Strike!
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Serge Forward
Just enjoyin' my coffee.
In theory, I approve. In practice, I'm not sure whether our branch could sustain indefinite strike action.I imagine this is some kind of a carefully orchestrated PR thing that she's going along with, but I really like the idea that LNER really are just having to make their head of customer service spend all day pushing a drinks cart around.
Oh, looking it up there's a THE write up:
UCU split on plans to call ‘indefinite strike’ from February
Union leader Jo Grady distances herself from higher education committee decision as key pay negotiations beginwww.timeshighereducation.com
Would be interested to hear more from UCU members about what they think of all this, do people actually think they'd be able to pull an all-out strike off?
Gone?
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
Yeah, that sort of fits with what I've been hearing. In particular, what I've heard someone raising that the aggreggated ballot is a big advantage in some ways, but it also means that there's people who've been striking from branches that could never manage to get over the threshold on their own, and an escalation on that scale could really risk the ability to hold people together. It's one thing to go all-out at a particular, very well-organised site/branch or two, and a very different thing to pull it off nationally.
On the other hand, god I hate sounding like a wet blanket, so I hope they manage to go for it and win.
Also, RCN have a map of tomorrow's pickets here, which is a good tool but there's noticeably a lot of the country missing:
www.rcn.org.uk
I've also heard the Shelter strike is suspended, no more details on that one though.
On the other hand, god I hate sounding like a wet blanket, so I hope they manage to go for it and win.
Also, RCN have a map of tomorrow's pickets here, which is a good tool but there's noticeably a lot of the country missing:
Strike locations 2024 | Royal College of Nursing
Employers where strikes will take place in our next phase of action.
I've also heard the Shelter strike is suspended, no more details on that one though.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Tesco's Didsbury , champagne. A momentary loss of concentration led him to push a trolley through the exit doors without parting with cash or card.
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hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
I imagine the Didsbury there is probably connected to the Tesco's rather than the champagne, but I like the idea of Didsbury champagne. If it's from Chorlton it's just sparkling wine, etc etc.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
Basically what Serge Forward has said. I just can't see an indefinite strike being held to at my branch.
That said if we are going to do an assessment boycott (which I am in favour of) then you will have 100% deductions in which case there is an argued for just going to a strike
Regardless how the info has been provided to members has been terrible
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
Excellent Twitter thread on the stakes in the rail dispute.
None of the media reports I’ve seen have gone into any detail on any of this (bar the proposal to close all of the ticket offices).
The thread reveals that the ‘strings’ attached to the pay cut offer effectively propose to tear up the organisation of work and terms and conditions in the sector that have been hard fought for and defended over decades. In signing up to these changes the RMT would make its members lambs to the slaughter.
A similar process - expertly set out by Louis McNiece on this thread is underway in the post office.
A clear coordinated boss and government attempt to defeat what’s left of the organised working class.
So the stakes are high. But the decision of a weak and unpopular government to take on the nurses and other public sector workers at the same time as the RMT and CWU is either a high risk ‘do or die’ strategy or revealing of a government that had lost the plot.
At the risk of sounding like a student trot if now isn’t the time for a general strike to be called for the new year then when will be?
None of the media reports I’ve seen have gone into any detail on any of this (bar the proposal to close all of the ticket offices).
The thread reveals that the ‘strings’ attached to the pay cut offer effectively propose to tear up the organisation of work and terms and conditions in the sector that have been hard fought for and defended over decades. In signing up to these changes the RMT would make its members lambs to the slaughter.
A similar process - expertly set out by Louis McNiece on this thread is underway in the post office.
A clear coordinated boss and government attempt to defeat what’s left of the organised working class.
So the stakes are high. But the decision of a weak and unpopular government to take on the nurses and other public sector workers at the same time as the RMT and CWU is either a high risk ‘do or die’ strategy or revealing of a government that had lost the plot.
At the risk of sounding like a student trot if now isn’t the time for a general strike to be called for the new year then when will be?
kalidarkone
Bringing YOU round.....
I will be popping down to the nursing picket line later- it's my day off anyway, but I will be officially striking on Tuesday 20th as I was rostered on.
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
I will have to check with Middle later, A&E nurses aren't striking but if it's her day off then she will almost certainly be there. Pollyanna not so sure about, she's nowhere near as stroppy as Middle but they are friends and Middle is not above playing the "You Would Never Have Met My Brother If It Wasn't For Me" card if she wants something.
ska invita
back on the other side
The impression Ive got from reports - including what Mick Lynch has said, and what is said in that thread - is that agreeable terms have been proposed by the 'bosses' and its the government alone who have been adding the poison. without their interference this would've been resolved by now - is the impression I've got
The govt gave the industry funds during Covid with strings attached to reform the railways. They wanted the trains to continue running, empty or otherwise, and are now using that to attack terms and conditions. It’s a total fucking piss take.
Louis MacNeice
Autumn Journalist
With Royal Mail it is the bosses; or probably more accurately a small but very powerful group of shareholders. Of course the government could intervene with regard to RM consistently and deliberately failing their universal service obligation (this was occurring prior to our strike action); no one is holding their breath waiting for this to happen.
Strike still 100% solid in my workplace. Nationally RM claimed to have 11,000 in working last Friday; there are 14,000 non union members (total workforce well in excess of 140,000) so RM can't even get all the non members in. They really have pissed almost everybody off!
