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Strike!

It is the case the Unite don't have mandates in that many NHS branches. But they do in some, here's what they've got planned:
www.unitetheunion.org

NHS strikes resume as Unite members reject government pay offer

…
www.unitetheunion.org www.unitetheunion.org
Unite members at Guys and St Thomas’ Trust in South London, and the Yorkshire Ambulance Trust, will strike on Monday (1 May). Unite members at South Central, South East Coast and West Midlands ambulance trusts alongside workers at Christies NHS Foundation Trust, Christies Pathology Partnership, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust will strike on Tuesday (2 May).

On Monday 1 May striking NHS workers will take part in a pay protest march from St Thomas’ Hospital to Trafalgar Square. Interviews are available from 1pm outside St Thomas’ on Westminster Bridge Road, SE1.
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I don't think I've ever quite understood the full implications of a pay offer being imposed without agreement.

It's pretty much routine in HE, and is then just up to union members to take action in order to force a new offer.

I'm assuming that before an offer is imposed, other negotiating mechanisms remain viable? And/or it simply impacts the tone of 'negotiations' from then on?
 
LDC said:
Yeah just came to post that. Looks like imposition of it by the government now.
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I have been talking to a colleague who's in the GMB. Says that this whole thing has really split colleagues and friends apart, it's got very ugly. Having the pay rise imposed this way won't help that.
 
LDC said:
Yeah just came to post that. Looks like imposition of it by the government now.
Click to expand...
I might be wrong, but it's being reported that unions representing a majority of workers have accepted, which means the deal will go ahead for all.

It's not a perfect system, but it's the normal way these things work when there are multiple unions involved.
 
Yeah, I stopped by one of the striking Unite NHS branches before work this morning and the rep I spoke to was fully expecting that the pay deal would be approved while they were out on strike, felt like very much a last stand kind of thing.
 
Nine UNISON HE branches now have mandates, more to start balloting at the end of May:
Fv2guvNaYAcUB5K
 
CWU has suspended ballot on offer until Royal Mail addresses failure of the Universal Service Obligation and the imposition of unworkable revisions to workloads. The general secretary has contacted all members with a statement outlining details of what it needed for the ballot to resume.

Good - Louis MacNeice

p.s. I will post a link to the message when I have time...probably tomorrow afternoon.
 
UVW seem to have recovered quite well from their earlier troubles, they've won recognition at a cleaning company that has the outsourcing contract for an Amazon warehouse:
www.uvwunion.org.uk

Amazon cleaners on the brink of a historic union recognition win

UVW
www.uvwunion.org.uk
Organising strikes across seven separate workplaces in mid-June:
www.uvwunion.org.uk

Over 100 low-paid, migrant workers to kick off joint three-day strike action aboard open-top double-decker bus!

UVW
www.uvwunion.org.uk
Fundraiser party on June 10th:
www.uvwunion.org.uk

[Saturday 10 JUNE, 2023] strike fundraising party

UVW
www.uvwunion.org.uk
And general strike crowdfunder here:
www.uvwunion.org.uk

[Saturday 10 JUNE, 2023] strike fundraising party

UVW
www.uvwunion.org.uk

Among the demands, the workers want a pay rise to cope with the increased cost of living. In some cases they are asking for a modest increase to the London Living Wage (LLW) of £11.95 per hour, such as at Amazon, while some are demanding £13 and even £15 an hour. Others are asking for their lawful entitlement to annual leave pay and amended contracts which is being denied such as at the LSE; at Streatham and Clapham High School the cleaners are calling for full sick pay and an end to outsourcing; and in the Department for Education the workers are demanding parity with civil service benefits.

All of these strikes form part of 11 disputes, with nine workplaces balloted for strike action in May. Two of the 11 disputes were already won on the threat of the strike ballots alone with pay rises of 19.5% and 11% for cleaners at the Mercedes showroom in Dartford and at the Condé Nast offices in the Adelphi Building, respectively. Cleaners at a third workplace, the Mercedes showroom in Colindale, won a 25% pay increase after voting massively to strike.

