The National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) has hit out over the sale of Arriva transport company. It’s owners are selling it to a corporate entity registered in the Cayman Islands. Of course, that location is a hive for tax avoidance.
Arriva: funneling profits to Germany
Arriva runs CrossCountry, Chiltern, Grand Central, and London Overground rail services in the UK. It also runs buses. However, it is actually owned by Deutsche Bahn – Germany’s state-run train operator. Cleary, public railways are good enough for Germany – but not good enough for the UK, where Deutsche Bahn has made a tidy profit running Arriva.
So, if Arriva wasn’t a scam enough by Deutsche Bahn in the first place – it’s now about to become a bigger one.
€1.6bn to a tax avoider in the Cayman Islands
Deutsche Bahn has now sold Arriva to I Squared Capital. As the Guardianreported:
Arriva was put up for sale in 2019 by its German owner, Deutsche Bahn, which had originally sought to offload the company to reduce its own debts.
While the terms were not disclosed, Deutsche Bahn is understood to have sold Arriva for about €1.6bn, including debt…
The value of the deal suggests Deutsche Bahn – which has been described as being in a state of “permanent crisis” by Germany’s national audit office – made a loss on the sale, having paid €2.7bn for Arriva in 2010. The transaction is expected to be completed next year.
So, even while Arriva was sending Deutsche Bahn millions in dividends and loan interest – it was still in a mess. Meanwhile, UK workers struggled with the cost of living crisis but Arriva refused to give them fair pay rises.
This sale of Arriva by German state railway to a tax haven-registered company underscores what a perverse and corrupt system rail privatisation is in this country. Our members have not had a pay rise in over three years despite huge profits and dividends generated for shareholders. And now we have the prospect of these ill-gotten gains ending up in a tax haven where there is even less scrutiny and even more wealth to be extracted from our railways.
The public through subsidies is helping to fund privatisation and potentially the closure of 1,000 ticket offices across the network, going against the best interests of the travelling public and railway workers.
It is vital to end the racket of privatisation and put the railways into public ownership as a matter of urgency.
As Lynch says, privatisation is a racket. When a German publicly-owned railway can run a privatised UK train operator, and then flog it to a tax-avoiding multinational – rail travel in Britain is a mess. It needs nationalising, and quickly.
“Today, the Labour Party and the KSPI (Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions) are holding an action in front of the United States Embassy and later it will be continued at the United Nations offices in the context of calling for an end to the Palestine and Israeli war”, Labour Party president Said Iqbal told the protesters.
Iqbal said they were asking US President Joe Biden not to send troops to Israel.
They gave speeches in front of the US Embassy so that the message they are conveying is immediately implemented by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council.
“The Labour Party and trade unions in Indonesia reject the presence of American troops entering Israel, and the American aircraft carrier that has already entered the Mediterranean,” said Iqbal.
Heavy death toll A heavy police presence was deployed around the event and the officers redirected traffic when it became too congested.
The Israel-Hamas conflict has been heating up since Saturday, October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel and since then the Israeli Defence Forces have been bombing the Gaza Strip enclave.
From Ireland to South Africa and from the U.S. to Pakistan, tens of thousands of people all around the world are taking to the streets to demand an end to Israel’s attacks on occupied Gaza. pic.twitter.com/CKlNMVWXlT
An activist interrupted the start of Keir Starmer’s keynote speech on Tuesday 10 October, the penultimate day of the Labour Party’s annual conference.
The activist showered biodegradable glitter on the shocked Labour leader while shouting:
True democracy is citizen-led. Politics needs an update. We demand a people’s house – we are in crisis.
The demands came from the new non-violent direct action group People Demand Democracy. A spin-off from Just Stop Oil, the group’s website draws links between the multiple crises hammering the UK electorate. It states:
Crises such as cost of living and climate are related. Their roots lie in the question of power: who has it and who doesn’t. Our democracies are incomplete, undermined and broken. Those that have wealth and power have done that to prevent us, the people, from actually being in charge. If we want to deal with any of the crises we face, we will have to upgrade our democracy.
The group are calling for the two main political parties to embrace a proportional voting system and implement a permanent citizen’s assembly. Only Starmer’s Labour wouldn’t know democracy if it hit the party in the face like a glitter bomb.
Labour Party’s glaring democratic hypocrisy
After security forced the protester off stage, a bedazzled Starmer declared to the room:
If he thinks that bothers me, he doesn’t know me. Protest not power; that’s why we changed our party, conference.
Of course, the conference floor and the corporate media ate it up. And almost as quickly as Starmer brushed off the glitter along with the protesters demands, the Mirrorhad penned a nauseating puff piece opining in its headline that:
Glitter protest against Keir Starmer only reveals leader fit to form next Government
Cue some well-deserved eye-rolling. Ultimately, this take from the Mirror labours under the assumption that a politician’s ability to not lose face in front of an audience during a public protest enshrines them with some innate leadership quality. Instead, his quick dismissal should be seen in the context of the leadership’s consistent failure to engage with campaigners.
Because tellingly, it isn’t the first time the Labour leader has ignored activists. During the 2021 party conference, Starmer blanked a Green New Deal activist (and Labour party member, no less), as he approached to discuss Labour’s climate policies. A politician unwilling to listen to a vital part of its membership and electorate is no leader.
Incidentally, Bristol MP and shadow secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport Thangam Debbonaire has also snubbed Green New Deal protesters at this year’s conference in much the same way:
We're at Labour conference asking MPs to revoke Rosebank and back a Green New Deal.
We are scared for our futures and want answers from political leaders.
So it's disappointing when Shadow Ministers like Thangam Debbonaire refuse to stop and speak to young people. pic.twitter.com/p9MCXTPovu
Moreover, it’s hard to divorce these reactions from the party’s position on protest at large. In June, Labour leadership refused to get behind a fatal motion to put a stop to the Tories’ repressive Public Order Bill. It has also stated that if it wins a general election, it won’t repeal any of the Conservatives’ anti-protest legislation.
So it’s plain to see that Labour is no party of the people – it’s a party of the rich and powerful capitalist class.
Pantomime of internal democracy
Given the Labour leader’s rousing proclamation, you could almost be forgiven for thinking the party has been a shimmering beacon of democracy since Starmer took the helm. Of course, you’d be palpably wrong. As the Canaryhas previously documented, the party has purged left-wing members and curtailed Constituency Labour Party (CLP) debates.
Funny, too, that Starmer could champion his party’s commitment to democracy with a straight face when, as the Canary’s Steve Topple reported on Monday, the party were:
trying to remove the voting rights of minoritised officers in constituency parties
Moreover, People Demand Democracy has pointed out that Labour members and multiple Unions overwhelmingly voted for proportional representation at the previous annual conference in 2022. But since the motion was non-binding, Labour’s leadership shunned the result.
It similarly looks set to do so to a motion tabled by Unite’s Sharon Graham. On Monday, conference voted through a proposal to nationalise the energy industry and the railway system. Despite the support for public ownership, however, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC:
We’re not going to nationalise the energy system.
So it looks like the protester who transformed Starmer into a knock-off panto villain might have had a point. Evidently, when it comes to Labour’s internal democracy, it might as well be pantomime.
Sponsored by corporate criminals Inc
What’s more, the Labour party conference highlighted, once again, that the UK itself is a sham of a democracy. Come the next election, voters realistically have the choice between two parties that are firmly in the pocket of big business.
Naturally, corporate lobbyists and industry bodies peppered the Labour fringe. Cadent Gas flogged hydrogen – a fossil fuel industry-favourite climate ‘solution’ – to a room of delegates. It also led an event at the Conservatives annual conference.
Meanwhile, the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) was another industry lobbyist playing the field at both major conferences. The body boasts a buffet of big polluters among its leadership and overall members.
And Amazon – hardly a paragon of workers’ rights – sponsored multiple events at this year’s conference. Fortunately, GMB members were on hand to highlight the rank hypocrisy:
Caution the GMB are handing this flyer out to attendees of the Amazon sponsored ‘Growing Together: Unlocking Productivity Through Business Collaboration’ event at Labour Party conference pic.twitter.com/apKbR0qMck
A leader with the ‘integrity’ to screw over everyone
Yet the presence of ecocidal and human rights violating corporations should come as no surprise either. As Topple reported for the Canary in August, Starmer’s Labour has shafted everyone, bar its rich backers.
Its abandonment of marginalised communities and the planet has only continued apace. At a fringe event hosted by a fossil fuel industry lobby, shadow decarbonisation minister Sarah Jones poured cold water on the possibility that Labour could revoke the climate-disastrous Rosebank oil field. Meanwhile, the Labour leader once again threw trans people under the bus with his response to Sunak’s latest transphobic tirade at the Conservative conference.
With no ounce of irony, in a speech to conference, shadow secretary for energy security and net zero Ed Miliband lauded the Labour leader for his “integrity” and “decency”. This about a man who has repeatedly reneged on campaign promises and screwed over multiple marginalised communities in the process? It’d be hilarious if the impacts of Labour’s about-turns weren’t so dangerous to so many.
Ultimately, Starmer’s bluff should not fool anyone. Regardless, under an undemocratic electoral system, he’ll still win power. So long as he keeps his capitalist chums rolling in it, they’ll fund the party’s sweep to victory in 2024.
One thing’s for sure: a UK under Starmer’s Labour won’t be “citizen-led” – it’ll be corporate bought and paid for.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has said it will “pause” the consultants’ NHSstrikes – but only if the government gets back around the negotiating table. The doctors union has said it is willing to work with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) to try and break the deadlock. However, PM Rishi Sunak seems unmoved – on BBC Breakfast he said the government would be happy to talk to the BMA about anything except pay.
