Category: News

Union News 19 December 2022

Transcript of programme, click on image to view

Trade Union News. Here’s a round up of the latest trade union and labour related news from around the UK. In this programme: Amazon workers to strike, Unions warn against using troops to break strikes, Disabled Scots hit hard in cost-of-living crisis and strike dates announced by ambulance workers.

Amazon workers to strike

The workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse in the UK have voted to go on strike after a derisory hourly pay offer of just 50 pence.
98% of staff voted in favor of the strike, which is likely to take place next year.
The workers are represented by the GMB union.
Amazon has been accused of union-busting activities on both sides of the Atlantic.

Unions warn against using troops

Unions and campaigners warn that using troops to break national strikes endangers NHS patients and threatens civilian democracy.
The Royal College of Nursing, Unite, GMB, and others slam proposals to deploy 1,200 “insufficiently trained” military personnel to cover for striking nurses, ambulance staff and Border Force officials.
Thousands of RCN members are set to follow up last Thursday’s walkout with a further 24-hour strike tomorrow.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has responded by claiming inflation-matching salary packages are “unaffordable” and threating to further curb the right to withdraw labour.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay claimed yesterday that his “number one priority is keeping patients safe,” but Unite accused the government of “hollowing out” the NHS and blasted plans to rely on troops as a “desperate measure.”

Disabled Scots hit hard in cost-of-living crisis

Disabled people in Scotland are facing a hidden cost-of-living crisis due to bills associated with their health condition, a charity warned today.
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) is urging disabled people or their carers to seek advice on energy bills and other household costs amid the costs crisis they face.
A YouGov survey of 1,002 adults in Scotland found 37 per cent are in households where someone has a disability or long-term health condition.
•The charity’s analysis of the poll found 31 per cent of adults in such households need to keep their homes at a certain temperature, 15 per cent have to cook specific meals and 8 per cent must run medical equipment, incurring higher costs.

Strike dates announced for ambulance workers

The GMB union has announced strike dates for more than 10,000 ambulance workers across nine trusts in England and Wales on Wednesday 21 and Wednesday 28 December. Action will involve paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff. Unison union members working as part of A&E road crews in five ambulance trusts in England will strike on Wednesday 21 December.

More than 1,600 workers in the Unite union at three trusts in England are scheduled to strike on 21 December.

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Episode Notes

Our music is provided by Tim Bragg. Tim is a multi-instrumentalist & singer-songwriter. You can hear his songs here: – or any streaming service or on YouTube.

If you have news, video footage, pictures etc that you want featured in Union News please email: UnionNewsServices@protonmail.com

Ambulance picture credit: Florian, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Union News 17 December 2022

Sunak under pressure to start talking to nurses union

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing pressure from the Labour movement and his own backbenchers to negotiate with nurses and prevent further NHS strikes.

The Tory leader insists that this year’s 4.75 per cent pay deal — less than half 40-year high inflation — is “appropriate and fair,” but four Conservative former ministers have urged him to back down ahead of a second 24-hour walkout in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

Mr Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay reiterated their praise for July’s offer, recommended by the “independent” NHS pay review body, despite its remit being set by Downing Street.

Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen warned that industrial action would only grow without a change of approach from ministers.

Unions given green light for legal challenge

The High Court has granted permission for the legal challenge – brought by eleven trade unions, coordinated by the TUC and represented by Thompsons Solicitors LLP – to protect the right to strike.

The unions come from a wide range of sectors and represent millions of workers in the UK.

With industrial action taking place across the economy after years of declining real pay and attacks on working conditions, reports suggest the government is considering new ways to restrict workers’ right to strike.

Unions argue that the regulations are unlawful because they violate fundamental trade union rights protected by Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady says that “the right to strike is a fundamental British liberty” but “the government seems hellbent on attacking it at every opportunity.”

Unite announce big pay win at Rolls Royce

The Unite union has announced that the workers at Goodwood’s Rolls Royce factory have won the “largest single pay deal in the history of the plant.”

The inflation-busting package, worth 17.6 per cent, will see staff at the site in West Sussex pocket an extra £3,205 a year alongside a one-off payment of £2,000.

Unite General secretary Sharon Graham praised the “top notch pay deal,” saying that it is a testament to the organising efforts of Unite reps at Goodwood and proof that their union’s focus on jobs, pay and conditions is winning for workers.

