Union solidarity round-up: 6 to 12 April

Across England, nearly 27,000 BMA members working as resident doctors voted to walk out today (7) until next Monday (13) over low pay and a crisis in professional development. The official government pay offer leaves wages 20% lower than they were in 2008.

Further, career progression for resident doctors (formerly called ‘junior doctors’) into specialisms is essential to those individuals, as well as to the medical profession, the NHS and the health of the nation. However, there are currently 30,000 doctors seeking only 10,000 training places. And in its ‘negotiations’, government has threatened to cancel a thousand training places in response to the strike.

UK activity

PCS members at the Office for National Statistics, 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, Ofgem, and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

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 a strike today (7). 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.

Unison members at the National Coal Mining Museum continue their strike begun in September last year. Members are still striking in their dispute at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

GMB members in the north west working at Cadent Gas continue their action over working hours with strikes yesterday (6) and Friday (10), and two more days later this month. And over 400 members working at the BMA are striking yesterday and today in an ongoing dispute over real-terms pay cuts.

UCU members at the University of Sheffield International College continue their action, with strikes this week today (7) and Thursday (9) over real-term pay cuts, job cuts and working conditions. And members at Durham University continue indefinite action short of strike over high workloads.

Finally, RMT seafarers at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will strike a further two days this month – today (7) and next week (16) – adding to two days of action last month in their dispute over pay and long working hours.

International

In Cyprus yesterday (6), in the Turkish-occupied part of the capital city Nicosia, protesters taking part in a general strike broke into a government building. There is widespread anger that the finance minister has announced a halt to measures addressing the cost-of-living crisis. The measure is also being challenged in the courts by unions alongside opposition party CTP.

In Ethiopia, unions are successfully organising amid the growing discontent amongst workers, reporting an all time high in union membership. This represents better political education as organisers are now successfully working across ethnic groupings to mobilise activists.

In Hong Kong, on the other hand, the recent derecognition of the well-established Professional Teachers Union represents an overall decline against the boom in unions and membership at the beginning of the decade.