BMA doctors: the strikes continue
Consultant and junior doctor members of the BMA have recently been on strike at the same time. They walked out at 7am on Monday 2 October for three days over pay and working conditions. It follows similar action in September, where both sets of professionals walked out at the same time – for the first time ever. As the Canary reported at the time:
A two-day strike by consultants started on Tuesday 19 September. Junior doctors then joined them for a three-day strike from Wednesday.
Previous industrial action has seen consultants and junior doctors strike at different times, allowing them to cover for each other.
The industrial action centres around the fact that:
credible offer that puts an end to these pay cuts and a commits to reforming the pay review body process so that it can be truly independent in reviewing consultant pay and begin addressing these historic losses.
However, the government has refused to budge from its 6% pay rise offer for both groups, with an additional £1,250 one-off payment for junior doctors – for an average rise of 8.8%. So, the strikes have continued, but the BMA is now offering the Tories an olive branch.
if ministers continue to refuse to engage with us, and we have no credible deal that we can put to our members by November 3, then we will have no option but to give notice for strike action to resume in November and December.
The Times reported that BMA chiefs said the consultants’ offer might also be applied to the junior doctors’ dispute. Essentially, the BMA’s junior doctor leads already offered the government an Acas consultation in April. They stated that that offer still stands – but the government has to make the next move.
there really is no reason why the government should not come and talk to us now.
Willful obtuseness from Sunak
So, with the BMA extending this olive branch while chaos engulfs the government, you’d think Sunak would have bitten the union’s hand off. Instead, the PM didn’t even meet the BMA half way.
During an interview with BBC Breakfast, Sunak said:
We’re always willing to talk on things that are not related to pay. We’ve made that offer very clearly to the BMA… a 9% pay rise, more than the nurses, more than anyone else in the public sector. The question for them is why aren’t they coming to work?
Of course, Sunak wilfully confused the two strikes (consultants are not getting a 9% pay rise), and he over-egged the junior doctors’ pay offer (it’s not 9%). Moreover, his divide-and-conquer tactic (‘you’re getting more money than anyone else and you’re STILL not happy?’) is well-worn. However, it’s his intentional obtuseness which is likely to put NHS workers’ noses most out of joint.
Sunak and the government know they need to sit down with the BMA over pay – that’s how industrial relations work. By refusing to discuss the main thing doctors are striking over, the Tories are leaving no room to maneuver on either side. This is probably the point, as it leaves the BMA with no option but to strike, and the government looking like it’s playing hard ball for patients. In reality, though, these strikes are of the Tories making – and only they can resolve them.
The People’s Assembly is gearing up for its national demonstration and Festival of Resistance in Manchester. The group is holding the events during this year’s Conservative Party conference – and People’s Assembly is determined to make its supporters’ presence known to the Tories. The message will be clear: Tories out – now.
People’s Assembly: back at the Tory Party conference
It’s been over ten years since the People’s Assembly first launched with a letter in the Guardian. Its initial mandate was clear: an end to the then-coalition government’s austerity programme, and a reversal of its cuts. Its remit has since broadened.
From protests on the rise in foodbank use to demanding a different kind of post-pandemic ‘new normal’, People’s Assembly has often been at the front of the UK’s political protest movement. Now, it’s once more got the Tory Party conference in its sights.
The People’s Assembly has organised a national demonstration against the Tories on Sunday 1 October in Manchester. The protest will start at All Saints Park, Oxford Road, at 12pm. It will go directly past the Tory conference (where its likely the protest will be the nosiest), and end at the Castlefield Arena:
Speakers at the demo will include:
National Union of Rail, Transport, and Maritime Workers (RMT) general secretary Mick Lynch.
National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) general secretary Kate Hudson.
Ellen Clifford from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC).
Fran Heathcote, president of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.
Lindsey German from the Stop the War Coalition.
Festival of Resistance
The demo is part of a wider programme of events which the People’s Assembly is calling a ‘Festival of Resistance’. The four-day programme will see a wide range of talks, events, debates, and entertainment. Many of these will be held in a marquee at Piccadilly Gardens.
One of the events is the ‘Stick it to the Tories Big Night Out’ on Saturday 30 September. Starting at 7:30pm at the Mechanics Institute, the evening will bring together comedy, music, and politics. It will feature:
Barbara Nice (comedian).
Laura Pidcock (People’s Assembly national secretary).
Barbarella (musician).
Gerry Potter (rebel poet).
Paul O’Connor (PCS senior national officer).
Steph Pike (rebel poet).
Jonathan Mayor (comedian).
You can find more details on some of the events here.
Turning ‘anger into action’
Paula Peters is a disability rights activist with DPAC. She said in a press release:
The Tories are planning to cut the welfare state even further and ramp up poverty as a result. Join the People’s Assembly on Sunday 1st October in Manchester. Turn the anger into action. See you on the streets.
Ben Sellers from the group Campaign for Trade Union Freedom added:
The Government’s anti-strike legislation concerns us all. It’s part of a network of authoritarian measures to prevent us from fighting back. We must never allow that. Join the People’s Assembly demo at the Tory Party conference in Manchester on October 1st.
Groups have been organising transport to the national demonstration. You can find out more here. People’s Assembly still needs volunteers to help steward the demonstration and to help with the Festival of Resistance. If you can support with this, get in touch via office(at)thepeoplesassembly.org.uk.
Working-class people paying the price
The People’s Assembly summed up by saying:
From austerity to the cost of living crisis, it is all too clear that the only people paying for the Tories deliberate destruction of public services, welfare and communities are ordinary, working class people. This year alone we have seen food price inflation at 19.1% – it’s fastest pace in over 40 years. Coupled with falling wages, a massive rise in rents and energy bills at an all time high, people are struggling ahead of an already predicted harsh winter.
In the meantime the Tories, and their financial backers, are enjoying one bonanza after another. Profits for energy companies are at an all time high, supermarkets have cashed in on the increase in food prices and the PM himself cannot go one week without benefitting from the decisions coming from Westminster. Despite their claims to be world beating, the only thing this party seems able to beat is the corruption, cronyism and callousness of their previous leaders.
Within [the last week] Sunak has U-turned on climate pledges, forcing the public to once again shoulder the brunt of future damage arising from climate change.
So, if you free from Saturday 30 September and want to stick it to the Tories – while also having some fun along the way – then People’s Assembly needs you.
Featured image and additional images via the People’s Assembly
Throughout the summer, Canary has documented this ongoing crisis within universities and higher education. Now, as the new academic year gets underway, it appears that the recurring theme of chaos within British universities at the hands of incompetent senior management teams (SMT) will continue. The abhorrent treatment of staff and students at my home institution, Brighton University (UOB), is a prime example of this. In fact, students have started an occupation due to the situation.
Higher education: a bleak-looking new academic year
Across higher education, the University and College Union (UCU) has been fighting back against management imposing pay cuts, as well as the dire working conditions its members have to tolerate.
Since April 2023, actions have included aMarking and Assessment Boycott (MAB), strike action (with anindefinite strike currently in its 12th week at Brighton),occupations, andlarge-scale protests. The UCU has also announced that staff at 140 universities will strike from 25 to 29 September. This will disrupt freshers week for incoming students.
At Brighton, with the loss of over 100 academics due to redundancies and subsequent resignations, the new academic year is looking bleak. With less expertise, larger class sizes, and more staff expected to take extended sick leave due to chronic stress, the fight for our education continues. Now, students have started another occupation.
Occupation 2.0 at Brighton University: Pavilion Parade
In the early hours of the morning on Monday 18 September, a group of anonymous students (associated with the group UOB Solidarity) occupied the Pavilion Parade campus building in the city centre of Brighton. This was once home to the humanities courses. However, management is now selling it off – citing cuts as an excuse. So, students reclaimed it as an autonomous space for them and the local community.
Once again, the students should be commended on their bravery. Since the start of the occupation, they have been confronted with excessive force not only from university security, but also Sussex Police. They stated to the Canary that:
The students in the building are all currently homeless, and hope that this occupation will draw attention to the rising rates of homeless students in the city as it becomes increasingly gentrified and education becomes more privatised.
The response from the university security and Sussex police has been appalling – yet unsurprising.
On Tuesday [19 September] – the planned ‘grand opening’ of the squatted community centre to the public – Brighton University security blocked the gates and prevented anyone from entering or leaving the building.
Students left in ‘precarious conditions’
Then, as the students noted, the university took things up a notch:
Later in the day, fencing was installed around the perimeter of the building, in an attempt to prevent people from jumping the main fence to gain entry. Meanwhile, security guards are stationed at the gate, blocking access. On Wednesday [20 September], we were visited by contractors who have been employed to replace the fencing with wooden boards. Upon arrival, they were shocked to find they had been hired to board up peoples’ home. As of yet, they have not come back.
Whilst those of us in the building continue to slip in and out past security in ever creative and precarious ways, the building is largely inaccessible to the public and so an inadequate community space. This is something we hope to change in the coming days.
The occupiers concluded by saying:
Whilst the university spends thousands on round-the-clock security and excessive fencing, it continues to make cuts across to board, and students live in increasingly precarious conditions.
After UOB Solidarity gave the Canary this statement, the situation escalated further.
Contractors have now installed wooden boards around the perimeter of the occupation. This has raised a lot of safety concerns for the occupiers. These boards went up very quickly, with no evidence of a formal risk assessment in case of a fire.