Staff at the plant build some of world’s most expensive luxury cars and had voted to go on strike during dispute. The Rolls Royce brand is owned by BMW who reported total sales of £13.5 billion in first half of this year.

People with heart and lung problems suffer more from cold homes

1.3 million people living in poverty in private rented homes suffer from a cardiovascular or respiratory condition, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

People with such conditions are more likely to need hospital treatment and to die from the cold, with this risk increasing for people who are too poor to afford to keep warm.

About a fifth of people with such conditions live in poverty, with coastal areas of north-west England worst affected.

Blackpool was found to have the highest proportion of people with cardiovascular or respiratory problems living in poverty (4.6 per cent), while Richmond upon Thames had the least (1.6 per cent).

Commenting on the figures, Asthma and Lung UK director of external affairs Henry Gregg said: “For years, our lungs have been a clear victim of inequality and poverty.”

UK government fails to set-up promised workers’ rights body

The UK government has reportedly shelved plans to introduce an independent body to oversee workers’ rights in the country.

Announced in June 2021, the watchdog was intended to combine the work done by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and HM Revenue & Customs’ national minimum wage enforcement team.

Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, told the House of Commons business committee: “We’ve spent two years plus of this parliament fighting Covid. It may well be with two years left to go that we’re still able to address some of that. But what we’re more interested in is making sure that the bodies that are already there are operating effectively.”

The proposed group formed part of the Conservative manifesto and was a component of proposed revisions to the Employment Bill, which has also fallen by the wayside in 2022.

Episode Notes

Our music is provided by Tim Bragg. Tim is a multi-instrumentalist & singer-songwriter. You can hear his songs here: – or any streaming service or on YouTube.

If you have news, video footage, pictures etc that you want featured in Union News please email: UnionNewsServices@protonmail.com

Union News 12 December 2022

Tens of thousands rally outside Parliament to support strikers

• Tens of thousands of postal workers demonstrated in Parliament Square, London, on Friday over pay and conditions.

• The Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) said that “17,500 CWU members came to London”—one in six of those on strike.

• The CWU members were joined by politicians and other trade union leaders in solidarity.

• Royal Mail workers across the country formed picket lines and more action is planned for the rest of the week.

• CWU acting deputy general secretary Andy Furey spoke to the rally, saying that their demands are not going away and that unity will win in the end.

Christmas is cancelled for many disabled and carers

• One in five families who care for a disabled relative are planning to cancel their Christmas celebrations this year due to soaring prices, according to research by disability charity Sense.

• A survey of 1,007 families found that more than half said they were in debt and over a third were skipping meals to save money. With energy bills soaring as temperatures drop below 0 across the country, over a third (38 per cent) said they will not buy Christmas presents, and a fifth (22 per cent) said they will cancel celebrations altogether.

• The government has pledged to increase benefits in-line with inflation in April next year, but Sense warns that the delay to the uplift will leave “millions” of disabled families struggling to afford food and energy this winter. People with disabilities typically have higher living costs which makes them more vulnerable to soaring prices.

Jacob’s strike ends following settlement

• The Jacob’s cream cracker factory strike in Aintree, Liverpool has been called off after eleven weeks.

• Strikers voted in favour of a pay offer put forward by management, but over a third wanted to keep fighting.

• The deal includes a 6.5 percent pay rise this year backdated to January with a £300 one-off payment, followed by 3 percent increase next year with a £250 one-off payment – far less than the RPI rate of inflation which has soared to 14.2 percent.

• GMB union members were initially demanding a minimum pay rise of 8.5 percent but accepted 6.5% for first year and 2% for second year.

Shelter workers start two week strike

• Around 600 workers at housing charity Shelter began two weeks of strikes last Monday in the fight for a pay rise that at least matches inflation.

• Strikers are out at Shelter’s offices in Old Street and Hackney in London, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bristol, Bournemouth, Manchester, Newcastle , Norwich , Liverpool , Plymouth , and Sheffield .

• On the picket line in Old Street , strikers chanted , “ Three percent won ’ t pay the rent ” while car horns beeped in support—and at the “ Honk if you’re not paid enough ” sign .

