Category Archives: Industrial action

Further disruption on rail and bus services as transport strikes continue

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Rail services will be much-reduced, and buses in west and south-west London and Surrey also affected

Travellers are facing a further day of disruption on Saturday as thousands of transport workers go on strike in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Network Rail, several train companies, and bus services in London and parts of Surrey will be hit by industrial action by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT), TSSA and Unite unions which will also affect Sunday morning train services.

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No 10 denies ministers seeking political fight with rail unions

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Denial comes as language toughens on both sides and head of RMT again warns of de facto general strike

Downing Street has denied that ministers are deliberately seeking a political fight with rail unions, as both sides toughened their language further and the head of the RMT warned the impasse could continue “indefinitely”.

Just 20% of rail services ran on Thursday, in a sixth day of strike action since June involving the RMT and TSSA unions, with further disruption taking place on Saturday, which is likely to affect trains throughout the weekend.

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Rail strikes: Britons face three more days of disruption from Thursday

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Network Rail, several train firms, London Underground and London buses to be hit by latest action

Commuters and other travellers are facing further disruption over three days from Thursday on rail, tube and bus services, as tens of thousands of workers begin the latest round of strike action.

Network Rail, several train companies, London Underground and buses in the capital will be hit by industrial action due to long-running disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

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‘A sweatshop in the UK’: how the cost of living crisis triggered walkouts at Amazon

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Inside the protests taking place at the online giant which is accused of exploiting workers and awarding derisory pay offers

Amazon workers say they are working in a “sweatshop” as safety concerns and worries about the cost of living crisis have triggered walkouts at warehouses around the country.

The Observer has spoken to four staff involved in the walkouts, who work at three Amazon warehouses, including Tilbury in Essex, where protests began on 4 August. All say they will struggle to survive this winter with pay rise offers between 35p and 50p an hour – far less than the rate of inflation, which is currently at 13%.

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Plans for eight-day strike at Felixstowe threaten UK supply chain

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Owners prioritise multimillion-pound shareholder dividends over paying decent wages, says union

Dockers at Felixstowe are planning eight days of strike action over pay that could cause serious disruption to the UK’s largest container port.

Nearly 1,900 workers plan to stop work for more than a week at the Hong Kong-owned port, starting on Sunday 21 August and ending on Monday 29 August, according to the union Unite. The workers voted 92% in favour of strike action last week.

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Up to 70 Labour MPs may join pickets as Starmer faces test of party unity

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Union source claims MPs will join BT staff on Friday despite Labour leader’s call for frontbenchers to stay away

Up to 70 Labour MPs could join union picket lines on Friday as Keir Starmer faces a renewed battle to maintain party unity over support for striking workers.

One shadow minister was believed to be considering joining a Communication Workers Union (CWU) picket line as thousands of BT staff began two days of strikes over pay, which would set up a fresh potential conflict with the Labour leader’s office.

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Unions issue threat of UK general strike as rail crisis grows

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Aslef members voted for action in August, while the RMT chief, Mick Lynch, is calling for a general strike

Unions warned the UK could face a general strike this year as rail workers voted for fresh action set to intensify a summer of industrial unrest.

The vote for further transport strikes came as Keir Starmer sacked shadow transport minister Sam Tarry who conducted broadcast interviews alongside striking RMT workers at Euston station – a move that is likely to increase divisions between Labour and trade unions.

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Train strikes: UK railways disrupted again as workers take action over pay and conditions

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More than 40,000 staff involved in widespread action after union leaders rejected ‘paltry’ 4% pay rise

The railways will again grind to a halt on Wednesday as workers strike over pay, job security and working conditions.

The latest talks to avert the action failed last week, a month since three days of industrial action in June. The strikes involve more than 40,000 workers at Network Rail, 14 train companies, and members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT).

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Rail strike of more than 40,000 workers across Britain to go ahead on 27 July

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Members of RMT union will strike next week after talks over pay, jobs and conditions broke down

A planned strike of over 40,000 workers at Network Rail and more than a dozen train companies will go ahead next week, after the latest talks broke down.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at 14 train operating companies and Network Rail will go on strike on Wednesday 27 July in a dispute about pay, jobs and conditions.

