Union solidarity round-up: 6 to 12 July

Join PCS members, pensioners and supporters tomorrow (7 July) as they highlight ongoing failures in Capita's administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme at a special demonstration at 1pm outside Old Palace Yard. The protest is being held on the eve of a crunch parliamentary select committee evidence hearing. 

UK activity 

With energy bills set to rise sharply as the new price cap comes into force, the TUC called or an energy social tariff to cut energy bills for the majority of households in Britain by up to £559. They said this should be largely paid for by increasing the bank surcharge tax which could raise as much as £60bn over the next four years. 

There is ongoing action short of strike by PCS members at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), as well as by UCU members at Durham University and University of Leicester. And UCU members at University of Nottingham are striking until 31 July.

Unite members who are health visitors at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board are continuing their strike action until 17 July. And their counterparts in Unite who are DHL HGV drivers on the JLR contract in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Solihull and Widnes continue indefinite strike action. While there is set to be strike action by more than 100 workers at exam board AQA in an ongoing dispute over pay after staff rejected a pay offer from AQA, as they say this doesn't go far enough to address years of real terms pay cuts. 

Teachers and support staff at Oxford Spires Academy who are members of NEU are fighting redundancy threats and restructuring. They started their strike action on Friday and have two more strike days this week, with picket lines from 7.30am to 9.30am on Wednesday and Thursday. 

PCS will be represented at two of the big labour movement gatherings of the summer, at the Durham Miners’ Gala on Saturday and the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival next week. Come and get involved.

International

An estimated 33,000 workers demonstrated at multiple Mercedes-Benz sites in Germany over the weekend. Their grievance straightforward: management wants a 40-hour work week with no pay increase and has pushed a scheduled special bonus into next year. The IG Metall union is already warning of a "hot summer" ahead. In Senegal, The Trade Union Front for the Defense of Labor has called for a 24-hour general strike on 10 July, to denounce "social regression" and the failure of the government to respect the commitments made. And read about the Indian factory workers told to film themselves to train AI robots to do their jobs.