Category Archives: Trade unions

Archbishop of Canterbury’s attack on illegal migration bill ‘wrong on both counts’, says minister – as it happened

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Justin Welby says bill is ‘morally unacceptable’ and rules on protection of refugees are not ‘inconvenient obstructions’. This live blog is closed

In the House of Lords peers are just starting to debate the second reading of the illegal migration bill.

Simon Murray, aka Lord Murray of Blidworth, is opening the debate. He is a lawyer who was made a Home Office minister, and a peer, when Liz Truss was PM.

We now face a perfect storm of factors driving more people into homelessness while giving us fewer good options to help them when they do. These factors include soaring private rents (above the benefit cap), private landlords leaving the sector, a national shortage of affordable housing, and a backlog of court cases after Covid-relating housing support was removed. At the same time, we have a cost-of-living crisis which is reducing real-term incomes and putting further strain on relationships.

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NHS disruption warning as ambulance staff strike in south-east England

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Hospitals chief says action ‘will pile even more pressure’ on already overstretched services and calls for talks

Ambulance staff in the south-east of England are to strike over pay for the second time on Tuesday, prompting warnings from hospital bosses of further pressure on overstretched emergency services.

Members of the Unite trade union employed by two ambulance trusts are striking after rejecting the government’s pay offer of a lump sum cash payment for 2022-23 and a below inflation increase of 5% for 2023-24.

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Royal Mail chief expected to step down within weeks

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Simon Thompson has had a turbulent two-year stint at the helm

Royal Mail boss Simon Thompson is expected to step down within weeks, after a turbulent two-year stint at the helm.

The chief executive has been accused by unions of inflaming the bitter industrial dispute, and his credibility was put in question after a Commons select committee appearance.

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At least 108 police injured and 291 held in May Day protests in cities across France

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Teargas fired amid clashes as unions turn traditional marches into anti-government protest against pension reform

French police fired teargas and clashed with demonstrators in Paris and other cities on Monday after trade unions transformed their traditional Labour Day marches into anti-government demonstrations against the rise in the retirement age.

At least 108 police were wounded and 291 people detained across France as violence erupted in several cities on the sidelines of the main union-led marches, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said. In Paris, 25 police were injured and 111 people were detained. One police officer suffered serious burns to his hands and face after being hit by a petrol bomb, he said.

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RCN and train drivers’ union dispute ministers’ claims about their strikes

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Nurses union head clashes with Steve Barclay over plans to protect patients and RMT rows with Mark Harper about striking on eve of Eurovision final

The Royal College of Nursing has clashed with the government over whether sufficient exemptions have been made to protect patient safety during the nurses’ strike in England that started on Sunday evening.

The clash came as a row erupted between the leader of the train drivers’ union and the transport secretary, who had criticised a planned strike on the eve of the Eurovision song contest final for its impact on Ukraine.

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Nurses’ union makes apparent U-turn over staffing exemptions during strike

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Two trusts and one children’s hospital to receive emergency nursing staff after RCN had said there would be no derogations

The Royal College of Nurses appears to have U-turned on its decision to allow no exemptions to hospitals during this weekend’s strike action, with nurses now due to work in an emergency capacity in dozens of hospitals across England.

Nurses will be working across several NHS trusts – including Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, in London, and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS foundation trust – in wards including intensive care and A&E. This is despite the RCN vowing when strike action was announced that exemptions would not be made for any hospitals.

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Ministers set to impose NHS pay deal on staff despite opposition of unions

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Move is apparently designed to isolate the Royal College of Nursing, which is due to begin another strike

Ministers plan to impose a pay deal on NHS workers even as nurses continue to reject it, the Observer understands, as health service unions prepare to hold crunch talks on the package this week.

Both the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Unite unions continue to oppose the deal offered to NHS workers, after protracted negotiations that have led to strikes and hampered attempts to shorten waiting lists. All 12 unions involved in the talks will gather on Tuesday to vote on whether to accept an improved deal covering the last two years.

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NHS leader asks union to let striking nurses go back to work for emergencies

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Health service bosses say patient safety could be at risk when nurses in England stage 28-hour stoppage from Sunday evening

An NHS leader has urged the Royal College of Nursing to let striking nurses leave picket lines and go back to work in their hospital if emergencies occur during their strike this weekend.

Matthew Taylor made the appeal as the NHS braced itself for renewed disruption to services as a result of the first strike by nurses since they rejected the government’s improved pay offer.

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All state schools in England may shut in ‘unprecedented’ coordinated strikes

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Four main teaching unions could unite after ‘months of stonewalling’ from education secretary Gillian Keegan

All state schools in England could be closed by “unprecedented” coordinated strikes involving all four teaching unions, after their leaders vowed to increase pressure on the government to improve its pay offer.

In a joint press conference, the leaders of the four major education unions said they wanted to send a message to the education secretary that she needed to resume negotiations over pay and school funding.

