Pay keeps falling - Strikes in nearly 20 councils - Arts & crafts unionism
11 - 17 April 2022
Two things have become clear to me since I started actively monitoring UK work news. Since last year official statistics have shown real pay has been falling and lower unemployment figures have not stopped that decline. The flipside of that has been an increase in industrial action, with one sector really standing out: refuse collection.
The newsletter this week confirms that trend. New figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show a continued decline in real pay, while there’s no shortage of strikes on the calenadar, as you can see in the “What’s Coming Up” section at the bottom. I’ve tracked almost 20 councils where strikes have been announced either by directly employed staff or outsourced refuse and cleansing workers.
So it was no surprise to hear Dave Ward, the General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union, tell LBC’s Ian Dale this week that workers can’t wait for political change to see improvements in their working lives and that he expects more collective action (Here’s a link to the full interview). Keep on reading The Week in Work to see if his prediction comes true.
DISPUTES
Councils on strike: A growing number of council workers are announcing strike action across Ireland, England and Wales over several issues including councils’ 1.75% pay offer. In Ireland, Unite has announced strikes across all 11 local authorities, while workers at two London councils - Hackney and Croydon - are also scheduled to take action.
Outsourced refuse collection continues to be one of the most active sectors, with GMB and Unite members in Manchester, Coventry, Cardiff, Wealden and Northampton either already on the picket lines or expected to take strike action soon.
In February, Unite said that 70,000 local council members voted in nearly 400 separate ballots, after the union rejected the Local Government Association’s 1.75% pay offer, so more disputes could be announced soon. GMB and Unison had agreed to the 1.75% pay offer, according to the Local Government Chronicle.
Four Fights flight: UCU leadership has written to members proposing to pause its “Four Fights” dispute over precarious terms and conditions until 2023, following a ballot which saw 36 out of 141 universities vote in favour of strike action and pass the 50% ballot threshold. Meanwhile, 24 out of 65 voted to strike on the pensions dispute, but as of yet there is no suggestion to pause this dispute.
Longest strike to get longer: The longest strike in Unite’s history could get longer as the union has announced that it will ballot Chep workers for a third time.
Teaching crisis: The two UK teaching unions have passed motions at their national conferences in support of mobilising for industrial action if the government doesn’t deliver a reasonable pay rise, according to Schools Week. Nearly half of teachers in England say they plan to quit within the next five years according to a survey by the NEU. Most of those that plan to leave within two years say workload is the main factor.
On the cross: Teachers at John Fisher School in Croydon have voted to take strike action after the Southwark Archdiocese cancelled a visit by a gay author to the Catholic state school, iNews reports.
FCA’s first strike: Staff at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have voted to strike, in a historic first for workers at the regulator. The dispute is over changes to pay and conditions, and comes shortly after staff started organising for union recognition last year.
Caterpillar: Caterpillar has offered pay incentives, accomodation and flights to admin and management staff across the UK that volunteer to replace striking production employees in Northern Ireland, Novara has revealed.
Raising the bar: Nearly 2,500 criminal barristers are taking industrial action over stagnating legal aid rates, the BBC reports. They will refuse to step in at the last minute to pick up work, including court appearances, from colleagues whose cases are overrunning.
It’s a gas: Thousands of Cadent Gas workers have voted for strike action over the company’s below inflation pay offer.
Leisure centre strike: Sandwell Leisure Centre staff have voted for strike action over pay.
Housing association strikes: Workers at housing association Thirteen Housing Group are being balloted for strike action, Inside Housing reports.
Union busting gets busted: Anti-union consultants in the U.S. are finding that their tactics no longer work because workers are braver about speaking out, are using social media to outmanoeuvre consultants and are embracing more effective strategies, Steven Greenhouse writes.
Amazon: Amazon Labour Union reps at a second New York warehouse say that the company is ramping up its anti-union campaign, Lauren Kaori Gurley writes. A union election is expected to begin at the warehouse in a week’s time. Meanwhile, in news that will surprise nobody, the CEO of Amazon said workers are better off not unionising.
GOVERNMENT, POLITICS AND POLICY
Declining pay: Pay has fallen by 2% in real terms across all sectors and by 4.2% in the public sector in the space of a year, the worst pay growth on record, according to a TUC analysis of the most recent ONS labour market statistics.
Where have the workers gone: While new ONS figures show a drop in unemployment, the full story is more complicated. The Resolution Foundation highlights a growing number of people leaving the labour market and it has been previously pointed out that many of these are people that are long-term sick.
