Council elections face strikes - Sexual harassment endemic - 1 in 5 companies plan redundancies
25 April - 1 May 2022
We are just a few days away from local council elections, and while Labour wants people to focus on the national picture, workers at five of the councils it runs in England and Wales have active strike mandates, more than the Conservatives, which face disputes at three.
Last week sexual harassment and assault made the headlines with revelations surrounding DJ Tim Westwood and several MPs, but two recent surveys of workers in the entertainment industry and the public sector reveal the problem goes a lot further than a few isolated cases.
Finally, things could get worse for workers as nearly one in five companies say they expect to make redundancies next year and experts say wages are unlikely to keep up with inflation. Read on for a lot more, from major wins to legal challenges, and the massive calendar of union events.
But first, here’s a video of May Day rallies across Latin America.
DISPUTES
Polls closed: Around 200 Renfrewshire Council craft workers, who are responsible for setting up polling stations, are striking on 5 May, the day of the local council elections, Unite says.
But they aren’t the only workers that have disputes with councils. By my calculation there are now disputes with active strike mandates at nine councils or council outsourced providers. The majority of these are with Labour councils (Coventry, Croydon, Cardiff, Hackney and Northampton Town), three are with Conservative councils (Wealden, Rugby and Wiltshire) and one is with an SNP minority run council (Renfrewshire).
Workers in just over half of these will be on strike on the fifth, while some strikes have been put on hold while negotiations are ongoing. There are also strikes across all councils in Northern Ireland, but they won’t be holding local elections this year.
Top marks: UCU confirms that 41 universities will be facing marking boycotts in the next few months, which could prevent students from receiving their grades.
Staffs strike: Staffordshire University workers have been on strike over the university’s plans to employ academic staff through a subsidiary on worse terms and conditions, UCU says.
Teacher pay: Teachers across Northern Ireland will be taking action short of a strike, including not cooperating with inspections, attending more than one parents’ evening or undertaking invigilation of exams, as part of a dispute over pay, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
Christian forgiveness: Governors at a Catholic school discussed the possibility of sacking teachers that have gone on strike, iNews reports.
Teacher pensions: Teachers at Pocklington School in East Yorkshire are taking nine more days of strike action over fire and rehire threats to their pensions, NASUWT says.
Off the buses: Around 1,000 London bus drivers working for Arriva are going on strike as part of their ongoing dispute on pay and conditions, Unite says.
Pay offer doesn’t wash: Whirlpool workers are being balloted for strike action, following 2.5% pay offer, Unite says.
Tap’s dry: More than 200 Budweiser Beer Group workers will stop doing any overtime, training and face to face handovers in response to the company’s below-inflation pay offer, GMB says.
(Yes we) can strike: Around 200 Crown Bevcan workers in Carlisle are going on strike over pay, Unite says.
Verso talks drag on: Verso workers in the US are still negotiating a union contract with management, almost a year after talks started, Verso union said. In the UK, recognition talks have been going on for 14 months, according to the union’s twitter account. Verso publishes titles such as Why you Should be a Trade Unionist, Riot Strike Riot, and Breaking Things at Work.
Unite strike record: Unite has announced more than 41 strikes since the beginning of 2022, the most since the union was created via the merger of AMICUS and TGWU, writes Hugh McCallion for the Social Review.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Abuse in the music industry: With the revelations surrounding Tim Westwood’s decades of abuse, The Musicians Unions has reposted research from March which found that 85% of members who experienced sexual harassment did not report it and 56% cited workplace culture as a barrier to reporting. Meanwhile 64% of Black musicians felt they had to ignore racist comments or microaggressions to progress their careers.
Nurses fighting back: Unison’s healthcare conference passed a motion to challenge the sexual harassment culture in nursing this week, Nursing Times reports. This follows a survey from last year which found that 60% of nurses have experienced sexual harassment at work and 39% had witnessed a colleague being harassed. Only 27% of those that had been harassed reported it to their employer.
GOVERNMENT
Maternity Action cancelled: Charity Maternity Action has been dropped from a government advisory board on workplace discrimination after it posted tweets that were critical of the government, the Observer reports.
Pension scam: The Financial Conduct Authority has invoked emergency powers to stop financial advisers to thousands of former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme from selling assets to avoid paying their share of a redress scheme, the FT reports.
JOBS & PAY
Redundancies ahead: Nearly one in five employers plan to make redundancies next year according to a survey by ACAS. The number was higher among large businesses, 30% of which said they were likely to make redundancies.
Carers need higher wages: Care workers should get a £10.50 minimum wage to tackle the shortage of workers in the sector following Brexit, the government’s Migration Advisory Committee has said in a new report.
Pay increases can’t keep up: Pay increases in a handful of low-paid sectors are keeping up with inflation, but further increases in inflation are likely to erode that, Sky reports.
