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Strike!

"Finally", as you say, but given turnout on Thu and Fri I'm not sure I can see our branch voting for more strike days any time soon. That's just the pickets, though, don't know how many actually went on strike across the branch yet.

Also, feel like the ballots of the 19 run out around Feb time, don't they?

I do hope things go well for the 51, but honestly not sure how all this will play out across the different branches and unions. Could get very fiddly.
Ah, that's a shame, I would've thought there'd be a bit of a boost from the joint UCU presence. And yeah, think the mandates of the magnificent 19 should run up until some time in February, so there should still be a bit of a window for combined UCU+19+however many of the 51 (and any relevant branches of Unite, GMB, EIS etc) to take joint action at the start of the year. You'd hope they'd also look at reballoting the 51 to extend the mandate as well, but it's not impossible there could be some foot-dragging there too.
 
Not a good look for UVW - it's own staff in dispute with it now, through another union UVW dispute - Union Workers' Union
Yeah, was wondering if anyone knows the inside story on that?
Fwiw, found this, which has a bit more discussion:

Also, win for refuse workers in East Suffolk:

Two-part podcast from the MMU pickets here:



And a UNISON strike fundraiser calendar:
 
Strike still absolutely 100% solid in my office. I have only seen one non-uniformed casual out in Brighton today, looking simultaneously confused and harassed.

National CWU rally in Parliament Square next Friday 1 pm. Coaches being organised.

In other news management to start deducting annual leave for cumulative strike says; they count as unauthorised absence and as such don't count as work days to accrue annual leave...so it is legal but it is very petty and vindictive.

I think we're getting to them.

Also Dave Ward (CWU gen sec) is on LBC for an hour tomorrow morning; Simon Thompson (RM CEO) has been I invited for a face to face debate, but don't hold your breath.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice
 
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Strike still absolutely 100% solid in my office. I have only seen one non-uniformed casual out in Brighton today, looking simultaneously confused and harassed.

National CWU rally in Parliament Square next Friday 1 pm. Coaches being organised.

In other news management to start deducting annual leave for cumulative strike says; they count as unauthorised absence and as such don't count as work days to accrue annual leave...so it is legal but it is very petty and vindictive.

I think we're getting to them.

Also Dave Ward (CWU gen sec) is on LBC for an hour tomorrow morning; Simon Thompson (RM CEO) has been I voted for a face to face debate, but don't hold your breath.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice
That sounds iffy surely the CWU is talking to lawyers about that.
 
UNISON NHS ballot has closed, and it's not sounding great - total overall turnout of 34%, which is apparently more than double what they got last time, but also... it's not 50%, and it's not really that near 50%. Hearing that the total number of trusts that got past the threshold is 50% - five ambulance branches, NICE, and then a few in Liverpool. Also heard someone estimate that around 30% of members contacted said they'd not received a ballot paper, which indicates some very out-of-date data. I appreciate this stuff is hard, but... that's why you make an effort with it beforehand, otherwise you end up being out-organised by a royal college?
 
IWGB continue to do some good work:

 
Dave Ward is on LBC this evening 8-9 not this morning as I previously posted.

Seems to be a big effort going on to get as many CWU members as possible to London for next Friday's rally in Parliament Square. We are all meant to be in uniform so it should look pretty good.

Of course all supporters, fellow trade unionist, friends and family will be very welcome.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice
 
Here's a link to the CWU LBC interview and phone in; due to the volume of calls the show was extended to 10pm. In the two hours Dave Ward comes across as a very sincere and straight forward representative of his members interests, willing to engage with the need for change but absolutely determined to protect decent conditions and rates of pay for us all. He also didn't dodge any questions or duck any issues and the interviewer let him explain and respond without interruption. Simon Thompson didn't accept the invitation to come on for a face to face debate/discussion; I think he was wise.

