Union solidarity round-up: 13 to 19 April

PCS members at the Office for National Statistics celebrated a landmark win last week, finally ending their long-running action of short of a strike over an arbitrary 40% office attendance. The resolution, which might foreshadow similar arrangements in other civil service departments, means that individual 40% attendance targets will be replaced with an overall target, attendance targets will be based on demonstrable need, disciplinary action for non-attendance will be limited to persistent and unreasonable non-compliance, and a range of additional flexibilities will be offered, including for workers who are carers or have workplace adjustments.

UK activity

PCS members working at Ofgem have again voted overwhelmingly for strike action in their long-running dispute over pay, jobs, working conditions and industrial relations; despite significant progress in negotiations, other key areas are still wanting and the union has now imposed deadlines on the employer. Members at the Civil Aviation Authority (with Prospect), and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) all continue action short of a strike. And ballots continue for members at MHCLG, and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

Unite bin workers at Birmingham City Council continue their indefinite action. Members working as health visitors at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in south Wales, who begun their strike on 16 March, continue until 13 May. And over 230 Unite members working as bus drivers at First South Yorkshire’s depot in Doncaster continue their ongoing action, begun in March over pay, with strikes this week from Tuesday to Friday (14 to 17) and next week on 22 and 24 April.

Unison members at the National Coal Mining Museum continue their strike begun in September last year, which is set to run until 26 June. Members at University of Bristol are striking over a sub-inflation pay from tomorrow (14) until Thursday (16).

GMB members in the north west working at Cadent Gas continue their action over working hours with a walkout this week on Friday (13). And RMT seafarers at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will again this month on Thursday (16) in their dispute over pay and long working hours.

Lastly, UCU members at London Metropolitan University will strike this week (15 and 16) over redundancies and course closures, with further dates planned this month. And members at Durham University continue indefinite action short of strike over high workloads.

International

In Gaza, another Palestinian journalist was killed by the Israeli Defence Force last week. The reporter, Mohammed Samir Wishah, worked for Al Jazeera and is at least the 235th media worker from the occupied country to have died covering the genocide since 7 October 2024.

And in Hungary, a new generation of labour organisers may claim a part in the successful removal of former prime minister Viktor Orbán. Employment laws came into force in 2019 which permitted employers to demand 400 hours of overtime each year per worker; these saw widespread protests from what had been a relatively dormant number of unions.