Strike action in November

Unite the union can confirm today (Monday 20 November) that its members based at Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) in Camelon, Falkirk, are set to take strike action in a dispute over pay. The strength of feeling at the factory was demonstrated by Unite members recording a 81.3 per cent yes vote on a 70 per cent turnout. Unite represents around 400 coach builders and spray painters at the factory.

The announcement follows the rejection of a four per pay offer by Unite’s members. In October 2022, Unite members voted to accept a 7.7 per cent pay offer following several rounds of industrial action at ADL after the company also originally offered only four per cent.

• Amazon is facing strikes during one of its busiest weeks of the year, Prime Week.
• GMB members at the company’s Coventry fulfilment centre voted for more walkouts.
• Almost 900 workers are anticipated to join the strike action and will bring the total strike days at the retail giant to 22.
• The workers will walk out on Tuesday 11, Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 July.
• The strike action will have a huge impact on Amazon’s Prime Week operation, according to the GMB senior organiser, Racheal Fagan.
• GMB members in Coventry are fighting for £15 an hour and union rights.
• Prime Week can see Amazon rake in as much as £2 billion in sales.
• When the GMB members are standing on the picket line in Coventry next month they’ll have a simple message for the company; you can’t get human beings on the cheap.

After months of strike action, GMB’s membership at the warehouse had rocketed to 800. Amazon publicly stated last year there were 1,400 workers at the warehouse [1], meaning GMB members made up more than the 50 per cent needed for statutory union recognition.

However, once GMB made an official application to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), Amazon claimed to have 2,700 workers – a claim accepted by the CAC. GMB members working at Amazon Coventry claim the warehouse has been flooded with up to 1,000 new starters since the strike action began.

Amazon employees in the UK are voting on whether to take industrial action, after the company announced a pay raise of just pennies per hour. -The new strikes follow 14 days of strike action at the retail giant's Coventry depot. -Union members will now vote on full and binding industrial action ballots at Amazon's Mansfield and Rugeley fulfilment centres. -GMB has reached the membership threshold for mandatory recognition of Amazon's workers, which could mark the retail giant's first union recognition in Europe.

The GMB union says almost 700 Amazon workers in Coventry are now members. It said this is more than half of the workers at the site - the usual threshold for mandatory union recognition in a workplace.

GMB said Amazon bosses have 10 days to respond and agree to voluntarily recognise the union, adding if this does not happen, they will start a statutory process through the Central Arbitration Committee.

In March, Amazon Coventry workers began a six-day walkout in an effort to win a pay increase. Since then, more than 560 workers at the warehouse have gone on strike, bringing the total number of days of action to 14. Meanwhile, hundreds of GMB members will begin fresh ballots for industrial action at five further fulfilment centres across the Midlands: Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, Coalville in Leicestershire, Kegworth in Leicestershire, Rugeley in Staffordshire, and Rugby in Warwickshire. The ballots - which open today [31 March] and run for several weeks - will ask GMB members if they are willing to strike over a 50p pay rise enforced by Amazon management.

• Amazon workers in the UK are planning further strike action, as they are dismissed as "an insult" a 50p an hour increase to its minimum hourly pay for warehouse workers to £11.
• The pay rise announced on Wednesday, which will be implemented this weekend, means minimum pay has risen by 10% in the past seven months, putting it ahead of the legal minimum wage for those aged 23 or over, which will be £10.42 an hour from April.
• However, Amanda Gearing, a senior organiser for the GMB union, which has backed workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse in the first ever strikes by its UK workers, said: "We're listening to Amazon workers and the message is very clear: this new pay rate is an insult."

• "We’re calling on Amazon bosses to come to the negotiating table and resolve this crisis.”
• More than 350 staff at the West Midland fulfilment centre will walk out on 28 February, 2 March and from 13 to 17 March.
• The strike is in response to Amazon's refusal to offer workers a pay rise of £1 per hour above the National Minimum Wage.

The GMB union has announced that Amazon workers in the UK will be striking on January 25th. The strike will take place at the company's warehouse in Coventry and is the result of a pay dispute. The GMB union has stated that hundreds of workers voted to strike over a 50p per hour pay offer. The union is calling on Amazon UK bosses to give workers "a proper pay rise and avoid industrial action." Amazon has previously stated that it offers "competitive pay" and "comprehensive benefits" to its workers.

