Senior medics in England say more resident doctor strikes would be futile

Exclusive: Letter from six top figures says more walkouts by junior colleagues would help those who oppose the NHS

Six senior figures in England’s medical profession have criticised potential strikes by resident doctors as “a futile gesture” that will harm patients and help those who oppose the NHS.

The move is the first public evidence of the significant unease many senior doctors feel about the possibility of their junior colleagues staging a new campaign of industrial action in England.

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Scottish Water staff to strike for two days as pay standoff continues

Emergency repairs and quality checks for 5m people in Scotland will not be done on Tuesday and Wednesday, union says

Scottish Water staff will strike for two days from the early hours of Tuesday as a standoff over pay continues at the state-owned company.

The striking workers’ union warned that emergency repairs and quality checks to water supplied to 5 million people across Scotland would not be carried out during the action on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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Second teachers’ union vows to strike if pay award fails to fund schools in England

NASUWT conference votes to launch strike ballot if spending review does not top up school budgets in full

A second teaching union in England has vowed to strike if the government fails to compensate schools in full for next year’s teachers’ pay award.

The NASUWT union’s annual conference voted to reject any pay offer from the government that did not top up school budgets in June’s spending review, and to “move immediately to ballot members for industrial action”.

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‘The posh areas get cleared’: bin strikes illustrate Birmingham’s wealth gap

People in poorer areas feel frustrated rubbish piles up during strikes, while wealthy households pay for removal

“It’s very frustrating that the posh areas get cleared and we’re just left, very frustrating but we expect it,” said Peter Thomas, outside his home in Ladywood, against a backdrop of overflowing bins.

Across neighbouring postcodes in Birmingham, the gap between wealthy and deprived parts of the city has been noticeable for residents ever since the bin strikes began last month.

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Army planners sent in to help clear Birmingham’s rubbish piles

Government calls in military experts as month-long refuse workers’ strike brings warnings of public health emergency

Office-based military specialists have been called in to deal with the mounting piles of rubbish on the streets of Birmingham after a month-long strike by refuse workers.

Tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish have gone uncollected and Birmingham city council has declared a major incident and issued a public health warning since the all-out-strike by Unite union members began on 11 March.

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Birmingham bin collection strike offers ‘banquet’ for rats, pest expert says

Uncollected food waste ‘poses public health danger’ as 400 workers take indefinite action over pay and conditions

A bin collection strike in Birmingham could lead to rats thriving on a “banquet” of food waste and pose a public health danger, pest controllers have said.

About 400 council bin workers in Birmingham began an indefinite strike on Tuesday as part of a dispute over pay and conditions.

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Deal ends strikes on Britain’s biggest intercity rail line

RMT union wins 87% backing from members for improved package for train managers at Avanti West Coast

Train managers on Britain’s biggest intercity service, Avanti West Coast, have settled a dispute over rest-day working, ending a series of weekend strikes.

The RMT union said 87% of its members had voted to accept a deal including additional pay for working weekends and an agreement on the allocation of staffing for extra shifts.

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English academy chain to improve conditions for Jamaican teachers after strike threat

Union leader describes chain’s record on overseas-trained teachers as ‘Harris Federation’s Windrush’

The National Education Union has claimed a “resounding improvement” in workload and conditions for teachers from Jamaica and other countries at a leading academy chain, as part of a deal ending threats of strike action.

The Harris Federation of schools confirmed it will improve conditions for qualified teachers from Jamaica and others trained overseas, as part of a deal that eases the route for overseas-trained teachers to gain similar qualifications in England.

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Rail passengers face disruption from Avanti strikes every Sunday until June

Train managers on west coast mainline to take action from 12 January to 25 May in dispute over rest-day working

Passengers on Great Britain’s west coast mainline have been warned of disruption to Avanti services on every Sunday from this weekend to the end of May.

Train managers represented by the the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) have said they will strike on every Sunday from 12 January to 25 May 2025, in a dispute over their pay for working on rest days.

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London museum security guards urge public to stay away in strikes over pay

More walkouts planned in 2025 at V&A, Natural History and Science museums as workers demand living wage

Three of the UK’s biggest museums face the threat of strike action in 2025 by security guards over pay and conditions.

Guards at the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum are in dispute with the external contractor, Wilson James. They want a basic pay rate of £16 an hour to cope with the cost of living crisis.

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Journalists strike over proposed sale of Observer to Tortoise Media

Forty-eight-hour strike, first at Guardian in more than 50 years, to take place on Wednesday and Thursday

Journalists at the Guardian and the Observer are holding a 48-hour strike in protest at the proposed sale of the Observer newspaper to Tortoise Media.

The strike, the first at the Guardian in more than 50 years, is due to take place on Wednesday 4 December and Thursday 5 December.

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Amazon workers in 20 countries to protest or strike on Black Friday

Workers and their representatives to press US retailer to respect their rights and take action on the climate crisis

Thousands of Amazon workers are expected to protest or strike in more than 20 countries during Black Friday to press for better workers’ rights and climate action from the US retailer..