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Heathrow remains loss-making despite rise in passenger numbers

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Airport says people will be able to ‘travel as normal’ in peak period around coronation despite strike

Heathrow airport has warned that it is still loss-making, even as it continues to be Europe’s busiest airport, welcoming almost 17 million passengers in the first three months of the year.

The airport also said that passengers would be able to “travel as normal” during the peak getaway period around the coronation of King Charles III, taking place on 6 May, despite a fresh planned strike by security staff.

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Amazon workers in Coventry to request union recognition after membership doubles

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It would be first time a UK union wins formal negotiation rights and comes after GMB-organised strikes at warehouse

Amazon workers at the delivery firm’s Coventry depot are demanding formal union recognition, after membership more than doubled during strike action.

If granted, it would be the first time a union in the UK has won the right to negotiate with the American tech firm.

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Nurses’ leader blasts Steve Barclay over ‘disgraceful’ use of legal action to stop strike

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Pat Cullen attacks health secretary’s attempt to prevent 48-hour action in England as ‘frightening for democracy’

The leader of the Royal College of Nursing has said a legal attempt by the health secretary to block next weekend’s strike in England is “frightening for democracy and very frightening for trade unionism”.

Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, said it was “disgraceful” that Steve Barclay was attempting to thwart the strike via the courts, and said nurses would “not be bullied into silence”.

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RCN head accuses Barclay of issuing ‘blatant threat’ with legal action over strikes

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Pat Cullen said health secretary’s attempt to block 48-hour nurses’ strike was ‘cruel’ and ‘unacceptable’

The health secretary’s legal challenge against the Royal College of Nursing’s forthcoming strike is a “blatant threat”, the union’s leader has said.

Steve Barclay’s decision to refer to the courts, revealed on Friday, is the latest twist in the long-running saga over pay between nurses and the government.

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Strikes at Heathrow could disrupt travel to UK for King Charles’s coronation

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Action by Terminal 5 security guards to take place on 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 25, 26 and 27 May in dispute over pay


Security staff at Heathrow airport are to strike on eight days next month in a dispute over pay.

The action by members of the Unite union will take place on 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 25, 26 and 27 May, and follow strikes over Easter.

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Rishi Sunak appears ready to try to tough out further wave of NHS strikes

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High-risk tactic increases likelihood of combined stoppages by nurses and junior doctors in England

Rishi Sunak appears set on trying to face down unions in a high-risk strategy to tough out a renewed wave of NHS strikes in England that health service leaders warned were unsustainable and could put patient safety at risk.

With the prime minister and his health secretary, Steve Barclay, seemingly offering no fresh concessions for nurses or junior doctors, they risk the possibility of combined strike action, a scenario one NHS leader said would put the health service “into uncharted territory”.

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Amazon workers in Coventry begin first of two three-day strikes

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Workers gather at picket line on Sunday in ongoing demand for pay increase from £11 to £15 an hour

Workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse have begun a fresh round of strike action in a dispute about pay during the cost of living crisis.

GMB union members are planning three days of strikes at the huge Coventry centre, known as BHX4, from Sunday 16 to Tuesday 18 April, to be followed by three further days, from 21 to 23 April.

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Calls for stricter UK oversight of workplace AI amid fears for staff rights

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Campaigners, unions and MPs raise concerns about surveillance and use of ‘management by algorithm’

Campaigners, trade unions and MPs are calling for stricter oversight of the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace, amid growing concerns about its effect on staff rights.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is holding a half-day conference on Tuesday to highlight the challenges of ensuring workers are treated fairly, as what it calls “management by algorithm” becomes increasingly prevalent.

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Royal Mail and Communication Workers Union reach deal on pay

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Agreement in principle follows strikes and 11 months of negotiations over pay, jobs and conditions

Royal Mail and union leaders have reached an agreement in principle after 11 months of negotiations in a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Royal Mail said it had reached a negotiators’ agreement with the Communication Workers Union (CWU), the details of which will be made public once it has been ratified by the union’s executive committee, which is expected to take place next week.

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NHS crisis deepens as nursing union plans ‘mega strike’ in England

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Doctors could join coordinated strike as Royal College of Nurses announce national ballot on mass action

England’s biggest nursing union is to ballot its members on whether to join a “make or break” mega-strike that would lead to mass action by nurses in every hospital trust in the country, the Observer can reveal.

The move by the Royal College of Nursing to “up the ante” by holding a single national vote – rather than conducting ballots in each individual trust as it did last October – would, if passed, mean twice as many trusts being hit by industrial action by nurses as have been so far.

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Further England nurses’ strikes present ‘severe challenge’ to NHS

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NHS leader says threat of joint strike with junior doctors could pose hardest challenge yet

A 48-hour nurses’ strike in England in May will present “severe challenges”, and the threat of coordinated industrial action with junior doctors could pose the “most difficult challenge” to date, an NHS boss has said.

Speaking after a four-day junior doctors’ strike ended at 7am on Saturday, Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said fresh strike action announced by the Royal College of Nursing from 30 April until 2 May, and the possibility of stoppages continuing into next winter, was “extremely worrying and concerning”.

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