UOB solidarity have also said that there has also been another incident of security assaulting an occupier. Their head and neck were pressed against a fence by the security guard’s leg. It choked them and hurt their head. Security have stated that they are ‘following orders’, implying that this type of action is being sanctioned by security.
Even more cuts at Brighton University
Since May, the Canary has reported not only the loss of over 100 academics at Brighton University, but also management closing theBrighton Centre of Contemporary Art. This was to the dismay of both locals and the wider arts community. Now, the university has said it’s shutting seven out of the 16 Centres of Research and Knowledge Exchange (COREs).
These centres are vital for an exciting and dynamic research culture at Brighton. They help forge international links with other institutions, which brings about great opportunities for academics. Moreover, doing a PhD is a lonely endeavour, and the COREs provide post-graduate researchers (PGRs) with a much-needed community.
Bella Tomsett is a PGR who was a member of two of the cores which the SMT are now closing. She told the Canary:
As a PhD student in my first year, the CORE’sI joined have been instrumental in supporting to connect with other researchers in similar fields and making me feel that I am part of a research community. CORE events gave me opportunities to talk about my work, receive feedback, and expand my outlook on my research topic.
Now, both COREs I belong to are being shut down, and with them, the communities they enable.
I know university management says we still have Research Excellence Groups (REGs). But I have been only able to identify and join one REG relevant to me, which was somewhat active this year, and both its organisers are now leaving the university due to the redundancies, so that hardly inspires confidence.
Management told us at the start of this year that ensuring a positive research culture at the university was a priority, but it’s hard to see how this can be the case when they appear to be systematically stripping the university of all those things which a research community make.
Management’s position is now untenable
Since the start of the redundancies dispute, the SMT has consistently neglected PGRs. Problems include the loss of supervisors, suspended Annual Progression Reviews, visa uncertainty for international researchers, cancelled visas, and now the disbanding of our communities. The university that we initially joined is unrecognisable.
What makes this situation worse is that if PGRs need an extension for their PhD submission, the university will not waive the fees. After all the SMT has put PGRs through these last few months, it now expects us to foot the bill for the chaos that it caused.
While PGRs were appalled at this news, it was not necessarily a surprise.
This decision came from the same management team that have avoided public scrutiny by deleting their X (formerly known as Twitter) accounts. While they were deducting 100% of the wages from staff taking part in the MAB to starve them back to work, pro vice chancellor Rusi Jaspal posted pictures sipping cocktails during his holiday abroad.
At no point has the SMT been accountable for the turmoil that is ongoing at Brighton University. It is becoming increasingly clear that their position is untenable. So long as this SMT is running Brighton, the future of our university is not safe.
We need to start seeing resignations from those at the top. It is only right that it begins with the captain of this sinking ship, our vice chancellor Debra Humphris.
Members of NASUWT, the teachers’ union, have started action short of a strike across schools and sixth form colleges in England. The union said that teachers face an “excessive workload” and “unreasonable expectations”. Of course, at the root of the problem is the Tory government – which has continued to decimate the education system in the country.
Our members have told us it’s Time for a Limit on excessive workload, unreasonable expectations and the increasing number of hours it takes to fulfil their role.
Despite their best efforts to keep up with an ever-increasing workload, 69% of teachers told us they feel too worn down to give their job their best effort.
Our Big Question and Wellbeing Surveys carried out in 2022 found that teachers ranked workload as the top issue that most impacted both their physical and mental health.
This is on top of issues surrounding pay. Back in July, NASUWT members accepted the government’s 6.5% pay increase offer. However, what they didn’t accept was its plans to improve working conditions. So, the union said then that its ballot of members – which returned a ‘yes’ to strike action – would remain in place. NASUWT general secretary Patrick Roach said at the time that to tackle excessive workloads, members would take measures “up to and including industrial action”.
On Monday 18 September, NASUWT started that action. Its members started effectively working to rule:
From today, NASUWT members will be taking action short of strike over excessive working hours and poor working conditions.
3 in 4 teachers have seriously considered leaving their current job. It's Time for a Limit. pic.twitter.com/HK8n6Rsl3Q
NASUWT maintains that government and bosses’ expectations of teachers are too high – and its research backs this up. In its 2022 survey, the union found that:
81% of teachers said their job had adversely impacted their mental health.
83% of teachers said they experienced more work-related stress.
85% of teachers feel too tired after work to enjoy the things they would like to do.
74% of teachers said that their partner, family or friends often get frustrated with the pressure of their job.
61% of teachers said they feel disempowered by unreasonable or unrealistic expectations.
Moreover, government recruitment of teachers is a mess – with it repeatedly missing its own targets:
WOW! Look at these figures showing Government missing its target for recruitment.
Provisional secondary trainee recruitment stands at just 52% – children are losing out, due to fewer specialist teachers.
As if by magic, on the same day as NASUWT members started working to rule, the government announced action on teacher workloads. The Department for Education (DfE) said:
Work is underway to support teachers and leaders to tackle unnecessary workload, as the government establishes a new taskforce of unions, teachers, and sector leaders. The taskforce will help support the government’s wider ambition to reduce working hours for teachers and leaders by five hours per week within three years.
As the Evening Standardreported, the Association of School and College Leaders is on the taskforce. Its general secretary – Geoff Barton – welcomed the plan, but noted:
we remain sceptical about whether there is the will in government to take some of the steps that are required to produce systemic change.
The Evening Standard said that the “four main teaching unions” were sitting on the taskforce. However, it’s unclear at this time whether or not NASUWT is part of this.
We can no longer allow teachers to be overworked and exhausted by the demands of the job…
The Government has accepted that excessive workload is a problem that must be tackled. But, the reality is that teachers in England are working some of the longest hours anywhere in the OECD and this is simply no longer acceptable or sustainable…
The industrial action… will mean that for the first time in a decade specific measures and protections are being put into place to tackle excessive workload and working hours and to ensure teachers’ health, safety and welfare.
How long the action short of strike will go on for is unclear. However, what is clear is that teachers have had enough – and the Tory government is clearly aware of this. Whether or not it does anything meaningful to address the dire state the education sector and profession is in is another matter entirely.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has announced that it’s reporting the government to the United Nations workers’ rights watchdog over the “unworkable” new law on strikes.
TUC: coming out swinging
The Strikes (Minimum Service Level) Act requires minimum levels of service during walkouts by various workers. These include healthcare staff, firefighters, and railway employees. The Tory government imposed the Strikes Act in late July following months of industrial action across the UK, amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
In a 10 September press release, the TUC stated that it was lodging the case with the International Labour Organization (ILO) because the legislation “falls far short” of international legal standards. The TUC – an umbrella group of 48 unions comprising more than 5.5 million members – is currently holding its annual conference in Liverpool.
A government spokesperson said:
We believe there needs to be a reasonable balance between the ability of workers to strike with the rights of the public, who work hard and expect essential services they pay for to be there when they need them.
However, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak came out swinging against this line of argument. On 11 September, he told the congress that:
The right to strike is fundamental. Without the right to withdraw our labour, workers become disposable, replaceable and exploitable.
This new law isn’t about preserving services for the public. It’s about telling us to get back in our place and to not demand better.
Strikes Act: ‘a fundamental attack’
The government also attempted to draw comparisons between the Strikes Act and similar laws in wider Europe. However, European Trade Union Confederation general secretary Esther Lynch said:
The Strikes Act is a fundamental attack on the right to strike and will make the UK an international outlier on trade union rights and labour standards…
Let me by crystal clear. It is already harder for working people in the UK to take strike action than in any other Western European country.
Now your government wants to restrict the right to strike even further.
In July, trade unions won a High Court battle with the government over law changes they said allowed agencies to supply employers with workers to plug gaps left by striking staff. Now, they seek to repeat that success on a larger scale, undermining the Strikes Act itself.
As promised, workers at the University of Brighton have continued their campaign against redundancies into the new academic year. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) and their supporters “shut down” campus – and won’t be returning to work any time soon.
Brighton University and its ‘abhorrent’ bosses
As the Canary has been documenting, bosses at Brighton University are making over 100 staff redundant. A PhD researcher at Brighton University,Kathryn Zacharek, has been writing from the frontline of the dispute for us. She’s laid out how the institution is now a mess, with bosses are closing parts of it while spending massive amounts of money elsewhere.
As Zacharek noted, among the 80 voluntary and 20-odd forced redundancies are lecturers Dr Tom Bunyard and Dr Cathy Bergin. They have expertise in philosophy, critical theory, and cultural histories of anti-racism and anti-colonialism, respectively. Zacharek wrote:
After years of hard work and dedication to their students, how senior management is treating them is simply abhorrent. It is also the height of hypocrisy that an institution which prides itself on its equality, diversity and inclusion policies wants to sack an anti-racism scholar.
Of course, bosses are blaming ‘rising costs’, blah, blah, blah. So, Brighton UCU and the campaigns UoB Solidarity and PGR’s Brighton have vowed to keep up the fight against the bosses’ toxic actions. Brighton University UCU members began an indefinite strike against the proposed redundancies on Monday 3 July. They said in a statement that unless management drop the compulsory redundancies:
no preparation for the new academic year will take place and the autumn term will not start.
Now, with no movement from bosses, Brighton UCU has held good to its word – and begun disrupting the new academic year.
Shut it down
As Brighton and Hove News reported, over the summer academics from the university warned students off from enrolling there. Brighton UCU secretary Ryan Burns said:
In previous years during clearing, I would tell prospective students about how great their course would be and how much they would enjoy studying at Brighton.
