Labour attacks BMA as public supports striking healthcare workers - Anti-union laws will lead to more disruption - Late night hospitality workers win
5 - 11 December 2022
I fell ill over the weekend so this will be a slightly shorter newsletter than usual.
Last week Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told the Daily Telegraph that doctors’ union the British Medical Association is “hostile” to the idea of improving standards in the NHS. This position by the opposition feels counter intuitive when the public is largely sympathetic with striking healthcare workers. A recent poll found that almost 50% of people blame the government for strikes in the healthcare sector and only 17% blame unions.
Read on for this, but also the first round of healthcare strikes, a government impact assessment finds that anti-union laws are likely to lead to increased disruption and more wins for late-night hospitality workers.
If you have something coming up that I should include in the newsletter let me know here, or send me an email to theweekinwork [at] gmail [dot] com… and don’t forget to share!
DISPUTES
First wave of NHS strikes: Ambulance workers across England and Wales will be taking strike action on 21 December, Unison, GMB and Unite say. Workers at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, and Liverpool University Hospital will also take strike action on the day, Unison says. The public sector union will also reballot members at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital, London’s Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Bridgewater Community Trust, and NHS Blood and Transplant
Northern Ireland ballot: Nearly 4,000 additional health and social care workers across Northern Ireland have begun balloting for strike action, Unite says.
Government blocks deal with rail unions: Employers had planned to offer a 10% pay rise over two years to the RMT, but were blocked by the government, which controls the industry’s finances, the FT reports. One industry figure described the intervention as “a clumsy mis-step” that exacerbated the situation.
The RMT is now going ahead with strikes over the holiday period and is calling for a meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to resolve the dispute, the BBC reports.
TSSA is calling off strike action on Network Rail planned for December as it puts the latest offer to members, the union says. The union’s members have already rejected the offer from the body that represents rail operators, The Rail Delivery Group, meaning industrial action in train operators remains on the cards.
Around 350 Great Western Railway (GWR) engineers are also taking further strike action, Unite says.
Anti-union pub boycott: Bristol Trades Union Council has called for a boycott of a pub in the city whose landlord turned away a rail workers' Christmas party booking, claiming the ongoing rail strike had badly affected his business, Bristol Live reports.
PCS reballot: PCS is reballoting 33,000 members at HMRC, VOA, Companies House, Care Quality Commission, the Welsh Government, and Highlands and Islands Airports, the union says.
Border Force strike: Around 1,000 Border Force officers who work on passport control will take action in December at airports in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow, as well as the Port of Newhaven, PCS says. The union has called on the government and the military to not replace these workers with military personnel.
The union is also taking strike action at DWP centres in Doncaster, Toxteth and Liverpool, it says.
Go North East strike: Around 150 bus engineers employed by Go North East have rejected a 10% pay offer and will take strike action in the week prior to Christmas, Unite says.
First ever strike at Hestia: Workers employed by Hestia, a referral service which provides adult services in Hounslow in London, will take the first strikes in the organisation's history, Unite says.
Highlands airport strikes: Highlands and Islands Airports workers will be taking strike action over pay in late December, Unite says.
Innovia ballot: Around 200 workers at Innovia, in Wigton, which makes surface engineered films for label packaging and security applications, are voting on strike action after rejecting two pay offers from the company, GMB says.
Bristol housing officers strike: Around 50 Bristol council housing officers and team leaders, responsible for managing the local authority’s 27,000 tenancies, will take additional strike action over unsustainable workloads this week, Unite says.
Sunderland strikes: Sunderland Stagecoach drivers will proceed with their strikes after they turned down a below inflation pay deal, GMB says.
More civil servants could strike: Prospect members in the civil service have voted in favour of industrial action in an indicative ballot, the union says. It adds that it will move to a statutory industrial ballot next year if its demands to increase pay and halt cuts to redundancy payments are not met.
Mercedes cleaners strike: Cleaners working at the Mercedes-Benz showroom in Dartford are voting to strike as they demand their pay be increased from £10 to £13 an hour, UVW says.
Care workers strike: Sage Nursing Home workers are voting to strike as they demand their pay be increased to £14 per hour and a sick pay scheme in line with NHS rates, UVW says.
POLITICS AND POLICY
Anti-union laws could lead to more strikes: A government impact assessment concluded that new laws to keep the railways going during strikes could end up making the disruption worse by encouraging more strikes and causing staff shortages, the i paper reports.
