Enthusiasm for public sector pay awards tempered by concern over winter fuel payment cuts and job losses
“We’re hearing an awful lot about tough times: it’s like being in a Dickens novel. What comes after the tough times? We need to hear about hope.”
Onay Kasab, the national lead officer for the Unite trade union, was addressing a leftwing fringe meeting, but similar sentiments reverberated through the bars and coffee shops at this week’s TUC congress in Brighton.
Continue reading...GMB union urges Health and Safety Executive to investigate ‘shocking’ figures revealed by the Observer
Ambulances have been called out to Amazon warehouses more than 1,400 times in the past five years, the Observer can reveal. The figures, which were described as shocking by the GMB trade union, raise fresh questions about safety at the American giant’s UK workplaces.
Amazon centres in Dunfermline and Bristol had the most ambulance callouts in Britain, listing 161 and 125 across the period respectively.
Continue reading...GMB accuses owner TDR Capital of mismanagement as sales at supermarket fall 6%
The GMB union has called on the owner of Asda to take “urgent action” to protect jobs amid signs the supermarket is “in a fight for survival”.
On Tuesday data revealed sales at Asda fell 6% in the three months to 4 August, despite continuing grocery price inflation, taking the retailer’s share of the UK take-home grocery market to 12.6% – the lowest level in at least 13 years.
Continue reading...Union has been implementing recommendations of 2020 independent report that found it institutionally sexist
A row has broken out at the GMB, one of the UK’s biggest unions, after members of its largest region supported a move towards industrial action over “serious allegations of bullying and harassment”.
Staff in the north-east, Yorkshire and Humberside (NEYH) region overwhelmingly supported a consultative ballot on strike action – used as a shot across the bow when members want to raise a serious issue.
Continue reading...Union representatives protest over ‘crushing blow’ to workers and industry, with 3,000 jobs at risk
The owners of the Port Talbot steelworks are expected to confirm the shutdown of its blast furnaces on Friday morning, putting almost 3,000 jobs at risk.
Trade union representatives have gathered outside the gates of the works in south Wales to protest against the decision, which members have said will be a “crushing blow” to workers and UK steelmaking.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Cadent Gas, owned by Australia asset manager Macquarie, is considering closing its defined benefit scheme
The former owner of crisis-hit Thames Water has been accused by union leaders of staging a “cost-cutting money grab” at another critical UK infrastructure asset under its control, as it emerged that Cadent Gas is considering cuts to its pension scheme.
Macquarie, the Australian banking powerhouse that owned Thames for a decade, has led a consortium controlling Cadent since 2016. Cadent, Britain’s biggest gas network, serving 11 million people, was formerly part of National Grid.
Continue reading...Lawyer for Covid inquiry announces ‘regrettable’ delays in handing over of information by government
Q: What would the minimum wage for workers be under your fair pay agreement for care workers? (See 10.47am.)
Starmer says his sister is a care worker. He knows how hard the job is.
Continue reading...Labour leader to address union’s conference after its leader attacks plan to ban new North Sea oil and gas extraction
Keir Starmer will pledge to put “good, union jobs” at the heart of Labour’s energy policy during a speech to one of its biggest donor unions after its general secretary criticised a proposed ban on oil and gas expansion.
He will speak at the GMB’s annual conference on Tuesday, a day after he tried to calm a growing rift with its leadership over Labour’s energy policy.
Continue reading...Unless Britain develops a closer relationship with the EU it will continue to haemorrhage investment and jobs, says the GMB
The leader of one of the country’s biggest unions has urged Labour to conduct an “honest debate” about the economic damage being caused to working people by Brexit, as evidence grows that it is fuelling inflation and driving jobs and investment abroad.
In an interview with the Observer, Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB union, which is one of Labour’s biggest financial backers, giving more than £1m a year, said politicians of all parties had been too afraid to admit the adverse consequences that leaving the EU was having on jobs and life in working communities.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...In letter to Rishi Sunak, GMB union members say they feel ‘utterly betrayed’ by attempts to portray them as ‘uncaring about safety’
A group of ambulance workers has sent a furious letter to the prime minister saying they feel “utterly betrayed” by the government’s attempts to paint them as “uncaring about safety standards”.
Steve Rice, the head of the GMB union’s ambulance committee, sent Rishi Sunak a letter on behalf of ambulance workers protesting against the government’s plans to introduce anti-strikes legislation.
PA Media contributed to this report
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