But with our university management forcing through over 100 redundancies this year, many staff feel they cannot currently in good conscience encourage people to study here.
Then, the group staged a picket on Monday 4 September which it claims to have “shut down” Brighton University:
Today we shut down @uniofbrighton to protect staff & student conditions! We won't return to work until every single compulsory redundancy is rescinded!
However, people noted the absence of support from Brighton Students’ Union:
Whilst 100+ staff @uniofbrighton were forced into redundancy, many resignations are following & all prospects of sustainable/moral education are down the drain, @SUBrighton haven't said a single word! Also, MAB is not the same as redundancies. So much for "student representation" pic.twitter.com/3t3AcXSBuW
carefully planned to avoid an impact on our students and our academic standards have in no way been affected by the changes.
This is blatantly not the case – and no amount of spin will mask the fact that Brighton University bosses and their disastrous mismanagement has caused this dispute. Brighton UCU won’t be backing down. So, expect further disruption as the academic year progresses.
Health secretary Steve Barclay probably wished he hadn’t turned his social media on on Sunday 3 September. An ill-conceived post on X (formerly Twitter) ended up with people labelling him “useless“, an “odious piece of shite“, and a “robotic penguin” (or possibly a “minless plastic automaton”, hard to tell). This was all over the NHS junior doctors’ and consultants’ strikes, organised by the British Medical Association (BMA).
Junior doctors have already staged several days of strike action in recent months, and will walk out again in September. The BMA stated that they’ll strike on September 20-22, with one day coinciding with a strike by consultants. Then, junior doctors and consultants will also strike at the same time on October 2-4.
Consultants also walked out in both July and August. It’s of little wonder these medical professionals are striking. For example:
credible offer that puts an end to these pay cuts and a commits to reforming the pay review body process so that it can be truly independent in reviewing consultant pay and begin addressing these historic losses.
Now, the health secretary has commented for right-wing shitrag the Express – whining about the BMA “playing politics” and labelling the strike action as “callous”. Clearly, Barclay (or some wet-behind-the-ears comms intern) thought that sharing the article on social media would provide some much-needed positive PR for the health secretary and the government. Talk about a miscalculation:
I urge the BMA to end its strikes immediately.
They only harm patients and put immense pressure on other NHS colleagues who must cover extra work, on top of their own.
Barclay’s post provoked a near-unanimously furious backlash from people on X. One doctor thought the health secretary was the one playing politics by stalling on negotiating with the BMA:
Why not offer doctors in England the same deal that Scottish doctors accepted
You haven’t talked to the doctors since May
You’re not serious about ending strikes or cutting waiting lists – just running down the clock to the next election https://t.co/8ly2OiO7yH
That was one of the more polite posts. Other people had some choice words for Barclay – noting his “shite brand of gaslighting”, among other characteristics:
Goodness. He does not take a day off from his shite brand of gaslighting. Do your job, you lazy cunt. Stop harming patients by failing to pay Doctors what they deserve. Stop pissing about, you're making safe staffing & retention levels WORSE. Utterly useless @SteveBarclay#SOSNHShttps://t.co/7DkPIBNWgV
Of course, posting shit on social media and talking to the Express are the only weapons Barclay has left in his armoury. The splurge guns from Bugsy Malone would be more effective – and ditto for a bunch of kids in costumes when it comes to dealing with the NHS, compared to our health secretary.
Barclay’s desperation is obvious – as is his very-thinly veiled propaganda, trying to turn the public against NHS workers. However, the health secretary is running out of options. With a union that clearly won’t back down, and public support for junior doctors still in the majority (but admittedly with consultants lagging behind), Barclay is on the edge – as his desperate social media posting shows.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) taskforce to address the threat of new technology to workers in the UK. It will bring together leading specialists in law, technology, politics, HR, and the voluntary sector. The taskforce’s chief mission will be to fill the current gaps in UK employment law. It will draft new legal protections to ensure AI is regulated fairly at work for the benefit of employees and employers.
The TUC aims to publish an expert-drafted ‘AI and Employment Bill’ early in 2024. It will then lobby the government to incorporate it into UK law.
TUC: wide-ranging coalition on AI
The work of the taskforce will be led by the TUC and assisted by a special advisory committee. Members of that committee will include:
In addition, David Davis MP, Darren Jones MP, Mick Whitley MP, and Chris Stephens MP will also sit on the committee.
The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy will provide the secretariat for the taskforce, and the committee will be jointly chaired by:
Kate Bell – TUC assistant general secretary.
Gina Neff – executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge.
The ‘AI and Employment Bill’ will be drafted by leading employment lawyers Robin Allen KC and Dee Masters from the AI Law Consultancy.
Tories: ‘way behind the curve’
The taskforce is being launched as experts warn that the UK is “way behind the curve” on the regulation of AI. UK employment law has failed to keep pace with the development of new technologies. Employers are also uncertain of how to fairly take advantage of new technologies.
The taskforce says AI is already making “high-risk, life changing” decisions about workers’ lives. These include line-managing, and hiring and firing staff. For example, AI is being used to analyse facial expressions, tone of voice, and accents to assess candidates’ suitability for roles.
Left unchecked, this could lead to greater discrimination, unfairness, and exploitation at work across the economy. Meanwhile employers are purchasing and using systems without full knowledge of the implications, such as whether they reinforce biases.
UK at risk of being an ‘International outlier’
The TUC says the UK risks becoming an “international outlier” on the regulation of AI. The EU and other countries have already drafted specific legislation to properly regulate AI at work. However, at present the UK’s government’s stated position is a ‘light touch’ approach.
Experts say ministers have yet to put in place the necessary “guardrails” to protect workers’ rights. Moreover, March’s AI White Paper proposed only a principles-based approach that lacks statutory force.
TUC assistant general secretary Kate Bell said:
We urgently need new employment legislation, so workers and employers know where they stand. Without proper regulation of AI, our labour market risks turning into a wild west. We all have a shared interest in getting this right.
AI summit
This autumn, prime minister Rishi Sunak will host a global summit on AI. However, the taskforce says it is vital that workers’ groups and the wider voluntary sector are invited to attend alongside business groups and employers.
Executive director of the Minderoo Centre Gina Neff said:
Responsible and trustworthy AI can power huge benefits. But laws must be fit for purpose and ensure that AI works for all.
AI safety isn’t just a challenge for the future and it isn’t just a technical problem. These are issues that both employers and workers are facing now, and they need the help from researchers, policy makers and civil society to build the capacity to get this right for society.
So, the TUC is calling on the Tories to enshrine a number of protections into law. These include:
A legal duty for employers to consult trade unions on the use of ‘high risk’ and intrusive forms of AI in the workplace.
A legal right for all workers to have a human review of decisions made by AI systems so they can challenge decisions that are unfair and discriminatory.
A set of amendments to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Equality Act to guard against discriminatory algorithms.
National says a series of attack ads targeting its leader Christopher Luxon funded by the Council of Trade Unions in the Aotearoa Election 2023 campaign is “disgraceful”.
The NZCTU launched its campaign targeting Luxon today, with billboards going up around the country and social media.
A full front-page wrap-around ad on The New Zealand Herald newspaper declared “Christopher Luxon: Out of touch. Too much risk” under the paper’s masthead, with the word “advertisement” in smaller font at the top of the ad.
The New Zealand Herald front page Christopher Luxon ad today . . . “Out of touch. Too much risk.” NZH screenshot APR
The NZCTU’s logo and a link to a CTU-run website outoftouch.nz was at the bottom.
A second full-page ad ran overleaf on page 2, saying Luxon was “out of touch and focused on the wealthiest few”, and highlighting policies like tax cuts, scrapping fair pay agreements and fully funded prescriptions, and concluded with a bullet point saying Luxon “isn’t the right leader in a cost-of-living crisis”.
The National Party’s campaign chair Chris Bishop said the CTU, which has 27 unions affiliated, should be ashamed.
“The union movement is able to spend vast sums of money attacking the National Party and Christopher Luxon,” he said.
‘American-style hatchet job’
“They’re running audio-visual slots, televisual slots, they’ve got billboards in many major cities around New Zealand, this is a highly orchestrated, highly political, highly choreographed American-style hatchet job on Christopher Luxon.
“It’s disgraceful, they should be ashamed of themselves and it’s not what New Zealanders want in this election campaign.”
National Party leader Christopher Luxon at the party’s campaign launch yesterday. Image: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
“Sadly with six weeks to go it’s become very clear that thanks to the Labour Party this is going to become the most negative election campaign in New Zealand history. Jacinda Ardern’s ‘be kind’ has become ‘be nasty’ under Chris Hipkins.”
Bishop would not commit to not attacking Labour, but said it would target differences of policy approach and targeting Labour’s record.
“Of course we are going to attack the Labour Party’s record, we’re going to make no bones about that . . . but the point of pointing those things out is to draw a contrast with National’s different approach and our positive plan for the future.
“We are going to run a strong and vigorous campaign but we are not going to engage in the kind of nasty, personal, petty, vindictive politics that the union movement and the Labour Party are going to engage in.”
‘Play the ball’
Labour’s campaign chair Megan Woods made a similar commitment last week, saying the party would “play the ball, not the person — but we should be holding National and ACT to account for the ideas that they’re putting out there”.
Asked how Luxon was holding up under what Bishop described as “very personal” attacks, he laughed and said Luxon was “completely fine”.
“Look, he’s big enough and ugly enough to handle it, I just think it’s pretty pathetic and I think the New Zealand public deserve better than that.”