Labour attacks doctors’ union: Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has accused doctors’ union the British Medical Association of being “hostile” to improving standards for patients, the Telegraph reports. The author of the 2017 Labour manifesto, Andrew Fisher, has accused Streeting of trying to distract the public from the fact that Labour does not have anything to say on strikes or public sector pay.
Flexible working legislation: The government will introduce new legislation to give workers the right to request flexible working from their first day of employment, according to a press release. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has called the proposals “thin gruel”.
Sympathy for striking workers: A YouGov poll for the Times finds significant sympathy for striking workers, according to a tweet by the paper’s political editor. 46% blame the government for industrial action by nurses & paramedics, 17% blame unions.
WINS
Free transport for Glasgow night workers: Glasgow City Council has backed Unite’s Get Me Home Safely campaign, which makes free transport home for late night workers a requirement for new and extended alcohol licences, the union says. The campaign has already been backed by councils in Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh, East Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, Falkirk and Dundee.
Metroline win: Metroline workers have called off their industrial action after accepting an 11% pay increase with a 10% increase on back pay, Unite says.
Jacob’s deal: Jacob’s workers at the company’s Merseyside factory are calling off their industrial action after accepting a 6.5% pay rise backdated to January, a £500 bonus payment and £250 bonus in January 2023, ITV reports.
WHAT’S COMING UP
Strikes and protests:
Ongoing: Dundee university workers strike
Ongoing: Continuous strike at Arriva Northumberland
Ongoing: Quorn continuous strike action
Ongoing: Northern Ireland Housing Executive strike
12 - 13 December: Hestia workers strike
12 - 24 December (every Monday Wednesday and Friday): Arrow XL strike
12 - 16 December: Mizkan workers strike in Rochdale
12 - 13 December: Welwyn and Hatfield council grounds staff strike
12 December, 16 - 19 December, 24 December - 4 January: Courts staff strike in England and Wales
12, 13, 16, 17, 25, 26 December, 3, 4, 6, 7 January: Unite railway electrical workers strike
12 - 18 December: Shelter workers on strike
12 -19, 19 - 21 December: Fawley oil refinery strike in Hampshire
12 January: Truro & Penwith College staff on strike
12 - 17 December: Wiltshire parking wardens strike
17, 18, 23, 24 & 26 December: Harrods security officers strike
12 – 15 December & 12 – 18 January: Baker Hughes strike in Newcastle
12 - 26 December: HGS workers strike at the Disclosure and Barring Service
13 - 14 December: Barnet and Southgate College strike
13 December - 10 January (not continuous) : DVSA strikes
13 December - 13 January (not continuous): Rural Payments Agency strikes
13, 14, 16, 17, 24 & 27 December, 3,4,6 & 7 January: RMT rail strikes
13, 14, 16 & 17 December: TSSA rail strikes
14, 15 and 16 December: Bristol council housing officers strike
14, 21 December and 4 January: Thomas Swan strike in Durham
14 - 24 December (not continuous & different departments): Strike action at Royal Mail
15 December: Unison and Unite members strike at universities
15 December: Furness College strike
15 December: Great Western Railway engineers strike
15, 20 December: RCN nurses strike
16 and 17 December: Abellio bus strike in London
16 - 17, 22 - 25 December, 3 - 4, 6 -7 January: National Highways strike
16 - 18 December: Menzies Heathrow strike
16, 18, 22 & 23 December: Eurostar security strike
19 - 25 December: Go North East engineers strike
19 - 31 December(not continuous): DWP strike
19, 22 December: Highlands and Islands Airports strike
22, 23, & 31 December: Rail cleaners strike
23 - 26, 28 - 31 December: Border Force strike
23, 24, 26 & 27 December: Sunderland bus strike
10 - 11 January, 16 January - 6 February: EIS Schools strike in Scotland
Ballots:
12 December: Royal College of Midwives ballot in England and Wales concludes
14 December - 20 January: HCSA ballot of junior doctors
22 December: TSSA reballot of Network Rail staff concludes
9 January: NASUWT strike ballot in England and Wales concludes
9 January: Start of BMA strike ballot
13 January: NEU ballot of 300,000 teachers and support staff concludes
16 January - 27 February: PCS reballot of five departments
30 January: FBU strike ballot concludes
Events:
13 December: UK monthly unemployment figures
14 December: UK inflation statistics
FEEDBACK
Did I miss anything? Email me on theweekinwork [at] gmail [dot] com.