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NHS doctors’ strike is ‘inevitable,’ says new BMA chair

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Exclusive: doctors will use pay row to expose ‘desperate state’ of NHS after years of government neglect, Prof Philip Banfield warned

A doctor’s strike is “inevitable” and will expose how dangerously threadbare the Conservatives have left the health service, the profession’s new leader has said.

In his first interview since taking over as the British Medical Association’s chair of council, Prof Philip Banfield warned ministers that doctors will take the fight to them by using a pay dispute to tell the public patients are dying as a direct result of government neglect of the NHS.

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MPs approve controversial plans to let agency workers cover for striking staff

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Critics accuse ministers of introducing a ‘scab charter’ that risks public safety and workers’ rights

Ministers have approved controversial plans to allow agency workers to replace striking workers, voting through the regulations on Monday night by 289 votes to 202.

While the business minister, Jane Hunt, said the change, which was accelerated as a result of the ongoing rail strikes, was needed to remove the “outdated blanket ban” on using agency workers to cover official industrial action, critics say the measure is akin to a “scab charter”.

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Labour must not side with Heathrow staff in pay dispute, says David Lammy

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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.

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Train strikes: second day of action brings disruption across Britain’s rail network – live

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Passengers advised to only travel if necessary as members of RMT at Network Rail and 13 train operators walk out

Crowds of holidaymakers are fretting about missing their flights as train delays have left them stuck at London’s Liverpool Street station, PA reports.

The Stansted Express normally leaves twice an hour from Britain’s third-busiest station, but strike action has reduced this down to one.

One man, who was returning to Sofia in Bulgaria after three days in London, complained that the experience was “stressful”.

Asked how much longer he expected to wait, the man - who had been stranded at the station for half an hour - said: “I don’t know, I’m just looking at the board, I hope not too long.”

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UK rail strike: second day of action to go ahead after talks fail again

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RMT accuses government of ‘wrecking negotiations’ as operators and passengers prepare to face further disruption on Thursday

Train operators and passengers face more disruption on Thursday after talks between rail industry bosses and the RMT union failed to head off a second national 24-hour strike.

The RMT said talks had broken down on Wednesday without a settlement, and hit out at the government for “wrecking negotiations” in the dispute over pay, working conditions and proposed “modernisation” plans to cut costs after the pandemic.

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Labour frontbenchers likely to be disciplined for joining rail pickets

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At least five MPs defy Keir Starmer’s orders and tweet pictures of themselves with RMT strikers

Keir Starmer is expected to discipline at least five Labour frontbenchers who defied his orders and appeared on RMT picket lines on Tuesday in solidarity with striking railworkers.

On the first of three days of industrial action, the Labour leader had instructed his team not to appear alongside striking workers, in order to show “leadership”, amid fears of Labour being portrayed by the Tories as responsible for the RMT’s walkout.

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Tooting taxis and no Greggs queue: Manchester calm as rail strikes begin

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While picketers receive support, it’s quiet on the roads, and the train to Preston is running late as usual

Assembling their picket line outside Manchester Piccadilly station at 6am on Tuesday, the striking rail workers wondered if they would receive a hostile reaction from those inconvenienced. But instead of abuse they received toots of support from passing buses and taxis, while cyclists rang their bells.

“Passengers who use our railways day in, day out support us. They know that most of us are not on the inflated wages you see thrown about by rightwing commentators and newspapers,” said Clayton Clive, the RMT branch secretary for Manchester. About 950 of his 1,500 members had downed tools for the day, he said, a turnout of 63%.

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Boris Johnson plans to break rail strikes by allowing use of agency workers

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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.

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Keir Starmer tells Labour frontbench they should not join rail strike pickets

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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”.

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Network Rail in last-ditch bid to stop train strike causing chaos across UK

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RMT union leaders say ‘no viable’ deals are on the table and walkout is set to go ahead, hitting tourism, sport and festivals

Network Rail bosses say they plan to hold more talks with union leaders today in a last-ditch attempt to avert the biggest strike on the railways for more than three decades.

More than 40,000 rail workers are due to walk out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Only about half of Britain’s rail network will be open on strike days with a very limited service on lines which are open.

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Grant Shapps tells rail staff not to ‘risk striking yourself out of a job’

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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”.

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