Union solidarity round-up: 11 to 17 May

Labour-affiliated unions have angrily called on government for an urgent and major policy reset. This is in the wake of the local elections in which the ruling party lost two thirds of its two and half thousand council seats, lost its majority in the Welsh Senedd (coming a very distant third place) and became slightly more irrelevant in Scotland than it already had been.

With Reform making enormous gains everywhere, Fran Heathcote, general secretary of non-affiliated union PCS, reminded government of its duty to work for the many and not the few, starkly adding: “Failure to do so will roll out the red carpet for a quasi-fascist government in 2029." 

UK activity

At PCS, action short of a strike continues for members at the Civil Aviation Authority (with Prospect), and at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government where there is a mandate for further strike action.

Around 300 Unite members working as HGV drivers employed by DHL for Jaguar Land Rover in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Solihull and Widnes remain on strike indefinitely over real-terms pay cuts. Around 300 more drivers working at East London Bus & Coach Company (run by Stagecoach) will strike on Friday (15) over fatigue and inadequate breaks.

Unite members working for Bilfinger on facilities in the North Sea run by Ithaca Energy went on strike on Friday (8); they will strike on Friday this week (15) and twice again this month over in a dispute over bosses’ denying them an important retention bonus. Members working as health visitors at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in south Wales, who begun their strike on 16 March, continue until this Wednesday (13); a new strike begins on Friday (15), set to go until 17 July! And members who survived recent redundancies at glass bottle company Encirc in Cheshire are refusing to work night shifts since Saturday (9) until this Friday (15), with 15 days planned next month. 

UCU members at University of Leicester strike again today (11) over ongoing restructuring and redundancies, with a further strike this month on Monday 18. Members at Durham University continue indefinite action short of strike over high workloads. NASUWT members at Banovallum School and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School will strike from today (11) until Thursday (14) over workloads. Unison members at exam board AQA will strike today (11) over a sub-inflation pay offer, and members at Ash Field Academy in Evington, Leicester will strike on Wednesday (13) and Thursday (14) over managers’ outrageous suspension of a rep subsequent to a successful strike ballot.

Finally, RMT seafaring members working at Royal Fleet Auxiliary repeat last Friday’s strike this Wednesday, over management’s refusal to engage over National Minimum Wage legislation. 

International

In New Zealand, PSA union has announced staggering figures on the state of the country’s public sector workers. Facing systemic gender pay differences, weakened protections and wage suppression, more than a quarter of workers (and nearly half those under 25) are currently considering working abroad instead.

The government in Myanmar has been condemned by a major summit of south east Asian unions and other organisations. While military leaders rebrand as civilian politicians, anti-worker repression remains normative.

And in South Africa, major retailer Pick n Pay is commencing a huge streamlining exercise involving its 22,000 workers. Their union has accused the company of acting in bad faith, seeking to undermine hard-won benefits, and banking on the weakness of the lowest paid.