| Health secretary Therese Coffey said recently that NHS workers will not get a higher pay offer than the present one of 3 percent. So for all the praise during the most deadly phase of the pandemic, health workers are now being told to take a pay cut of almost 10 percent. It’s another reason to vote for strikes in the ballots taking place now. Sharon Graham, leader of the Unite union, said, “With RPI now up to 12.6 percent, workers and communities must not pay for a crisis they did not create. We will not stand by and watch the country take a pay cut while corporations profit and the government pours petrol on the fire. ”“Vote yes to save the NHS!” is the Unison union’s slogan as it launches a massive strike ballot over pay. Some 320,000 health workers in England and Wales are set to receive ballot papers in the coming days. It comes after the government imposed a rise of just 4 percent—less than a third of the rate of inflation. Unison is joining the nurses’ RCN, midwives’ RCM, Unite, GMB and physiotherapists’ unions in asking its members to hit back with strikes. It now looks likely that there will be action by at least some groups of NHS workers in December or early next year. The Unison ballot is “disaggregated”, meaning the vote will take place on a trust by trust basis. Organisers hope this will allow workers in parts of the NHS where union organisation is strong to strike, even if weaker areas fail to meet the Tories’ 50 percent turnout threshold. Pat Harrington, general secretary of Solidarity, commented: “Our brothers and sisters in other unions will need to mount an enormous campaign to get the vote out. We have a number of members in the NHS and we will be discussing with them as to how best we can support any strikes and picket lines.” Picture credit: KollectivFuture 2022. All rights reserved. |
Tag: Unite
Foreign takeover threat to key UK companies
Cobham a US-owned firm is trying to buy Ultra Electronics which produces vital technology for the RAF. They are offering £2.5 billion. That’s £35 a share, more than 40% higher than the company’s all-time record share price. Dorset-based Cobham, was itself bought by the US private equity firm Advent in a £4bn deal in 2020.Why should we care about this? We should care because ‘Taking Back Control’ doesn’t mean much if key parts of our industry are controlled by foreigners. Foreign ownership of British companies will mean that research departments and production jobs will increasingly relocate overseas. And any assurances or promises are given by these overseas bidders are far from guaranteed.
Since Advent took over Cobham, large parts of the company have been sold off, including its Aero Connectivity arm (bought for $965 million by American rival TransDigm) and Mission Systems, bought for $2.83 billion by Eaton Corporation, which operates out of Ohio.Labour’s shadow business minister, Chi Onwurah, said ministers “should be doing far more than making weak and vague noises to protect [companies such as Ultra].
”Serious questions remain about potential threats to national security, the business model of the new owners, and future governance and operational freedoms,” she said.“The Conservatives have repeatedly failed to protect British businesses from takeovers that might compromise our national security and economic interests. Labour would introduce a robust takeover regime to support and grow our world-class industries.”
Unions too are voicing their concerns. Unite the Union has called for an end to “meaningless government statements” and to act “…to protect UK strategic assets, protecting jobs, skills and our national security.” Last year the Commons defence committee published a submission from Unite on “sovereign capability” calling on the government to generate a list of technologies that need to be secured to give Britain freedom of action without the intervention of other countries.
Patrick Harrington, General Secretary of Solidarity commented: “I welcome the lead taken by Unite in speaking out in the national interest. We cannot be reliant on the whims and policies of foreign governments and companies. We must aim for economic and technology sovereignty and not just think about political sovereignty if we are truly to take back control. I welcome the announcement by the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng of an inquiry into the proposed takeover of Ultra Electronics by Advent. I hope that the takeover will be blocked. It’s just a tragedy that action was not taken earlier as we have already lost key industrial companies.”
Picture: Ultra Electronics Business in the Knave’s Beech Business Park at LoudwaterJonathan Billinger/ Ultra Electronics https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Ultra_Electronics_-_geograph.org.uk_-_754776.jpg
Government nationalises steel company
More than 600 steel-making jobs at Sheffield Forgemasters have been secured following the decision to nationalise the company. The takeover by the Ministry of Defence also secures the supply chain for high-quality steel for the next generation of Britain’s defence investment programmes.
The government stated that Forgemasters is the only available British manufacturer with the skills and capability to produce large scale high-integrity castings and forgings from specialist steels in an integrated facility to the highest standards required for these programmes. It will invest around £400 million in the company over the next decade.
The company specialises in forged and cast steel components for the defence, engineering, nuclear, offshore, petrochemical, and steel processing industries worldwide. Forgemasters will continue to operate in areas outside of defence.
Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of steel union Community, said: “We know with the right framework of support our industry has a bright future at the core of a low carbon economy, so we are pleased to see some much-needed investment going into Sheffield Forgemasters to provide long-term security.
“We see this move as a recognition of the importance of the steel industry to our country’s economic future. The pandemic has shown us the danger of relying on fragile overseas supply chains, so we are pleased to see a viable future secured for Sheffield Forgemasters.”
Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of manufacturing union Unite, said: “Critical infrastructure industries like steel function better in public hands and advanced economies like our own need to have stable, secure domestic steel production capabilities to protect our national security interests as well as to compete in global markets.“
“STOP STEALING OUR TIPS!”
When you give a tip in a restaurant it may not all be going to the worker as you intend. Instead, the company may be taking a hefty chunk of it.
Pizza Express, for example, recently decided to increase from 30 percent to 50 percent the amount that is deducted from the tips received by waiting staff.
The government had promised to address this problem. They first promised to introduce fair tips legislation in 2018 and the measure was included in the 2019 Queen’s Speech but no bill was introduced.
The lack of fair tips legislation, combined with the pandemic has created a huge fall in earnings for waiting staff.
One union, Unite, has written to the secretary of state for business Kwasi Kwarteng, stating the disappointment of hospitality workers that the government has failed to introduce legislation to introduce fair tips nor has it introduced “a code of practice to ensure fairness, transparency and genuine consultation on the allocation and management of tips”.
In its letter, Unite warns that as the hospitality sector opens up, experienced workers are increasingly reluctant to return due to low pay which is made worse by tips deductions. The letter says: “employers are again interfering with tips allocation and distribution, resulting in substantial cuts in amounts received. This combined with the acceleration of cashless pay and home deliveries has created a perfect storm which has effectively wiped out the value of the 2020 and 2021 uplifts in the national living wage and the national minimum wage.”
Unite officer for hospitality Dave Turnbull said: “A successful hospitality sector is essential for the recovery of the UK economy, but its return to health will be stifled by severe staff shortages until workers are paid fairly and properly. The Conservative government has continued to promise to introduce fair tips legislation and has equally failed to deliver on its warm words.
“Hospitality workers can’t wait for promises on the never, never, they need action on tips now. When legislation is finally introduced it is essential that it is free of loopholes and action is taken to curtail the unethical use of troncs which unscrupulous employers use to divert tips away from waiting staff.”
Patrick Harrington, General Secretary of Solidarity, supported Unite saying: “As someone who benefited from tips when I worked in catering first as an agency waiter when a student and between jobs and second as a Restaurant Manager on the Railways when younger I know how important tips can be. When I give a tip I want to know that the worker who I want to reward for good customer service gets it. I support hospitality and catering workers when they say ‘stop stealing our tips!’.“