Workers are angry at a series of issues including:

Cuts in hours; Poor quality training; Bullying management; Health and safety issues not being addressed; Fire safety breaches rampant; Equal pay not resolved in a timely manner; No collective bargaining with GMB

Around 170 Wisbech Asda workers will walk out from 00:01 to 23:59 on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 March – Easter weekend. The strike has been caused by cuts to hours and an increase in a bullying management culture.

Workers are also angry about poor levels of training and support for their job roles, the equal pay claim dragging on for years, health, safety and fire safety issues being ignored and a lack of collective bargaining with GMB Union.

The dispute centres around the members’ treatment at the hands of management, which includes wage errors and health and safety concerns, contributing to a work culture GMB is describing as 'toxic'.

BBC staff are being asked to re-apply for jobs - with 48 roles set to be scrapped.

Journalists are concerned by proposed job losses prompted by stations sharing content.

The plan is for more radio shows to be networked across several stations after 14:00 on weekdays and weekends.

It would mean the BBC produces 20 afternoon programmes across England and 10 programmes in the evening.

The BBC rejected an initial claim by the NUJ that the plans meant that more than 100 hours per week of local programming on every radio station could be reduced to 40 - pointing out that the calculation did not take into account the hours of sports programming that would be retained individually on every station.

A BBC spokesperson said: "We are protecting all live local output from 6-2pm on weekdays as well as all sports programming across the week on every station. In addition, a number of our larger stations will retain their own dedicated local programmes in the afternoon across the week.

"Even where we propose to share some local programming across neighbouring stations in the afternoon, we will still produce 20 different

A group of BBC employees working in England are going on strike on March 15th in order to protest their employer's plans to merge some local radio shows. The stoppage will start at 11:00 GMT and will continue through May's local elections, coronation, and Eurovision. The BBC has stated that local news bulletins and live sports programming will be maintained, but the cuts to jobs and programs will still happen. The future of local radio is at stake, and the NUJ has called for the BBC to come back around the table and negotiate a solution.

The Co-op Funeralcare in Govan, Glasgow is set to face further strike action starting today (December 5). Unite members at the coffin manufacturing factory will continue the strike action after Co-op Funeralcare management failed to make an acceptable offer to resolve the pay dispute. The strike action will last from December 5-11. The company has offered around 4% for 2022 and 5% for 2023, which has been rejected as inflation has risen to a 40-year high of 14.2% (RPI). The factory will enter its third month of strike action, with further action possible.

The affected warehouse workers take home just over £12 an hour and are suffering from the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis as a result, while rates for delivery drivers are also below market rates. Despite its wealth, GXO has failed to make any form of pay offer to its workers.

Unite can further confirm since the initial day of strike action, NRS has not returned to the negotiating table. The union’s membership overwhelmingly rejected a revised pay offer which proposed a one-off £500 payment on top of a basic 4.5 per cent increase.

The union’s membership by 80 per cent on a 92 per cent turnout overwhelmingly rejected a revised pay offer which proposed a one-off £500 payment on top of a basic 4.5 per cent increase. Unite maintains the offer amounts to a substantial pay cut as the true rate of inflation, RPI, stood at 11.4 per cent when the pay increase was due in April 2023.

Around 1,500 Tata workers based in Port Talbot and Llanwern will begin all-out indefinite strike action over the company’s plans to cut 2,800 jobs and close its blast furnaces. The strike action, which begins on 8 July, will severely impact Tata’s UK operations. It is the first time in over 40 years that steel workers in the UK have taken strike action.

Nearly 100 refuse workers in Sheffield are to take strike action this month bringing the city’s refuse collections to a standstill, Unite the union announced today (17 July). Workers employed by outsourcing company Veolia and working out of the Lumley Street depot are furious that their employer is refusing to allow collective bargaining agreements with Unite despite the membership of the union representing around 80 per cent of the depot’s workforce.

Strike action will take place from 1 April to 7 April. Work to rule will be in affect from 8 April to 14 April, before all out indefinite strike action begins on 15 April.