He said the CTU was “intimately” connected to the Labour Party.
“It’s in the name, it’s the Labour Party because they’re part of the Labour movement . . . Craig Renney was Grant Robertson’s adviser and he’s now at the CTU, so they know exactly what they’re doing.”
‘Not nasty at all’ – CTU Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff told RNZ the campaign was focused on National’s policies.
“He’s [Luxon] promising to take down fair pay agreements, put people on [90-day] trials, make savage cuts to public services, and all in all we see it as a very serious choice ahead of New Zealanders at this election — perhaps the most serious choice in over a generation,” Wagstaff said.
He denied that focusing on Luxon was unfair.
“It’s not nasty at all, it’s simply saying that Christopher Luxon is out of touch and he can’t be trusted.
Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff . . . “His [Luxon’s] instinct in the cost of living crisis is to take over $2 billion out of the climate fund and give an over $2 billion gift to landlords. That, to us, is an out-of-touch policy.” Image: RNZ News
“National is focused heavily on Christopher Luxon, launching him as the leader, the buck stops with him and he’s leading these policies so we need to draw attention to Christopher and what he’s saying.
“His instinct in the cost of living crisis is to take over $2 billion out of the climate fund and give an over $2 billion gift to landlords. That, to us, is an out-of-touch policy.”
He said Labour had not been involved in the ad campaign at all, and it was a completely independent intiative.
“This is the National Party’s paranoia, Labour are not even mentioned in the ads, they’re not part of this campaign … we’re not asking people to vote for Labour we’re simply saying that Christopher Luxon and his policies would present a major danger to working New Zealanders.”
He said National was just trying to divert attention “away from the fact that their leader intends to smash industry bargaining, put people on trial periods and generally undermine the interests of working people”.
“We’re just putting that out there . . . it’s important that people look behind the rhetoric and really look at their policies.”
He said the $400,000 National had suggested for total ad campaign cost was an incorrect figure.
“It’s wrong, as far as I know it’s incorrect — I actually don’t know the figure but we don’t have that kind of money to spend on campaigns.”
Union members were happy to have their funds spent on the campaign, he said.
“Absolutely, union members expect the CTU to advance their interests as working people. This is an incredibly important election for the interests of working people.
“We’re not going to sit on our hands while National takes an axe to basic entitlements of the New Zealand working people.”
In an earlier statement, Wagstaff said the ad campaign would be “evidence-based”.
“Christopher Luxon and National will take New Zealand backwards and working people will be the first to feel the pain,” the statement said.
‘Democracy in action’ – Hipkins Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the CTU had run campaign ads in every election he had been involved in, and he had been aware they would be doing so but had not seen the ads until they were published.
He said for National to be offended was “incredibly thin-skinned” given the Taxpayers Union lobbying group, which has typically advocated for right-leaning policies.
“I think the CTU are raising some legitimate concerns around the effects of the National Party’s policies,” Hipkins said.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins holds up a series of attacks ads which mention him or other Labour MPs. He says they have been shared by National and/or its MPs. Image: RNZ/Angus Dreaver
He said National was “desperately trying to distract attention away from the fact that they’be been caught out with their numbers and their policies just not stacking up. They’re trying to create a diversion here.
“The National Party and their surrogates, including the Taxpayer’s Union, Groundswell, Hobson’s Pledge and so on, have been running attack ads against me and the Labour government since the day I took on the job.
“I haven’t called a press conference or issued a media statement every time they have done that.”
Hipkins presented some “random examples” of the attack ads to reporters.
‘Russian horses’
“This one here, I was particularly touched by this one, actually. This is myself and David Parker on what would appear to be some Russian horses. I actually think I look quite good on a horse, to be frank.
“We have a pretty nasty, despicable personal attack on Nanaia Mahuta, that was, I believe, The Taxpayer’s Union did that one.”
Another ad — published by the National Party — had a photoshopped image of Hipkins’ face on the side of a sticking plaster box.
Hipkins said he did not believe Labour’s own campaign was negative.
“I don’t believe that we are running a negative campaign. We are out there campaigning positively on the things that we’re putting before the electorate, but we are also checking the promises the National Party are making because they simply don’t stack up.
“If they want to be the government, they’re going to be subject to this sort of scrutiny day in and day out — we have been for the last six years.”
“I don’t think critiquing the potential effects of the National Party’s policy is something they should shy away from. That is democracy in action.”
Chris Bishop said National would condemn any third-party ads attacking Chris Hipkins.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins holds up a series of attacks ads which mention him or other Labour MPs. He says they have been shared by National and/or its MPs. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
‘Completely separate from editorial’ – NZ Herald In a statement, a spokesperson from The New Zealand Herald said “expression of opinion through advocacy advertising is an essential and desirable part of a democratic society”.
“All advocacy ads must comply with the ASA Codes and Advocacy Principles, as well as our own Advertising Acceptability Policy. Publishing an advertisement does not indicate NZME’s endorsement of that product or message.
“It’s also important to note that advertising stands completely separately from editorial.”
Bishop said he did not have a problem with the Herald running the ad.
“I mean, newspapers have got to sell advertising, I’ve got no issue with the Herald running that ad and I’ve got no issue with other outlets taking advertising money.
“I’ve got an issue with the CTU running it and I think they should be reflecting on it. I think it will backfire, ultimately, on them, and I think New Zealanders will see through it.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Train drivers’ union ASLEF has announced a new one-day strike in September. It comes as rail companies and the government continue to refuse workers a sensible pay offer. Furthermore, the trade union has backed up the strike with an overtime ban.
Sixteen companies affected
ASLEF announced on 18 August that its members will engage in one day of strike action on Friday 1 September. The decision will affect 16 English rail companies:
Avanti West Coast
Chiltern Railways
c2c
CrossCountry
East Midlands Railway
Greater Anglia
GTR Great Northern Thameslink
Great Western Railway
Island Line
LNER
Northern Trains
Southeastern
Southern/Gatwick Express
South Western Railway
TransPennine Express
West Midlands Trains
ASLEF has also announced an overtime ban for the following day, Saturday 2 September. This overtime ban will coincide with action by the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT). the RMT previously said its members would strike on 26 August and 2 September. Both unions’ actions will affect many of the same companies.
Contempt from companies and the government
Friday 1 September will mark ASLEF’s twelfth one-day strike in its current dispute. The first was held on 30 July 2022. The overtime ban on 2 September will also be its sixth.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the interests of train companies, said it had made a pay offer to ASLEF. Made in April, it consisted of a 4% raise one year, and another 4% the next. However, the union’s general secretary Mick Whelan described the offer as “risible” at the time. He criticised the offer for not keeping up with the cost of living, which had risen by 10% between March 2022 and 2023 alone.
As a result, Whelan reiterated the point in a press release for the latest announcement:
We don’t want to take this action but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12%.
He continued:
We haven’t heard a word from the employers – we haven’t had a meeting, a phone call, a text message, or an email – since Wednesday 26 April, and we haven’t had any contact with the government since Friday 6 January. This shows how the contempt in which the companies, and the government, hold passengers and staff and public transport in Britain.
Moreover, ASLEF said its overtime ban will “seriously disrupt the network” because:
none of the privatised train operating companies employs enough drivers to provide a proper service without drivers working on their days off.
Another problem with privatisation
Train drivers in Scotland recently accepted a pay offer from ScotRail. ASLEF members accepted the Scottish government-owned body’s offer of a 5% rise backdated to April 2023, with a further 1% from October. The government-run Transport for Wales made a larger offer to members working in Wales. That means the 1 September strikes will not affect most of Scotland and Wales’ rail networks.
After accepting the ScotRail offer, Kevin Lindsay – the union’s organiser for Scotland – said:
This is a resounding vote in favour of accepting the improved pay offer and it shows the importance of a positive approach to industrial relations.
It is now high time that the Rail Delivery Group and the Tory Government do the same in England and negotiate respectfully and with a willingness to pay our members what they need and deserve.
When the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) accepted a pay deal in March, it pointed out that direct negotiation with employers had played a crucial role. ASLEF’s experiences north and west of the borders appear to back this up.
While Scottish drivers negotiated directly with the Scottish and Welsh governments, English drivers are left to battle with the RDG – a body made up almost entirely of private company representatives.
ASLEF’s ongoing battle isn’t just for fair pay. It’s also a battle against greedy Tory ideology, and that’s something we all need to get behind.
Following on from junior doctors and consultants, a third group of NHS professionals is now floating the idea of strike action. The union involved is once again the British Medical Association (BMA), and the doctors are known as SAS ones, who work mostly in hospitals. While the profession may be slightly different, the reasons for the potential industrial action are the same: pay and working conditions.
Specialty and Associate Specialist (SAS) doctors are a vital part of the workforce, making up 20% of the medical staff in England
You might not have heard of them, and their role is quite opaque – but as HEE noted, there are a lot of SASs. The difference with the role is that the person has chosen not to take a career-led pathway. That is, they stop ongoing post-graduate training to become a consultant or GP. However, as the BMA noted:
They have at least four years of full-time postgraduate training, two of which have been in their relevant specialty.
SAS doctors work in hospitals and have a very ‘hands on’ role with a lot of patient contact.
There are SAS doctors in every hospital specialty and also in community hospitals (eg psychiatry and paediatrics). Some hold jobs in both the hospital and the community (eg gynaecology and sexual health).
Some SAS doctors also work part-time as GPs. SAS doctors therefore work across primary, community and hospital care.