Workers and representatives from unions and workers’ groups intend to join protests against the Seattle-based company’s practices between Black Friday and Cyber Monday (29 November and 2 December), one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year.

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Teachers in England vote overwhelmingly to accept pay rise offer

NEU snap poll shows 95% of members voting for 5.5% pay rise, ending months of industrial action

Teachers in England have voted overwhelmingly to accept a 5.5% pay rise but warned ministers that without further “corrections” pay would remain uncompetitive and teacher shortages would persist.

Of those members who responded to the National Education Union’s snap poll, 95% voted to accept the 2024-25 offer, which would give schools an additional £1.2bn to cover the pay rise.

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Minister struggles to defend Keir Starmer over his record of accepting freebies – UK politics live

Angela Eagle, border security minister, says prime minister has to answer why he has accepted £76,000 worth of gifts since 2019 election

The number of migrants who have crossed the English Channel since Labour won the general election has passed 10,000, according to provisional figures from the Home Office. As PA Media reports, some 65 migrants were detected crossing the Channel on Monday, taking the cumulative number of arrivals since July 4 to 10,024. PA says:

The cumulative total for the year so far now stands at 23,598.

This is 1% lower than the equivalent figure at this point last year, which was 23,940, and 21% lower than the total at this stage in 2022, which was 29,783.

The home secretary announced the package of up to £75m, which redirects funds originally allocated to the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act. It will unlock sophisticated new technology and extra capabilities for the NCA to bolster UK border security and disrupt the criminal people smuggling gangs. The investment is designed to build on a pattern of successful upstream disruptions announced at an operational summit, attended by the prime minister, at the NCA headquarters last week.

They became climate dinosaurs, crashing offshore wind, blocking onshore wind, moving the goalposts on electric vehicle targets, doubling down on oil and gas, leaving British wildlife in crisis.

Our biodiversity declining at an unprecedented rate, our precious national parks in decline, our rivers, lakes and seas awash with toxic sewage, blind to the opportunities of the energy transition – a fossil fuel government in a renewable age.

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LNER train driver strikes called off after successful union talks

Planned 22 days of disrupted weekend services suspended with Aslef stating it has resolved a longstanding dispute

A series of weekend strikes by train drivers on LNER from Saturday has been called off, their trade union Aslef has announced.

Passengers travelling between London and Edinburgh had faced the prospect of months of disruption after LNER drivers earlier this month announced 22 days of industrial action from the start of September until early November.

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Ex-rail minister says he understands Labour deal with unions

Huw Merriman called for end to ‘demonisation’ of train drivers and apologised for failing to bring reforms

A former Conservative minister has called for an end to the demonisation of train drivers and said he understood why the new Labour government had “decided to cut a deal” with unions.

Huw Merriman, who served as the rail minister for the entirety of Rishi Sunak’s premiership, apologised for failing to bring in workplace reforms and his inability to reach an agreement to end the strikes.

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Vets extend strike in first industrial action to hit Britain’s pet-care sector

Staff at a practice in Wales have accused its private-equity-backed owner of poor pay and overcharging customers

Staff working at a chain of commercial vet surgeries have extended their strike, accusing their private-equity-backed owner of underpaying workers and overcharging pet owners as part of the first industrial action to hit the veterinary sector in the UK.

Unionised vets, nurses and support staff at Valley Vets in south Wales, which is owned by one of the largest veterinary corporations in the country, VetPartners, decided last week to stay out until the end of the month, in the latest move in an increasingly bitter dispute.

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Border Force staff at Heathrow to take strike action for most of September

Union says forced changes to working hours and practices have most harmed those with caring responsibilities

Hundreds of Border Force officers at Heathrow will take industrial action for 23 days from the end of the month over a long-running dispute about changes to their terms of employment.

About 650 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will go on strike from 31 August to 3 September at which point a period of work to rule – where no overtime is undertaken and no extra work is done beyond what is contractually required – will begin and continue until 22 September.

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Nearly half of England’s GP surgeries taking industrial action, survey finds

One in four practices capping number of patients they see to 25 a day amid first action in 60 years

Almost half of GP surgeries in England are staging industrial action for the first time in 60 years amid a row over funding, with one in four capping the number of patients they see to 25 a day, a survey suggests.

Family doctors voted overwhelmingly in favour of collective action earlier this month in protest at the last government increasing their budget by only 1.9% this year. The new government has pledged to increase funding for 2024-25 to 6%.

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Unions welcome scrapping of Tories’ ‘spiteful’ minimum service law

Senior figures praise repeal of law but privately some want full workers’ rights overhaul implemented without delay

Unions have welcomed the government’s move to formally scrap a “draconian” anti-strike law that would have ensured a minimum level of service during industrial action as the legislation had restricted workers’ rights.

The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, have written to government departments with sectors that were most affected by the strikes to give a “clear message” the measures will be repealed and have urged all metro mayors to start engaging with local employers on the change.

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