The workers, based at mills in Suffolk, Norfork, Oxfordshire, Fife, Devon, Lincolnshire and East and North Yorkshire, rejected an imposed pay offer of 4.5 per cent. With the real rate of inflation, RPI, running at 13.4 per cent, this is a significant real terms pay cut.

The strike action will cause significant disruption to the operations of AB AGRI mills, which produce a huge proportion of the UK’s pig and poultry feed. The dispute is also over AB AGRI’s failure to recognise the mill workers as a national bargaining unit represented by Unite.

Unite members at AFS, refuel aircraft at Heathrow from 35 different airlines including household names such as Virgin, Delta, Emirates and Air France (see notes to editors for full list). Strikes over the May Day bank holiday are likely to lead to severe disruption to airline services for passengers.

Staff are furious at the imposition of a two-tier workforce and recognise that it represents a potential “race to the bottom” for staff across the company.

Strikes by workers employed by Berry Norwich have been postponed after an improved pay offer was put forward by the company. Industrial action scheduled from 28 May to 30 May and on 1 and 2 June has been postponed to allow the more than 100 workers, who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, to be balloted on the new offer. If the offer is rejected, further strike action will be scheduled. The workers previously took strike action from 19 May to 21 May.

More than 100 Berry Norwich factory workers will take strike action over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Friday). The workers are angry at Berry’s 3.5 per cent offer, which is a real terms pay cut as the real rate of inflation, RPI, stood at 6.1 per cent when the pay increase was due in October last year.

The highly trained engineers who are responsible for the smooth running of the park and for ensuring that its safety systems are fully operational are taking strike action in four blocks in May including the May Day weekend, the coronation weekend and the late spring bank holiday.

Merlin Attractions which operates Chessington World of Adventures is attempting to impose a real terms pay cut on its workers. The engineers are seeking a pay increase in line with the real rate of inflation (RPI) which currently stands at 13.5 per cent.

Unite the union has today (Wednesday 29 November) confirmed that over 500 members at Chivas Brothers distilleries and warehouses across Scotland are set for strike action in the coming weeks. Chivas employs around 1,500 workers in Scotland. The company produces Scotch whisky premier brands including Chivas Regal, Aberlour, Ballantine's, Royal Salute and The Glenlivet.

Unite members previously rejected a 6.4 per cent pay offer by 97 per cent. Unite warned Chivas Brother on 17 October that it would have ‘no option’ but to ballot its members on strike action unless progress was made in pay negotiations. Inflation stood at 11.3 per cent when the workers’ pay increase should have been implemented.

• The staff will strike on 31 July, with further action planned for 7, 9, and 11 August.
• Unite the union claims that Citizens Advice has refused to implement a national pay deal, leading to "real terms pay cuts".
• A spokesperson for Citizens Advice stated that they had offered an affordable pay deal considering financial constraints.
• Citizens Advice workers voted to strike after the charity refused to increase pay according to National Joint Council scales.
• The National Joint Council has recommended a consolidated payment of £1,925 for all grades.
• Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding acknowledged the strain of the cost-of-living crisis and said they will continue to engage with the union for a swift resolution.

TfL has admitted five Tramlink engineering roles have pay disparities and claims that other roles either do not have disparities or that they are too negligible to be considered. While Unite did not agree, the union was willing to continue talks if TfL was transparent about the criteria it was using to arrive at its conclusions, which has not happened. Furthermore, TfL reneged on the initial conditions of the talks, which was that if pay disparities were identified a plan would be put in place to bring the impacted roles up to London Underground levels of pay. TfL is refusing to do this for the five roles it has identified.

Around 60 tram, stores and infrastructure engineers are angry that their colleagues on the London Underground, who require the same qualifications and perform the same roles, are paid up to £10,000 more a year.

Negotiations have been ongoing with Transport for London (TfL) for over five years because the workers are on office worker contracts despite their technical roles. This has negatively impacted their pay and prevented the workers from collectively negotiating pay as a distinct bargaining group. TfL agreed last year to change the workers contracts but has thus far failed to implement this commitment

Members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, employed by DHL Aviation at East Midlands Airport have announced strike action over a low pay offer. The 180 workers who undertake ramp duties, provide aircraft handling and oversee the tower at the airport, are paid as little as £10.96 an hour.