• The strikers are using their campaigning skills to run the picket—with a book swap group , tactics meetings teach – outs. A rally took place on Friday from where the strikers marched to the CWU union rally.

Episode Notes

Our music is provided by Tim Bragg. Tim is a multi-instrumentalist & singer-songwriter. You can hear his songs here: – or any streaming service or on YouTube.

If you have news, video footage, pictures etc that you want featured in Union News please email: UnionNewsServices@protonmail.com

Resist anti-union laws

Rishi Sunak has confirmed the government is ready to ram through new anti-strike laws.

The government has already started the process to pass a new law implementing minimum service levels during transport strikes, which would gut the right to strike.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said on Wednesday that work was “ongoing” on other options for mitigating future industrial action, including a ban on walkouts by ambulance staff and other emergency workers, and extension of proposed minimum service level legislation to cover the whole public sector.

Unions, including Solidarity, have condemned the proposals.

“[The government] changes the law every time it loses an argument,” Mr Lynch of the RMT union told reporters.

“If people want to protest against them, they say you’re not allowed to do that anymore. If people want to take industrial action, they say it’s illegal.

“All of the opinion polls show it. They are losing the argument [on wages]. So, they are trying to get rid of the argument by suppressing trade union rights.”

Mr Lynch said that the trade union movement needs a co-ordinated and robust response to the attacks.

He said: “I fully expect [the government] to press ahead because they need a diversion for all their incompetence, so it’s a handy thing for them.

“Trade unions have no choice. When your members are being impoverished, you have to respond.”

Other union leaders have also spoken out against the plans.

Pat Harrington, general secretary of Solidarity said:

“Attacks on the right to strike are assaults on democracy. Strikes, or the threat of strikes, are a way for ordinary workers to bring about change in their pay and conditions. Sometimes a strike is the only way to get bad bosses to listen to their workers. No one wants to go on strike but sometimes it’s necessary. If passed this legislation will be fiercely resisted and will further divide our society.”

Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Matt Wrack said any attempt to ban workers from taking strike action would be an “outrage to so-called democracy.

“To further restrict the right to take industrial action would be a highly authoritarian move, and more in keeping with the actions of a dictatorial regime,” he said.

“The Tories are badly misjudging the public mood with these attacks.

“Any attempt to limit the right to strike will be fiercely resisted by the FBU.”

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said that the government should instead be concentrating efforts to meeting with unions to solve the disputes.

“This threatens to backfire spectacularly on the government,” she said.

“The public has immense sympathy for ambulance workers and their NHS colleagues.

“Ministers could do well to remember that union members are voters too.”

When asked what action they would take on strike laws, a Labour spokesperson said only that they would repeal the “archaic” 2016 laws brought in under previous Tory administration, but offered no specifics beyond that.

Education Workers join the strikers

The cost of living crisis has led to an increasing number of strikes, against austerity and against real term pay cuts offered by the government and bosses. Education workers are the latest to say, “Enough is enough” and take strike action.

Tens of thousands of university workers at 150 universities began three days of strikes on Thursday against low pay, intolerable workloads, insecure contacts and pensions cuts.

70,000 University and College Union (UCU) members walked out on Thursday over pay, pensions and conditions—and plan to again on Wednesday of next week.

Also striking are support staff, members of the Unison and Unite unions, demanding better pay and conditions.

Thursday’s strike was held the same day that up to 50,000 teachers in Scotland walked out in their first national strike since the 1980s against pay restraint by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Scottish National Party devolved government. Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) members rejected—with inflation now running at 14.2 percent—an initial 5 percent pay offer and a revised offer of 6.85 percent for the lowest-paid teachers. The union is demanding a 10 percent pay increase, also below inflation.

On picket lines across Britain, strikers made it clear that unions should strike together.

Strikers said bosses have the money to pay workers.

Activists are gearing up for a national demonstration that will gather at 1 pm at King’s Cross in London today.

Picture credit: KollectivFuture 2022. All rights reserved.

Public back the nurse’s strike

71% of British adults think it’s acceptable for nurses to go on strike for a pay raise, while 74% say it’s acceptable to take industrial action for better patient care (IPSOS survey).

Around one in 10 people were neutral on the subject, while just 16% said it was unacceptable for nurses to go on strike for a pay increase and 13% said it was unacceptable even to secure better standards of care.