Talks are at an advanced stage at La Retraite Catholic school with a settlement avoiding redundancies looking likely before the scheduled strike dates. UVW has been invited to negotiations for the Amazon cleaners and the West End Quays cleaners and concierge workers, with talks at both workplaces scheduled for the week starting Monday 5 June.
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Might as well dump this here, as the most active general union thread - the latest ONS report is pretty impressively grim:

Trade union statistics 2022

Provides information on trade union membership among employees in the UK estimated from the Labour Force Survey over the period 1995 to 2022.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

pdf

The proportion of UK employees who were trade union members fell to 22.3% in 2022 down from 23.1% in 2021. This is the second successive year where the proportion has declined, and these years represent the lowest two union membership rates on record among UK employees for which we have comparable data (since 1995).
The number of employees in the UK who were trade union members fell by 200,000 on the year to 6.25 million in 2022. This is the lowest membership level among UK employees since 2017. It is the second successive year where membership levels have fallen, following four years of growth.
The number of private sector female employees who were union members fell by around 129,000 on the year, accounting for two-thirds of the fall.
The fall in trade union numbers among employees was also driven by the decrease in private sector members, down 152,000 on the year to 2.4 million in 2022, the lowest level on record. There was also a fall in trade union membership numbers among public sector employees of 48,000 to 3.84 million in 2022.
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And that's with Lynch-mania, that week when everyone was googling how to join a union, and so on. No idea what's specifically affecting women working in the private sector, though.
 
Might some of this decline be age related? I gather that younger workers are less likely to be a TU member, while older workers who may also be union members are retiring.
 
Serge Forward said:
Might some of this decline be age related? I gather that younger workers are less likely to be a TU member, while older workers who may also be union members are retiring.
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Possibly, there has been a significant demographic shift during and post the pandemic when a lot of workers in the 50’s and over who’ve retired or left the labour force. It’s clear that non UK born workers are less likely to join a union. Also, larger workplaces (where workers are more likely to be in a union) have made cut backs.

It’s also cost of living related, we’ve had a few members leave at our place because they just can’t afford the subs (we are trying to get waivers agreed).

But, Hitmouse is right. This fall is both concerning and depressing, coming after a year of strikes and trade union action and where the profile of unions has been as high as it’s been for years.
 
Yeah, think the cost of living thing is a real make or break thing for branches - I think where people can see the unions actually fighting, and hopefully winning, there's been a growth of membership (just look at the NEU for instance), but I have heard that in branches that aren't taking action, membership numbers have been hit really hard by people looking over their bank statements and having to decide what expenses to cut out.
Sure the age thing will be one part of it as well though:
1685911085574.png

No idea what to make of the gendered breakdown though:
Across all employees, the majority of the fall was among female employees. This was due to the fall in female employee membership in the private sector, which declined by 129 thousand. Among public sector employees, female membership increased by 14 thousand.
Membership among males in the private sector decreased on the year by 22 thousand, with male employee membership in the public sector also falling, by 62 thousand.
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Seems very strange that private sector membership has decreased among women much more than it has among men, but public sector membership has grown among women while falling among men.
 
My branch of ucu has never been less active
I know we've been on strike for ever but I think people are fatigued all round and want to keep their heads down in a climate that might lead to redundancy
 
If, hypothetically speaking, a major union had just absolutely fucked its own members and reps over by failing/forgetting/not bothering to serve notice on an employer so that strike action could start when planned, that would be a very annoying and frustrating thing to happen. 😶
 
Interesting article on oil rig strikes:
www.anarchistcommunism.org

Oil rig workers strike - Anarchist Communist Group

Workers on oil rigs in the North Sea , who have been engaged in a number of strikes over the last year, which began with a series of wildcat strikes, again went on strike for 48 hours in the first week of June. This follows similar strikes in April and May. 850 workers in the Unite union...
www.anarchistcommunism.org www.anarchistcommunism.org

Also, UNISON at MMU have had to cancel one of their strike dates for mysterious reasons but the others are still going ahead:


Staff at two scouse unis out from the 22nd-24th as well:
 
Coca-Cola staff in Wakefield just won pay rises varying from 10.2-18.1%, not bad:
www.unitetheunion.org

Union negotiated pay deal adds the fizz at Coca Cola

…
www.unitetheunion.org www.unitetheunion.org

And here's what's coming up in terms of UNISON HE strikes:
www.unison.org.uk

Higher Education Pay Negotiations 2023-24 | UNISON National

Where are UNISON members planning to strike over pay next? University of Bristol – 1, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 June SOAS – 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 June University of
www.unison.org.uk www.unison.org.uk

Where are UNISON members planning to strike over pay next?​


  • University of Bristol – 1, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 June
  • SOAS – 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 June
  • University of Liverpool – 22, 23, 24 June
  • Liverpool Hope University – 22, 23, 24 June
  • University of Leeds – 15, 16, 17, 18 June, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 June
  • Manchester Metropolitan University – 21, 26, 27 June, 5, 6, 7 July
  • University of Winchester – 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30 June, 26, 27, 28 July
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