Disabling pay: Australian workers with disabilities are being paid as little as $2.27 (£1.30) an hour for work such as packing boxes, cleaning and gardening, a royal commission has heard.
NEU conference: NEU members heckled shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson at their conference last week, as she spoke about Labour’s plan to reform Ofsted, Schools Week reports. NEU policy is for Ofsted to be replaced with a new system.
HMRC office closure: HMRC’s office in Cumbernauld shut last week, costing the town around 1300 jobs, The National reports.
LEGAL
Failures to consult: Workers at two major high street retailers that went under during the pandemic - TM Lewin and Debenhams - have won employment tribunal claims over the companies’ failure to consult over redundancies, Retail Gazette reports.
Primark dismissal: The Employment Appeal Tribunal has found that the Employment Tribunal failed to properly adddress a former Primark workers’s sex discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal claim, The Manchester Evening News reports. The employee brought the original claim after being told that she had to make herself available to work late night shifts even though she had childcare responsibilities.
UNION POLITICS
TUC change over: Frances O’Grady has announced she is stepping down as TUC General Secretary at the end of the year.
NEU: Hundreds of Black and Asian members have sent letters to NEU leadership alleging it is institutionally racist, and calling for an external investigation into its failure to protect minoritised groups, Nadine White reports.
NEU staff are also going on strike in support of a regional officer who was disciplined, after he continued to offer assistance to an NEU member who was facing withdrawal of legal support.
Orpea deal slammed: European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) has accused Uni Global Union of signing a global agreement with care provider Orpea without the input of constituent unions in several European countries. A Uni Global organiser has shot back saying EPSU refused offers to cooperate.
GIG ECONOMY
Arts & crafts unionism: Thousands of Etsy sellers were on strike last week after the online marketplace for craftspeople and independent artists increased the fees it charges sellers from 5% to 6.5%, the Guardian reports. Now they are thinking of forming a union.
Bangladesh drivers organise: The App-Based Drivers Union of Bangladesh have written a history of their union, where they explain how the murder of a driver in 2019 was the catalyst for their organising.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Chopped fingers: A worker that had an accident at a sushi factory that supplies supermarkets including Waitrose and Sainsbury’s says his bosses threw away tips of two of his fingers and told him to take a taxi rather than call an ambulance, MyLondon reports. The worker wasn’t even given sick pay for the two weeks he had to take off work, and was instead told to take holiday leave.
Construction convictions: Two construction company bosses have been convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence and other health and safety offences after a worker fell to his death on a building site, Sussex Police said in a statement. The victim had been using a ladder that was secured with only two nails hammered into a timber frame.
WINS
Nuclear option: Cleaners and caterers at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site in Cumbria have seen their pay increase to £10 an hour.
Glasgow equal pay: Unison has reached an agreement with Glasgow council for equal pay compensation payments to begin in October 2022 and have called off strikes, Glasgow Live reports.
Travel sickness pay: Luton baggage handlers and check-in staff working on the Wizz Air contract have called off strike action after winning a deal that guarantees 13 weeks sick pay for workers with at least a year’s service.
WHAT’S COMING UP
Ongoing: Chep strike
Ongoing: Coventry refuse worker strike
19 & 21 April: P&O solidarity protests
20 - 21 April: NEU staff on strike in London over disciplining of regional officer
21 April: High Pay Centre launches report on corporate pay cuts during the pandemic
22 April - 3 June: Cardiff refuse and recycling workers strike over bullying
24 - 29 April: CWU national conference
25 - 28 April, 3 May - 15 May: Caterpillar strike in Northern Ireland
25 April - 8 May: Wealden council refuse workers strike over pay
25 April- 1 May: Translink, Ulsterbus and Metro bus strike in Northern Ireland
25 April - 1 May, 3 - 8 May: Workers at nine Northern Ireland councils are on strike
25-27 April, 3 - 5 May: Hackney Council staff on strike over pay
25-27 April, 3 - 5 May: Croydon council maintenance staff strike over pay
25-27 April: Unison Health Service Group conference
26 - 28 April, 4,6,10,12,17 & 19 May: Oxford MINI factory workers strike over pay
27 April - 7 May: Cleaners working for Churchill on several train lines strike over pay and conditions
28 April: Workers’ Memorial Day
29 April: Great Ormond Street Hospital strike and rally
30 April: Leeds Get Organised May Day Worker Patrol