Industry body challenges min wage: Industry body British Summer Fruits has sent a pre-action protocol letter challenging the government’s decision to increase the minimum wage for seasonal workers to £10.10 per hour, Farmer’s Weekly reports. The Home Office has rejected the letter’s claims.
LEGAL
Two PCS legal challenges: PCS union, Detention Action and Care4Calais are launching a legal challenge against the government’s plan to ship refugees to Rwanda, the Independent reports. Another legal challenge by PCS has resulted in the government pulling its policy to push back refugee boats to Calais, the Guardian reports.
Keeping a record: Senior judges in England, Wales and Scotland are considering recording and making transcripts available for employment tribunal hearings that are heard remotely, The Law Society Gazette reports. This is something that already happens in most other jurisdictions.
Race discrimination claims: A driver working for logistics firm Kuehne & Nagel has been awarded a £9000 payout for race discrimination by an emplmoyment tribunal after his manager orderd him to stop speaking polish, Metro reports.
Bread and parcels: An employment tribunal has ruled that a DPD worker was unfairly dismissed after he took food from an unclaimed parcel that, according to company policy, was supposed to be put in a skip, the Evening Standard reports.
Unreasonable adjustment: An employment tribunal found that the House of Commons victimised and discriminated against a worker with a musculoskeletal condition by failing to keep her reasonable adjustments after a hotdesking policy was introduced, and disciplining her after she complained, People Management reports.
Ranting boss pays up: A joiner who was sacked over the phone by his “ranting and raving” boss has been awarded £2,600 by an employment tribunal for breach of contract, unpaid wages and holiday, Glasgow Live reports.
WINS
Manchester bin win: Manchester refuse workers have called off their strike after securing a two-year pay deal worth between 8% and 22%, GMB and Unite say.
Win for Unite’s longest strike: The longest strike in Unite’s history has ended with Chep workers winning a 9% pay increase, a £1000 lump sum payment and three extra days a year of annual leave this year, Unite says. The company will also address the union’s concerns over disciplinary measures and pay parity at other sites.
Delivering pay: Workers have won two disputes at DHL last week. More than 250 warehouse workers on the Sainsbury’s contract have been given pay increases between 10.68% and 15.64% after threatening strike action, Unite says. DHL Life Sciences workers have also called off their strike after being offered 8.5% pay rise, GMB says.
Pay secured: Security guards working for Kingdom Services at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading have won a 7.5% backdated pay rise, Unite says.
MODERN SLAVERY
Home Office ignored Anti-Slavery Commissioner: The Home Office has failed to take warning into account warnings when devising the immigration bill, the Anti-Slavery Commissioner told May Bulman at the Independent. The Commissioner, who stepped down last Friday, also suggested that decisions are driven by political calculation rather than expertise.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Health and Safety ignored: A PIRC report has found that the UK’s biggest listed companies are regularly under-reporting workplace injuries and deaths to investors, Reuters reports. The report says that 228 enforcement notices were served to 116 listed companies for health and safety breaches between 2016 and 2021. (For a full copy of the report, email alice.martin@pirc.co.uk)
Crushed to death: An engineering firm in Lancashire was found guilty of health and safety breaches and fined £500,000 after one of its workers was crushed to death by a 1,000 hydraulic press, the BBC reports.
Tractor roll: A farmer was killed after the tractor he was working on rolled over on him, Farmer’s Weekly reports.
WHAT’S COMING UP
Ongoing: Coventry refuse worker strike
2 May - 16 May: Wealden refuse workers strike
3 May - 15 May: Caterpillar strike in Northern Ireland
3 - 8 May: Workers at nine Northern Ireland councils are on strike
3 - 5 May: Hackney Council staff on strike over pay
3 May: Postal workers strike
4 - 5 May, 10 - 12 May, 17 - 19 May, 24 - 26 May: Scottish college lecturers strike
4,6,10,12,17 & 19 May: Oxford MINI factory workers strike over pay
2 - 7 May: Cleaners working for Churchill on several train lines strike over pay and conditions
3 - 6 May: Renfrewshire council craft workers on strike
3 May - 13 May, 23 May - 3 June: Manchester refuse worker strikes
3 May - 15 May: Ards and North Down council workers strike
4 - 5 May 18 - 19 May: First Glasgow workers on strike over pay
4-5 May, 9-10 June, 5-6 July: FCA workers on strike (Photocall 8:45-9:00, 4 May, FCA head office)
5 May: UK local elections
6 May: Newry, Mourne and Down council workers strike
6,9,10 May: NEU staff on strike in London over disciplining of regional officer
11 May, 14 May: Crown Bevcan strike in Carlisle
10 - 13 May: Fire Brigades Union annual conference
11 May, 16 - 17 May: London bus strike
24 - 26 May: PCS annual delegate conference