The poll of 1,083 British adults found 75 per cent of people who voted Labour in the 2019 general election strongly or tended to support the nursing strikes, compared to 45 per cent of Conservative voters.

Union News 24/11/22

  • Long Covid sufferers face stigma

A new study has found that the majority of people living with long Covid have experienced some form of stigma associated with their condition.

The research, which was based on a survey of 1,100 people, found that 95% of those suffering from long Covid have experienced some form of stigma while 76% reported experiencing it “often” or “always”.

As of October 1 it is estimated that 2.1 million people are living with long Covid in Britain — around 3.3% of the population, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Dr Marija Pantelic, a lecturer in public health at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, said: “The stigma attached to long Covid is likely to leave a devastating mark on our society and health service provision.”

  • RMT announce further strike action

RMT union members at Network Rail and 14 train operating companies plan strikes on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December and 3, 4, 6 and 7 January, in addition to an overtime ban between December 18 and January 2.

This is the latest development in an increasingly bitter six-month dispute over potential job cuts and plummeting take-home pay.

RMT assistant general secretary John Leach has called on Mark Harper—the third Tory transport secretary since July—to meet with RMT general secretary Mick Lynch and come to a resolution.

  • Strikes close Scottish schools

The Education Institute of Scotland has launched their first national strike over wages in 40 years, with the action expected to close most schools north of the border.

This comes after the union rejected a last-minute offer which would have seen most staff pocket a 5 per cent rise – less than half of soaring double-digit inflation.

General secretary Andrea Bradley has branded the proposal an “inept rehash” of the offer made to teachers earlier this year and accused ministers and local authority umbrella group Cosla of “not trying hard enough.”

She has repeated her demands for a 10 per cent salary boost, a figure described by Scottish Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville as “unaffordable due to extreme budget pressures.”

  • Strikes called off after pay deal

Outsourced workers at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy called off strike action today after winning a 12 per cent pay boost.

The caterers and hospitality staff, employed by Aramark at the government department, had been set for five days of walkouts into next month after public services union PCS warned of plummeting take-home pay.

But they are now set to pocket a rise above last month’s 11.1 per cent consumer prices index inflation rate.

Meanwhile, PCS members employed in the same central London offices by fellow contractor ISS as security guards, postal staff, porterage workers, cleaners and receptionists have suspended a planned four-day strike after receiving an improved offer on health and safety issues from bosses.

Crisis in our NHS

There is a crisis in our National Health Service (NHS).

Staff are underpaid and overworked to the point of burnout and breakdown.

Waiting lists are growing longer.

Patients and relatives are left bewildered by the tangled web of services with fancy names that promise a lot but deliver so little.

It’s got to the point where nurses are saying enough is enough because the state of the National Health Service is not their fault.

Guilt has been loaded onto individual nurses for a staffing crisis that they have not created.  
Nurses in the UK have been pushed to breaking point by the government, who have delayed two paltry pay rises. Years of 0% or just over 1% pay rises mean that nurses are struggling to make ends meet.

Too many nurses are leaving the NHS because of deteriorating pay and conditions, and there is now a staggering 47,000 vacancy rate that NHS trusts are struggling to fill.

By going on strike, nurses will put responsibility for patient safety back into the hands of CEOs and government where it belongs.. They have a fighting chance to force through positive changes that will benefit themselves and patients over longer term..

The Royal College of Nurses represents 300,000 nurses who have suffered a 20% real terms pay cut since 2010.

Patricia Marquis, director for England at the RCN, says that the waiting lists will only come down when there is proper investment in the workforce.

Patrick Harrington General Secretary of Solidarity says that misbanding, bosses’ incompetence and under inflation pay rises are destroying morale in the NHS.

Sara Gorton, head of health for Unison, says that without a decent wage rise, health workers will continue to leave, and patients suffer.

Reliance on agency staff

NHS bosses are increasingly paying premium rates for agency staff to plug holes in rotas. Spending in this area rose by 20% last year to hit £3bn in England.

For many shifts, bosses have been so short-staffed they have been willing to breach the government pay caps for these agency workers, most of whom are doctors and nurses.

In a world where automation and technology are constantly evolving, the rise of robotics is inevitable. Robotics can be defined as the use of machines to automate tasks that have traditionally been done by humans.