CWU's Dave Ward on LBC

Cheers and see you on the 9th - Louis MacNeice
 
UNISON NHS ballot has closed, and it's not sounding great - total overall turnout of 34%, which is apparently more than double what they got last time, but also... it's not 50%, and it's not really that near 50%. Hearing that the total number of trusts that got past the threshold is 50% - five ambulance branches, NICE, and then a few in Liverpool. Also heard someone estimate that around 30% of members contacted said they'd not received a ballot paper, which indicates some very out-of-date data. I appreciate this stuff is hard, but... that's why you make an effort with it beforehand, otherwise you end up being out-organised by a royal college?

Yeah I think the unions need to have a word with themselves about the general level of their admin, data, and comms with members. Loads of their systems for collection, storage and updating of member details are useless.
 
Yeah I think the unions need to have a word with themselves about the general level of their admin, data, and comms with members. Loads of their systems for collection, storage and updating of member details are useless.
+1

Have said it before and will keep saying it: for a movement where 'organising' is a foundational principle, a lot seem to be pretty wanting when it comes to the more commonly understood meaning of the word.

Sort of related, saw this last night and thought it once again came across a little... needy.

1670067486590.png

"You may have brought your whole union and organised a massive rally and march, but we were there first! (even if it was only 19 branches because we didn't support branches enough and also decided to hold off reballoting those that missed the threshold by a whisker until now, meaning there will be UNISON branches with different strike mandates, which in turn will both be different to UCU's...)"

I might be inferring quite a bit, there :hmm:
 
+1

Sort of related, saw this last night and thought it once again came across a little... needy.

View attachment 354079

"You may have brought your whole union and organised a massive rally and march, but we were there first! (even if it was only 19 branches because we didn't support branches enough and also decided to hold off reballoting those that missed the threshold by a whisker until now, meaning there will be UNISON branches with different strike mandates, which in turn will both be different to UCU's...)"

I might be inferring quite a bit, there :hmm:
I don't myself want to see pound signs but percent signs preceded by 11 or more, with an agreement to return pay to pre-financial crisis levels in real terms pending an award for the past 15 years
 
I don't myself want to see pound signs but percent signs preceded by 11 or more, with an agreement to return pay to pre-financial crisis levels in real terms pending an award for the past 15 years
Aye, personally I'm much more in favour of using % as the unit of measurement of £s, although do understand that the latter possibly works better with your average member. "£500" is a lot easier to grasp than "13.5% + inflation (RPI)".
 
Aye, personally I'm much more in favour of using % as the unit of measurement of £s, although do understand that the latter possibly works better with your average member. "£500" is a lot easier to grasp than "13.5% + inflation (RPI)".
Yeh but £500 would be in the region of a 1.5% rise so fuck all
 
Heh, y'know, I almost took the time to work out a figure that would actually be relevant... :D :p

'course, would depend on where on the pay scale you're talking as to how much of a percentage rise it is.
 
Would be quite keen to do something ahead of that meeting at the end of Jan.

Have to assume the unions will organise something, but at a local level mebbe an event or two, or a comms campaign encouraging members/students/alumni/public figures to write to uni top brass and UCEA in order to put pressure on them to do better.
 
Latest CWU dispute developments.

Firstly, in some delivery offices overtime is being withdrawn from Royal Mail workers (specifically extension overtime used to complete deliveries) while casual agency staff are being employed at higher pay rates (plus agency fees of course) to undertake the work. It looks a lot like financial bullying because that's what it is.

Secondly, in the same week that CEO Simon Thompson stated publicly that Royal Mail do not prioritise between letter and parcel post, posties have been threatened with disciplinary procedures, up to and including dismissal, for doing just that; i.e. delivering all the post letters, untracked packets and tracked parcels without prejudice. So in the topsy turvy world of RM management, we arrive at a point where posties are facing the sack for delivering letters.