While patients and colleagues value SAS doctors, the government clearly doesn’t. As the BMA wrote:
Like many other branches of practice, the Government has continually failed to recognise and reward SAS doctors accordingly and they have seen their real-terms pay fall by more than a quarter over the last 15 years, which is driving more talented professionals out of the NHS and putting patient safety at risk.
So, the union has been in talks with the government over these issues. However, the BMA said “significant progress is still to be made” to avoid moving toward industrial action. So, chair of the BMA SAS UK committee Dr Ujjwala Mohite has written to the health secretary Steve Barclay. In it, she implied that the issues are about more than just pay:
We believe that making the SAS grade a positive career choice is vital for the NHS. SAS doctors make up an essential part of the NHS workforce, but we are deeply concerned about the rate at which these doctors are leaving the NHS. It is essential we take significant steps now to improve SAS doctors’ working lives and reward them appropriately, to reverse the damaging effect that years of being undervalued has had to this highly experienced group.
The BMA’s triple threat to the Tories
With this in mind, the BMA has issued the government with an ultimatum.
On 20 September the BMA SAS Committee will meet to decide whether to proceed to an indicative ballot for industrial action. I would much rather present the committee with positive meaningful reforms for SAS doctors that we have agreed with your government. I hope we can meet soon to make meaningful progress on these matters.
Given the Tories’ intransigence towards junior doctors and consultants, it’s unlikely they’ll be forthcoming in response to SAS doctors’ demands. As the Canary recently reported, Barclay has been lying and making up figures in relation to the ongoing BMA consultants’ strike. These professionals are set to walk out again on 24 and 25 August because the Tories haven’t budged on pay.
What’s more, junior doctors had only just finished their fifth round of strikes when the government came out and said that negotiations on pay were over. As ITVX reported, health minister Will Quince would only give ground on working conditions. He said the government was “open” to talking about these.
So, the BMA now represents a triple threat to the Tories, encompassing the majority of frontline hospital doctors. If SAS practitioners decide to walk out, and juniors and consultants continue their action, it would be unprecedented in the NHS’s history. But if that’s what’s needed to make the Tories listen, then so be it.
The health secretary Steve Barclay has been caught out by Full Fact – twice – over claims about NHS consultants. It comes as the NHS prepares for more strikes. Full Fact exposed that Barclay not only lied over pensions, but he repeatedly plucked figures seemingly out of thin air as well.
The BMA says take-home pay has fallen by 35% since 2008. The consultants… earn annual salaries of around £88,000-£119,000
So July’s action caused serious disruption – which, as Jameela said, was the point. NHS medical director Stephen Powis said:
This could undoubtedly be the most severe impact we have ever seen in the NHS as a result of industrial action, with routine care virtually at a standstill for 48 hours.
Consultants will not only stop seeing patients themselves, but they won’t be around to provide supervision over the work of junior doctors, which impacts thousands of appointments for patients.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said a pay offer for consultants of 6% for 2023-24 was “final” and that industrial action was hampering efforts to cut waiting lists.
It’s unsurprising the Tories are shifting the blame for waiting lists onto NHS staff, given record NHS waiting times are actually their fault. Just to continue this manipulative theme, Barclay has been making some interesting statements in the media – which Full Fact has ripped apart:
Speaking on the BBC R4 Today programme, health secretary Steve Barclay claimed NHS consultants receive tax-free pensions.
This is incorrect. Pensions for consultants are subject to the same tax rules that apply to all pensioners. https://t.co/8ytuIetZpR
First, on Monday 14 August Barclay claimed on BBC Radio 4‘s Today programme that:
Consultants, when they retire now at 65, will get a tax-free pension of £73,000 a year
This is literally a lie – or a mistake, if you’re a Tory and/or feeling generous. As Full Fact noted:
This is incorrect, as pensions are considered a form of income and are therefore subject to tax rules like other forms of income. This means tax is due on any sum above an individual’s personal allowance.
it was “misleading” to suggest the figure of £73,000 was typical, as “pensions are highly individual and will depend on factors such as retirement age, working patterns etc.”
The BMA did a spicy Twitter thread on it, too:
This morning on @bbcr4today the Health Secretary @SteveBarclay said Consultants get a "tax-free pension of £73,000 a year" when they retire.
This is categorically not true, and we expect him to issue an urgent correction. Here's why (1/5)
If an MP makes a false or misleading claim on broadcast media they should take responsibility for ensuring it is appropriately corrected, and make efforts to ensure the correction is publicly available to anyone who might have heard the claim
As of 3pm on Wednesday 16 August, Barclay has not done this – not that anyone should expect him to. Recent Tory governments have perhaps been the most vicious and mendacious in recent memory. Barclay lying and making up figures, to manipulate the public into not supporting striking workers, is par for the course.
The University and College Union (UCU) has said that its members will strike once again in September. The current marking boycott will also continue. It’s all over the ongoing, protracted dispute with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) over pay and working conditions.
Moreover, the trade union has said that unless bosses return to negotiations, it will also issue members with a fresh strike ballot. This could see action continue at universities into 2024.
The UCU: not having it
The Canary has been documenting the ongoing dispute between the UCU and bosses. At first, it was over pay, conditions, and pensions – resulting in nationwide strikes. The union and the organisation responsible for pensions came to an agreement in April. However, away from this, members voted to reject the UCEA pay offer of derisory and imposed increases of between 5-8%.
So, UCU members began a marking boycott in April, known as action short of a strike. It’s been going on ever since. Suffice to say, it has caused chaos. There have been varying reports of how many students have been affected. The UCEA claims it’s around 13,000 – while the UCU had previously accused it of downplaying the impact. Moreover, some bosses are docking UCU member’s wages if they take part in the boycott:
This is my meal for tonight because all I can afford is donated potatoes and a tin of beans since @uniofbrighton stole 100% of my wages for not marking 3 dissertations. This is how lecturers are treated here, which @ucu@BrightonUCU are trying to change. Help @BootstrapCookpic.twitter.com/lyoAdpVZ5t
Now, the UCU has announced that more strikes will happen when the new academic year starts in September. It said on its website on Monday 14 August:
The union’s Higher Education Committee… voted to take further strike action before the end of September and to begin preparations for a new ballot in order to renew UCU’s industrial mandate in the pay and working conditions dispute, meaning disruption could continue this year and well into 2024.
The marking boycott will also continue. It began at 145 universities on Thursday 20 April but UCEA has responded by refusing to improve its offer and employers have punitively docked the pay of staff taking part. UCU has agreed to UCEA’s proposal for a joint review of sector finances.
The UCEA is being deliberately provocative, by all accounts. The UCU said UCEA bosses refused to debate the union’s general secretary Jo Grady on Sky News:
Plus, the intervention of a Tory education minister has hardly helped the situation (surprise surprise). Education minister Robert Halfon (you’d be forgiven for asking ‘who?’) said both sides need to get back to the negotiating table. Grady was unimpressed:
We welcome government intervention in our dispute. It’s long overdue. But it’s their funding model and UCEA’s hoarding of assets that needs to change, not the solidarity of staff. https://t.co/ELtiBSjCH2
Vice-chancellors have decided that crushing their own workers is more important than seeing students graduate after years of hard work. This is a national scandal.
The UK’s higher education sector is a national scandal. The privatised, corporate capitalist model of profiteering-led education is a detriment to staff and students alike. It only benefits the government and bosses. So, the UCU is right to continue to take a stand – and as the UCEA digs its heels in, so should the union.
The UK’s labour market is little more than an insecure, racist aberration – not that that’s anything new. However, what is new is that it’s actually getting worse, as two analyses from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found.
Structural racism in the UK labour market
First up, the TUC has found that the number of Black and Brown workers in insecure work more than doubled between 2011 and 2022 – from 360,200 to 836,340. Their chance of being in an insecure job has also increased. One in six Black and Brown workers are now in this position, versus one in eight in 2011.
Overall, the TUC’s research found that the UK’s labour market was structurally racist. It noted that between 2011 and 2022:
The proportion of Black and Brown people in insecure work increased from 12.2% to 17.8%. This is compared to the proportion of white people barely changing (10.5% to 10.8%).
Black and Brown men were almost twice as likely as white men to be in insecure work (19.6% versus 11.7%).
Black and Brown women were “much more likely” than white women to be in insecure work (15.7% versus 9.9%).
27% of the increase in Black and Brown employment was in insecure work. For white people, the increase was 16%.
Black and Brown people made up two thirds of the overall growth in insecure work. This is despite them only making up 14% of the overall workforce.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said:
too many Black and ethnic minority [BME] workers are trapped in low-paid, insecure jobs with limited rights and protections, and treated like disposable labour.
The massive and disproportionate concentration of BME workers in insecure work – like in the gig economy – is structural racism in action.
Across the labour market, and at every stage, BME workers face discrimination and persistent barriers at work.
From not getting the job despite being qualified for the role, to being passed over for promotion, to being unfairly disciplined at work.
A ‘nation of insecure jobs’
Then, the TUC also looked at the overall growth in insecure work across the labour market. It concluded that the UK is becoming a “nation of insecure jobs”, with precarious and low-paid work widespread in all regions and nations of the UK. It said in a press release that:
Insecure work is typically low-paid, and those in insecure jobs have fewer rights and protections. This means their hours can be subject to the whims of managers and they can lose work without notice…
There are 3.9 million people in insecure employment – that’s 1 in 9 across the workforce.
London (13.3%) and the South West (12.7%) have the highest proportion of people working in insecure jobs.
The industries with the highest proportion of insecure work are the elementary occupations, caring, and leisure services, and process, plant and machine operatives.