I heard this morning that over 100 union reps have been suspended so far; the vast majority on what have been described as 'trumped up charges'. The mood seems to be hardening and if the car horns and gifts to the picket line are anything to go by, public support is growing.
Cheers - Louis MacNeice
ska invita
back on the other side
Just in case there's is any doubt I am talking specifically about what I can glean regarding the rail strikes, although also a similiar dynamic perhaps with the NHS.
Are Royal Mail owners getting government compensation money from the strikes?
Louis MacNeice
Autumn Journalist
No. There seems to be little or no government interest in/engagement with our dispute.
What has come up several times in the dispute to date is the feeling that RM's owners would like to hand the letter post back to the government while keeping all the parcels, the estate and all associated infrastructure. The land alone would be worth billions and wouldn't all be needed just for parcels. There is also a very healthy set of pension funds which some of my colleagues are concerned could be raided in the not too distant future.
Cheers - Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice
Autumn Journalist
Oh and a very merry Xmas to whichever greedy git stole our picket line bbq yesterday! It was minus three this morning so we didn't miss it much!
Cheers - Louis MacNeice
Cheers - Louis MacNeice
friedaweed
Me and me girl named Jane
Buddy Bradley
Pantheistic solipsist
One thing that I found interesting was that BBC news this morning actually mentioned nurses' salaries, quoting 27k to start, 55k as a senior after several years, and 32k average. That's quite a bit higher than I was expecting, considering a lot of the sympathetic side of reporting has been about nurses needing to use food banks or not being able to afford rent. Are those numbers actually accurate/representative?
Plumdaff
joy in people
The vast majority of nurses are band 5 or 6, meaning that the maximum salary they will ever earn, regardless of length of service and experience, is £40k.
Given at that salary you may will likely have post reg and postgraduate qualifications and be responsible for many seriously ill patients and usually lots of other staff it's not a massively high wage.
To earn £55k you need to be working at service manager level or above, and have worked in that job for over 5 years. Very few nurses have that banding, however much they may effect a crude average. The RCN also represents health care assistants who earn a maximum of £26k regardless of length of service, skills and/or experience.
You can earn more with unsocial hours payments, but they aren't what they used to be, there's been no overtime in the NHS for 20+ years, and your health takes the toll of the unsocial hours.
In real terms, since 2010, the average nurse has had their pay cut by £2.5k.
tl;dr - BBC are not being accurate or representative. I'm using Welsh figures but you're splitting hairs really, we all earn about the same.
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LDC
On est tous des pangolins
It's not exactly a lie, but it's not really the truth. Yes, as a band 5 you start at £27,000pa. The only nurse getting £55,000 is a matron or similar as top of Band 8a, and no way will many ever get to that level, and if they do it's probably after 20 years of work. As has been said most will be Band 5 or maybe Band 6 the whole career, and the top of Band 5 is £32,000.
TBH the BBC have consistently been pricks over the details and coverage of this strike, so I wouldn't take much that they say at face value.
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Just got back from picket line of Nurses strike with my partner, who is an Nurse - was a really inspiring day. She said about 99% positive support all day from the public, with just one old couple giving a thumbs down gesture as they drove past. One bloke pulled up in his car, thought here we go, he's gonna give some stick - and promptly handed out around 20 wrapped xmas presents, which he'd done himself, all containing chocolates! Also, ordinary working people joining the picket, cars constantly beeping, cheering, pulling over to hand them coffee and tea, chocolates, hot food etc! Said it was really inspiring and a real boost in sub zero temps to get that level of support despite all the media abuse. She said it felt like a definite sense of Nurses starting to feel empowered and understanding of their collective power - said Nurses have to be resilient all the time on the ward to cope with low staffing and morale but together they felt strong for once. Nurses all talking to each other about how deep the problems currently are and how to move forward- it definitely was about much more than wages alone. Tbh sounds a bit crazy or cheesy but we both needed this sense of collectivity and togetherness having felt quite beaten down by toryism these past years. A tiny thing maybe, and maybe it will come to nothing again, but it meant a lot to us anyway.
sparkybird
ask the bird...
If you are a nurse in London on the starting or average salary and have a family it should be no surprise that they might have trouble with rent and need to use food banks. I've friends earning more than that who use them sometimes
teqniq
DisMembered
spellbinder
Well-Known Member
This is how the toryscum have got everyone, they divide us all and make us doubt what we think and feel is wrong and we should listen to them and treat the nhs as whining money grabbing lepers. fuck the government - let one of them spend just one hour on a hospital ward and watch how nurses are run off their feet and don't get a second to themselves, buzzers going off, bed pans needed, medications administered, patients falling out of bed, some just needing a bit of company, phones going off, family needing updates.
Fuck me i couldn't do it - the public do understand and sympathise with them and it's disgusting that it takes this action for them to feel solidarity with the public who need and are thankful for all that they do.
This government makes my fucking blood boil
ACN article on the current situation with the strikes
anarcomuk.uk
State Scabbing and Dirty Tricks
Two things are mounting, strikes by the score and blame by the shit shovel. Two things are being hidden, the extent and scale of resistance and where the responsibility lies. A while ago we s…
anarcomuk.uk
Ming
I shot a man in Reno...
Or move to Canada and make a salary of 60 grand (GBP) for a band five post. Nurses are well underpaid in the NHS. That’s why this strike is important. I don’t honestly think nursing is perceived in the UK as an actual ‘profession’. It is though. I‘ve found it much more challenging than moving numbers around on a computer and valuing things. Although if you get into clinical analytics you can do that too.
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