The up side of all this is that it just seems to be stiffening resolve and determination.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice
 
Yeah I think the unions need to have a word with themselves about the general level of their admin, data, and comms with members. Loads of their systems for collection, storage and updating of member details are useless.
Yeah, it is also one of things like a muscle that gets stronger when you exercise it, if you're balloting your members regularly then your data should (hopefully!) be reasonably up to date, but if you're not balloting or even running actual campaigns then it's going to get more and more out of date. Have also heard some more horror stories about that ballot, if your first ballot was sent to the wrong address or just didn't turn up (and, as you can see from other posts on this thread, Royal Mail has perhaps not been operating at 100% reliability of late) you could only get a new one by ringing a phone number, and apparently that line was really not set up for the volume of calls it was receiving, so you had massive wait times. Not ideal really.
+1

Have said it before and will keep saying it: for a movement where 'organising' is a foundational principle, a lot seem to be pretty wanting when it comes to the more commonly understood meaning of the word.

Sort of related, saw this last night and thought it once again came across a little... needy.

View attachment 354079

"You may have brought your whole union and organised a massive rally and march, but we were there first! (even if it was only 19 branches because we didn't support branches enough and also decided to hold off reballoting those that missed the threshold by a whisker until now, meaning there will be UNISON branches with different strike mandates, which in turn will both be different to UCU's...)"

I might be inferring quite a bit, there :hmm:
On one hand, I sort of think "let Unison have their boast, it's rare enough that they/we have something to brag about and managing to get the strike ballot completed this early in the year is at least an achievement of some kind". On the other hand, "its working.."? "its working.."? Ffs, you'd think that one of the largest unions in the country should be able to find a proofreader somewhere.
 
SmartSelect_20221203-212521_Twitter.jpg

IT'S LITERALLY IN YOUR DISPLAY NAME, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!! :mad: :facepalm:

(It's good to see Young Members engaging, though; pretty sure it's only recently they got their own official conference)
 
Would be nice to get some post, had none for over two weeks. Was waiting results on a biopsy I had done done 3 weeks ago. Good job the hospital were able to help.
 
The Conservative party chairman has said the military is on standby to take the place of striking workers such as ambulance and border staff, while claiming the planned industrial action was playing into Vladimir Putin’s hands by dividing society.

Nadhim Zahawi, a UK cabinet minister, said the army was part of contingency planning in which soldiers could be drafted in to take the place of those on the picket lines, as the government braces for a wave of strikes against low pay in the coming weeks.


The unions and the Labour party have expressed frustration that the government is refusing to negotiate over the issue of pay while ministers are publicly urging unions to get around the table to avert strikes.


Ministers are refusing to review its 3% pay offer to NHS workers when inflation is running at 11%, with the Royal College of Nurses stepping up plans for strikes on 15 and 20 December.

Speaking on Sky New’s Ridge on Sunday, Zahawi insisted it was up to union leaders to call off the strike and suggested they were playing into the Russian president’s agenda as he uses high energy prices fuelling inflation as a “weapon” in his war against Ukraine.

Zahawi said the government needed to show discipline in not raising public sector pay in line with inflation, which could fuel inflation further.

Urging unions not to proceed with strike action, he said: “This is a time to come together and to send a very clear message to Mr Putin that we’re not going to be divided in this way … Our message to the unions is to say ‘this is not a time to strike, this is a time to try and negotiate’.”

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However, the GMB union and the Royal College of Nursing have pointed out that Steve Barclay, the health secretary, has refused to discuss pay levels in recent meetings, despite their suggestions that an improved but still sub-inflation pay offer could help avert strikes.

The RCN general secretary, Pat Cullen, said: “By refusing my requests for negotiations, Steve Barclay is directly responsible for the strike action this month. Nursing staff don’t want to be outside their hospitals; they want to be inside, feeling respected and able to provide safe care to patients.”

With no breakthrough yet, Zahawi said the government was making plans to bring in military personnel.

“It is the right and responsible thing to do to have contingency plans in place,” Zahawi told Sky News. “We have a very strong team at Cobra who are doing a lot of the work in looking at what we need to do to minimise the disruption to people’s lives.
 
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