of “hoodwinking the public” and freezing any moves towards a settlement with NHS workers and rail unions. Government sources privately conceded that optimism at the beginning of the month about bringing an end to industrial action had faded.

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First UK industrial action against Amazon is ‘making an impact’, says GMB

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Managers said to be covering for striking staff, though firm insists action has not disrupted activity

Workers at Amazon’s huge Coventry depot described the “stressful” conditions inside as they staged a historic strike to demand pay of £15 an hour – the first time the corporation has faced industrial action in the UK.

The local GMB organiser Amanda Gearing said the action on Wednesday was “making an impact”, despite Amazon’s insistence that work was proceeding as usual inside the high-walled warehouse.

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RMT has received new pay offer from train operators, union says

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Companies have made a ‘final offer’ to union including pay rise of 9% over two years

The RMT has received a fresh offer from train operators, the union said, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the long-running pay dispute.

Talks have been ongoing in London this week with the RMT and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), representing train firms, as well as separately with Network Rail.

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