Industrial action was called after the workers rejected a pay increase of 9.8 per cent, in effect a real terms pay cut – as the real rate of inflation (RPI) stood at 11.3 per cent in April 2023, when the increase was due. The workers are particularly incensed as the pay offer is less than their counterparts at Bristol and Gatwick airports received- despite DHL Aviation reporting gross profits of £66 million last year.

• Workers based at Diageo's plant in Leven are set to strike in a dispute over pay.
• The strike action will begin on 14 January for a period of 48 hours and will be followed by a series of further stoppages ending on 3 April
• Unite is protesting the introduction of a lower rate of pay for new starts without consultation with the unions.
• The trade union estimates some of its engineering members are set to lose around 6% of their pay when moved to the lower rate of pay.
• The strike action will directly impact the engineering support for the bottling plant, which Unite believes would not be safe to run without the support of its members.
• Diageo reported operating profits of £4.4bn and net sales of £15.5bn in July 2022. The company has an estimated 27,987 employees.
• Diageo produces several high profile brands, including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan's, Windsor whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc, Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.

No food or drink will be available on any easyJet flight leaving Gatwick airport during strikes by catering contractors over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Friday). The strikes by Dnata catering staff, which will also impact other airlines including TUI, are over the company’s unilateral removal of a shift allowance for all staff last April. The move has led to all Dnata’s workers receiving a pay cut of between £1,500 and £2,000 a worker. The Emirates Group-owned inflight catering firm is falsely claiming the workers’ union, Unite, agreed to the removal as part of a deal that saw the introduction of a night shift premium.

• The employees at Drax power plant are preparing to go on strike nine times in the next three months in a dispute over pay.
• The dispute echoes a standoff at UK Power Networks (UKPN), which supplies power to London and the south-east of England.
• Unite has previously accused UKPN and other networks of “rampant profiteering”.

Strikes by Unite members at Lancashire’s ELE Advanced Technologies have been suspended after the employer put forward a new offer, it was announced today (1 May). Strike action by 80 engineers began on Wednesday, at the factory in Nelson after the company had initially offered a real terms pay cut to workers.

The company has offered the workers a £1,000 pay increase (worth approximately four per cent) from May 2023 and five per cent from May 2024. This amounts to a substantial real terms pay cut, the real inflation rate (RPI) stood at 11.3 per cent in May last year.

This strike action is in response to proposals to make all members of the orchestra, music staff and chorus redundant, and only re-employ them for six months a year. Some musicians in the orchestra have only been offered ad-hoc freelance work. Stage management, who are represented by Equity, will be affected too.

MU members in the orchestra and music staff will also be taking Action Short of a Strike beginning on 30 January 2024.

Over 300 PCS members employed by Fujitsu Services UK are on strike today (17) after being offered a pay rise almost ten times less than their Japanese counterparts.

The members who are mainly employed on contracts for HMRC are taking strike action after they were offered a pay rise of between 3-4% while Fujitsu workers in Japan were offered up to 29%.

Some members with crucial IT roles fixing HMRC computers and protecting critical HMRC high end user systems will be taking additional action from January 18 to February 15.

The controversial social enterprise – who has previously seen strike action in both boroughs – employs people on zero hours contracts and implements policies that do not align with local government conditions. This then leads to a race to the bottom for outsourced workers. In both boroughs, pay awards would have been higher if staff were still in house.

Out of 10,800 staff, 6,313 are on zero-hour contracts – meaning the majority cannot join the society or stand for the board. The social enterprise will not recognise trade unions and refuses to negotiate on pay.

Low paid outsourced workers employed by a council-owned firm are striking for better pay, after finding that their wages are significantly lower than those of workers at other local authorities. The strikes have severely disrupted housing repairs and maintenance, street cleaning, grounds maintenance, cleaning and caretaking of council buildings and parks, and gardening services. The council is refusing to negotiate, despite its latest financial report recording assets of £63 million on 31 March 2022, an increase of £19 million from the year before.

The workers at Harlow Council-owned HTS, which is wholly owned by the district council, have begun strike action in late February over pay being less than workers doing the same jobs at other local authorities. The workers are demanding a cost-of-living payment and for their pay bands to be re-graded so they are brought up to industry standards.