With advancements in AI and machine learning, robots are becoming increasingly capable of performing complex tasks and making decisions on their own.

While some people may fear the rise of the robots, there are many reasons why robotics can be seen as a positive force for humanity. Here are just a few:

Waiting lists grow

Waiting lists are growing. There is a huge backlog.

The backlog in secondary care consists of the care that the NHS would normally have delivered but which was disrupted as COVID-19 impacted service delivery.

This includes patients on a waiting list for treatment who would ordinarily have been seen by now, patients who have not yet presented to their GP to seek a referral for symptoms due to concerns of burdening the health service or fears around COVID-19 infection, patients who have had procedures cancelled, referrals delayed or cancelled, and referrals refused due to lack of capacity.

It will take years to clear the backlog. The ongoing need for stringent infection prevention control measures and workforce shortages mean it will take even longer to work through as demand continues to rise.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the combination of suspension of non-urgent services and changes to individuals’ behaviour meant that the number of people joining the waiting list initially dropped.

However, this has since been rising – and despite some improvements earlier in the year, waiting times remain far higher than pre-COVID: The latest figures for September 2022 show a record high of almost 7.1 million people waiting for treatment; 2.87 million patients waiting over 18 weeks for treatment and 401537 patients waiting over a year.

Those are the numbers, but each figure represents pain and suffering. The human suffering caused by NHS waiting lists and denied operations can be immense.

People can find themselves waiting months or even years for procedures that they need, and in some cases, they may be forced to seek treatment elsewhere.

This can result in increased financial stress, decreased quality of life, and even death.

There are countless examples of people who have had to seek treatment outside of the NHS due to long waiting lists and denied operations.

In many cases, these people are forced to take on large amounts of debt or go without necessary treatment altogether.

This human suffering should not be tolerated in a country as wealthy as the United Kingdom.

The NHS must do better at meeting the needs of its patients. It’s also past time that the NHS listened to its workers and valued them with appropriate wages.

The strikers are fighting for us all. If they did nothing things would just continue on a downward spiral. We must stand behind the strikers if we want to end the crisis in the NHS.

#NursesStrike #fbnhs #FairPayforNursing #SafeStaffingSavesLives #NHS. #FBNHS

Solidarity: winning for members

Solidarity Reps work to win cases for members on all kinds of workplace issues. Here is a sample of our recent cases.

Getting a reasonable adjustment

A member who suffers from a medical condition was running into trouble with her manager for repeated sickness absences. Using the Company’s absence procedures, it looked like the member would be forced out on medical grounds or simply on a failure to work.Solidarity asked the member to contact her GP to see if her condition was in reality a disability. Her GP confirmed that. The Union pointed out that the Equalities Act expects disabled employees to be offered a ‘Reasonable Adjustment’ i.e., allowing or offering a way of working or specific equipment that will allow the employee to perform to the best of their ability. In this case the equipment as set up was aggravating a medical condition leading to sickness absence.

Adjustments (which were reasonable for both the individual and company) resolved the problem.

Assault allegation kicked out

A Solidarity member in the NHS was accused of assault. She was told it could amount to gross misconduct and he could lose his job. It became clear at the disciplinary that the hearing Chair had inappropriately spoken to witness. Our Rep pointed out this procedural flaw which resulted in the sanction being downgraded to a warning. On appeal our Rep was able to get the warning thrown out.

Accused of sexual harassment but mitigating factors put forward

In another NHS case a member was accused of sexual harassment of a patient. He was told he could lose his job. Our Rep, however, was able to point out mitigating circumstances and the insight practiced by the member with the result that the member received only a warning.Half pay on sickness restored to full payA member was moved onto half pay during a sickness absence caused by the inaction of management in dealing with work stress. Solidarity was able to persuade the company to pay full pay in back pay for the period in question.

Attempts to kick out a discrimination case foiled

An attempt to kick out a discrimination claim on behalf of a member at a Preliminary hearing was foiled by our General Secretary. An attempt to say that the wrong company had been named as the employer was abandoned by the Barrister representing the employer as a result of evidence of the links between the various companies involved. The Barrister had to clarify which company was the employer and to accept the substitution of their name on the paperwork. The case will now go forward to a five-day tribunal hearing unless a settlement can be agreed.