Low-paid work is increasingly insecure work – in 2011, 1 in 8 low paid jobs were insecure, but by the end of 2022, 1 in 5 low paid jobs were insecure.
It’s not just the TUC saying this, either. The latest employment figures backed the organisation’s claims up.
Employment chaos
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its latest labour market data on Tuesday 15 August . It found that:
Headline indicators for the UK labour market for April to June 2023 show:
employment was 75.7% unemployment was 4.2% economic inactivity was 20.9%
Real-terms pay (adjusted for Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation) was down 0.6% – despite headline regular pay growth apparently being 7.8%.
The number of job vacancies has dropped.
People off work with long-term sickness has reached a record high.
That is, more people are out of work, there’s less jobs to go round, and people who are in work still aren’t earning enough to cover rising prices.
Nowak said of the ONS figures:
The government has nothing to celebrate. They are presiding over the longest pay squeeze in modern history with real wages still worth less than in 2008.
The only group of workers enjoying a serious bump in their pay are high-earners in the City. Household budgets for the vast majority of Britons remain under intense pressure.
Meanwhile Britain’s jobs market is showing real signs of weakening with unemployment on the rise.
The Uberisation of regular work: racial capitalism at its heart
What’s more, the ONS also found that zero-hours employment had also hit a record high. Bosses are now employing 1.2 million people on these dodgy contracts. Nowak said:
This is a badge of shame for the Conservatives. Insecure work has reached epidemic levels under their watch.
Zero-hours contracts should have no place in the modern labour market. They allow workers to be treated like disposable labour.
That’s why we need stronger rights at work to give everybody dignity and respect at work.
are over-represented in this [zero-hours] figure at nearly twice the percentage of white men on such contracts.
So, not only is the world of work looking more and more precarious for poorer people – it is inherently and structurally racist, too. All this used to be referred to as the ‘gig economy‘. However, what we’re seeing is the ‘Uberisation‘ of regular employment too in terms of workers rights, pay, and conditions.
At the heart of this is racial capitalism – where the system exploits Black and Brown people for profit. Our political, economic, and social structures are built on this, off the back of colonialism. As such, in the current climate the situation is unlikely to change – and Black and Brown people will bear the brunt of the effects of collapsing labour markets.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) will be taking the fight to stop ticket office closures right to PM Rishi Sunak’s front door at Downing Street. So, save the date, as it’s going to be an important protest – not least for chronically ill, disabled, and older people.
23% of disabled people are internet non-users. Ticket vending machines are often inaccessible. Plus, wheelchair users can only get their 50% discount on tickets from an office.
Then, there was the issue of the government and train operators’ consultation. Previously, it was set to last only 21 days, and was due to close on Wednesday 26 July. However, two disabled people started one legal challenge, and five Mayors started another. The end result was the government and train operators caving in and extending the consultation. People now have until 1 September to submit their objections. The list of train operators’ consultations is here.
Meanwhile, the RMT has been taking the fight up and down the country. There was one national day of action on 9 August, and another will follow on Wednesday 16 August:
RMT Save Railway Ticket Offices National Day of action this Wednesday 16th August
RMT has organised a rally for 31 August. It will start at the Department for Transport, and is set to end at Downing Street:
#SaveTicketOffices March to 10 Downing Street On the eve of the close of the public consultation on ticket office closures, join the march to 10 Downing Street Thursday, August 31st 2023 pic.twitter.com/jxWnNgoKzZ
It’s not the first time this year that the RMT has gone to Sunak’s front door to protest. It also organised a demo in January over the Tories’ anti-trade union laws:
That so many people have responded to the consultations shows that there is mass public opposition to the Government and Train Companies’ proposals.
These damaging plans are not just about ticket office closures; they are a smokescreen for a widespread dehumanising of our railways.
Interestingly, it’s not just trade unions and campaigners coming out against the plans. The West Midlands Combined Authority voiced its objections:
West Midlands transport chiefs have declined to support proposals to close rail ticket offices across the region despite agreeing, in principle, on the need to modernise the way stations are managed and staffed.
Our railway stations are at the heart of communities around the country and if these closures go ahead the Tories will pay a heavy political price at the next election with boarded up ticket offices and de-staffed stations being a permanent reminder of the government’s vandalism of our railways.
We are urging the public to continue spreading the word about these cuts and to have their say in the consultations before September 1.
Indeed, the Tories’ “vandalism” of the railways has been ongoing since before their privatisation of them in the early 1990s, leading to a perpetual state of chaos. Now, ticket office closures are the thin end of a very corporate capitalist wedge – and the RMT and its supporters intend to make that crystal clear to Sunak on 31 August.
The increasingly notorious homelessness charity St Mungo’s saw striking workers take the fight for fair pay right to its front door on Thursday 10 August. Trade union Unite had organised a rally – and staff made their feelings over bosses’ treatment of them very clear.
Staff have been doing very badly – the average amount the charity spends on each employee fell in cash terms by 2% in 2022, and by more than 10% after allowing for inflation.
Leigh Fontaine is a manager at St Mungo’s, who’s also gone out on strike with workers. He told the BBC:
Never in my four years as a manager have I sat in a supervision with a staff member who is in tears over whether they can afford to eat next week.
But guess what? The CEO’s pay went up by 5% last year – to £189,000. That’s almost five times more than the average worker earns. Moreover, as the Canaryrecentlyreported, a ban on bosses using employment agencies to send scab staff in to cover for striking workers came into force on 10 August. As we also reported, St Mungo’s had previously been doing this. Unite said in a press release:
Up to now, St Mungo’s has been using a number of agencies to try to break the strike. Now management is tying itself in knots, wasting money in a desperate attempt to transfer agency workers on to short term contracts.
Yes, you read that right. As Novara Media reported, bosses at St Mungo’s are giving agency staff short-term contracts instead, to get around the new law. Unite said:
The charity’s actions are creating an expensive and administrative nightmare. Meanwhile Unite has recruited 350 new members since the start of the dispute. Workers are not believing the misinformation being peddled by the employer.
So, Unite members who work at St Mungo’s have been on indefinite strike since 27 June – after walking out for the four weeks prior to that. On Thursday 10 August, they took their campaign to the front door of the charity’s head office – holding a mass rally there.
They also sent support to striking comrades at Amazon:
At today’s brilliant @SMUnite rally, a huge roar of support when the strikers heard about how Amazon workers shut down the Coventry warehouse on Saturday!
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said in a press release:
Companies and organisations had already begun to use agency workers as a way to break legal strikes. Pitting worker against worker in an attempt to union bust. As of 10 August, this will no longer be an avenue hostile employers can use.
St Mungo’s now needs to focus on solving this long running dispute. They need to stop looking for ways to break the strike and start looking for ways to solve it.
According to the BBC, St Mungo’s bosses have made a new offer to Unite – which they’ll be negotiating “over the coming days”. Given that the bosses’ last offer was 3.7%, and the offer before that 2.25%, it’s unlikely they’ll offer workers anything near a decent pay rise. So, get set for the strike to continue for the foreseeable future.
The short-lived move by the Tories which allowed agency workers to fill in for strikers came to an end on Thursday 10 August. The ban on this practice of agencies effectively scabbing had been lifted by Boris Johnson’s government. However, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has issued an ultimatum to Rishi Sunak’s government in case it was thinking of trying to reverse the ban again.
Kwarteng: allowing agencies to scab at will
In 1976, it was made unlawful for an employer to pay an agency to provide staff during a strike. However, Johnson’s business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng reversed the ban last July. As Sky News reported:
The change in law was introduced as a statutory instrument – meaning there was less scrutiny than on typical legislating…
It amended the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003.
Some unscrupulous bosses have made use of it – like those at homelessness charity St Mungo’s. As the Canary previously reported, striking workers there have been protesting outside the scab agencies involved.
However, the TUC and 11 trade unions weren’t having this law change. They took the government to court over the issue – and won.
A judge says ‘no’
At the time, the TUC argued that Kwarteng’s law change served to “undermine the fundamental right to strike“. It warned that it put the public in danger, and that it made disputes between workers and bosses even worse. Even the agency industry body, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, criticised the Tory minister’s plans, saying they were “unworkable”. Plus, a House of Lords committee that looked over the law said of it that:
the lack of robust evidence and the expected limited net benefit raise questions as to the practical effectiveness and benefit
Overall, the judge agreed Kwarteng’s actions were unlawful. This was because he’d breached the Employment Agencies Act 1973 by not consulting trade unions before making the change. As Sky Newsreported:
Mr Justice Linden was scathing in his written judgement.
He said the minister – who went on to become Liz Truss’s ill-fated chancellor – was “not sufficiently” interested to ask for analysis from civil servants so he could assess how the law change would actually be implemented.
Mr Justice Linden said the “decision was to proceed at exceptional speed” despite concerns from the civil service about the “effect on parliamentary scrutiny” and “without any further consultation at all”.
However, as the TUC noted in a press release:
The government recently decided it would not appeal the judgment, but hasn’t confirmed its longer-term plans for the law.
So, it’s calling on ministers to guarantee they won’t try to pull another fast one on workers, like Kwarteng tried (but failed) to.
Enough is enough, thank you
The TUC says the High Court overturning Kwarteng’s law was a “major blow” to the Tories’ “attempts to undermine the right to strike”. It has also said they are adopting the same “reckless approach” with the latest anti-strike legislation. It said in a press release that:
Like the agency worker regulations, the Strikes Act, which passed last month, has been widely criticised by employer groups, politicians and lots more. And ministers rushed the legislation through parliament.
The Act could lead to workers being forced to work even when they have democratically voted to strike, and workers facing the sack if they refuse to comply.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak added that:
Ministers know they broke the law when they tried to push through unworkable, shoddy legislation on agency workers covering for strikers. That’s why they have done the right thing and decided not to appeal against the High Court’s judgment. Bringing in agency staff to deliver important services in place of strikers risks endangering public safety, worsening disputes and poisoning industrial relations
The government railroaded through this law change despite widespread opposition from agency employers and unions. That’s why the Court were right to rule the change unlawful.
It’s time for clear commitments from ministers that they won’t overturn the ban on using agency workers during strikes.
And they should scrap the Strikes Act too – another piece of legislation that has been rushed through parliament, which will only sour industrial relations and drag out disputes.
Given that Sunak’s is one of the most toxic Tory governments in living memory (which is saying something) it’s unlikely to heed the TUC’s warning. However, trade unions will be ready to fight whatever this current shower of anti-worker, right-wing capitalist goons throw at them next.
As the scandal around ticket office closures rumbles on, the National Union of Rail, Transport, and Maritime Workers (RMT) has staged a day of action to highlight just why the Tories’ and train operators’ plans are such a bad idea.
Ticket office closures: Tories and train operators in cahoots
23% of disabled people are internet non-users. Ticket vending machines are often inaccessible. Plus, wheelchair users can only get their 50% discount on tickets from an office.
Train operators are counter-claiming that they’ll redeploy ticket office staff on stations. However, research by the Association of British Commuters (ABC) has shown this not to be true. Plus, the government and train operators tried to get away with only performing a 21-day public consultation on the issue – which, after more public outrage and threats of legal action, they had to back down over.
Amid all this, RMT has also been central to the fight back. General secretary Mick Lynch said the union would:
bring into effect the full industrial force of the union to stop any plans to close ticket offices
So, the RMT has been actively campaigning around the issue – to the point where train operators have threatened its members with disciplinary action over their activism. Not that the RMT and workers are shook – instead, they held a day of action over the issue on Wednesday 9 August.
Campaigners gave out postcards which people could write their comments about ticket office closures on. Then, they could send them into passenger group Transport Focus, which would submit them to the official consultation. Disability rights campaigner Paula Peters did this in Bromely, South London:
Today @and_unite & @paulapeters2 have spent a few hours leafletting passengers & members of the public on ticket office closures at Bromley South We handed out over 1000 cards this morning pic.twitter.com/5cg5HSXpCT
People also highlighted the problems with only having ticket machines:
My journey this morning perfectly illustrates why we need to #SaveTicketOffices. The machine at my station was damaged (again), so I tried to buy a ticket on the train. The guard had been called in at short notice and didn’t have a ticket machine.
— RMT North East Regional Council (@RMTNorthEast) August 9, 2023
However, this is not the end of the RMT’s campaign. As well as the second national day of action on 16 August, the union is holding a rally outside Downing Street. This will take place on Thursday 31 August at 6pm:
There’s also two separate petitions that people can sign here and here.
Ticket office closures: further regression of the rail network
Together we need to mobilise to defeat these plans which are part of the Tory government’s agenda of dehumanising the railway on behalf of the private operators and their shareholder.
It seems that there’s strong public opinion against ticket office closures – although it’s difficult to gauge via social media alone. However, what is clear it that the Tories’ and train operators’ plans would be terrible for chronically ill, disabled, and older people. It would represent the further degradation of our rail service – which has successively regressed since the disastrous Tory privatisation of the 1990s.
So, all power to the RMT for its opposition. Now, more people need to join it in fighting these dire plans.
Staff at St Mungo’s homelessness charity have been in a protracted dispute with their bosses for months. It’s over pay and working conditions. Now, their trade union,Unite, is taking further action – organising a mass rally on Thursday 10 August.
St Mungo’s: treating staff like shit for years
St Mungo’s and its bosses have been causing problems for their staff for years. For example, in 2014 staff took industrial action at one hostel after St Mungo’s pulled out of managing it. More recently, in 2020 – as the Canary previously reported – staff voted for industrial action over threats to jobs, working conditions, and homeless peoples’ services.
Staff have been doing very badly – the average amount the charity spends on each employee fell in cash terms by 2% in 2022, and by more than 10% after allowing for inflation.
Meanwhile the CEO’s pay increased in 2022 to £189k, a 5% increase on the previous year, and almost five times the pay of the average worker at the charity!
This 2022 increase comes on top of other rewards for the highest paid staff. In 2020-21 the pay of the 9 highest paid members of staff increased by an estimated 16%, costing an additional £150,000!
That is to say that bosses at an alleged ‘charity’ have been raking it in, while staff and service users suffer. So, Unite members have been striking.
Latest trade union action
As Socialist Workerreported, by Thursday 3 August:
St Mungo’s workers [were] on their tenth week of strikes – and sixth of indefinite action. Some 500 Unite members walked out for four weeks on Tuesday 30 May to demand a 10 percent pay increase. Now union membership is up to around 800, and the strikers have escalated to indefinite action until management caves.
This indefinite action began on 27 June after a paltry pay rise offer of 3.7%. Meanwhile, bosses have been using scab agencies to cover for striking staff. So, Unite members up and down the country have carried out consistent action:
Meanwhile in Bristol our comrades are keeping up the pressure on Rocasa to stop supplying agency staff to break. pic.twitter.com/tHnN1NhZWm
Unite boss Sharon Graham has been supporting them:
This morning I visited @SMUnite members on the picket line. @StMungos have executives on well over £100,000 a year and the same people insist their workers should exist on poverty wages with actual wage cuts. Unite supports our members in their fight for fair #JobsPayConditions. pic.twitter.com/b9IDk9Ycyr
St Mungo’s bosses: profiting off misery and homelessness?
However, the problems with St Mungo’s run far deeper than just its shitty treatment of its workers. As the Canaryreported in 2017:
A new report shows homelessness charities are working with the Home Office to deport non-UK rough sleepers.
The investigation by Corporate Watch found that outreach teams from the charities St Mungo’s, Thames Reach, and Change, Grow, Live (CGL) have all been working with Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) officers on patrols that target rough sleepers in London.
Charity outreach teams should help rough sleepers to access support. Instead, by teaming up with the Home Office, they expose vulnerable people to detention and deportation.
Moreover, the homelessness charity sector itself is hardly a beacon of righteous egalitarianism. At the end of last year, bosses at Shelter left workers with no choice but to strike after their dire pay offer:
“We can’t do the work if we can’t pay the rent.”
Charity workers who help the homeless are facing homelessness themselves.
In striking for fairer pay, @UniteAtShelter members are fighting to save the very future of the essential service they provide. Solidarity. pic.twitter.com/ihGFOSqYdf
The Shelter workers’ battle may give hope to their St Mungo’s colleagues, though – as bosses there backed down in the end, tabling a half-decent pay offer, which staff accepted.
The St Mungo’s branch of Unite tweeted how you can support the striking workers:
The behaviour of so-called charities is sadly often akin to the corporate sector – St Mungo’s and Shelter being two examples. This clearly shows the need for workers in this sector to organise themselves. As one St Mungo’s staff member told the website Angry Workers:
I guess just really to remind people that without coming together and unionising we wouldn’t be at the point where we’re at now, and we just have to continue to do this. Because even if we get something, just looking back at the past we know we could be at risk of losing it at any time. It’s only if we stand strong and we know what our rights are and what the history is, and what’s been stripped away, that we’ll be able to fight it.
St Mungo’s staff are fighting not just for themselves but also for the homeless people they provide essential services for. So, if you’re in London on 10 August, support their protest for better pay and conditions in any way you can.
My son Toby Hayward-Seers, who has died aged 27 following a cardiac arrest, was an active trade union member. He was deeply committed to workers’ rights and international human rights throughout his short working life.
He was employed at the University of East London in the quality assurance team between 2019 and 2022, where he was also international relations officer for Unison. Joining Bectu in November 2022 as an organising official, he rapidly gained the respect of members and staff. Many colleagues have said his unwavering belief in creating a fairer and more inclusive society was an inspiration. His first recruitment event brought in record numbers of new people, and Bectu’s young members award has been renamed in his memory.
The University and College Union (UCU) has held a nationwide day of protests at universities. It’s over the ongoing dispute with bosses over pay and conditions, which has seen a nationwide marking boycott. The protests saw support from staff and students alike – and the UCU’s general secretary warned that if bosses don’t move, the union’s action would continue into the next academic year.
UCU: a protracted dispute with university bosses
As the Canary as been documenting, the UCU has been on dispute mode for well over a year. At first, it was over pay, conditions, and pensions – resulting in nationwide strikes. The union and the organisation responsible for pensions came to an agreement in April. However, members voted to reject the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) pay offer of derisory and imposed increases of between 5-8%.
So, UCU members began a marking boycott in April, known as action short of a strike. It’s been going on ever since. The union said on its website:
we are asking all UCU members in higher education institutions which are part of the pay and working conditions dispute to cease undertaking all summative marking and associated assessment activities/duties. The boycott also covers assessment-related work such as exam invigilation and the processing of marks.
UCU previously met with UCEA last week in an attempt to end the UK-wide university marking boycott and resolve the ongoing pay and working conditions dispute. Unfortunately, UCEA refused to table an improved pay offer or provide any redress for members who have been hit with punitive pay deductions.
So, the UCU called an emergency nationwide demo on Wednesday 26 July, to show the strength of feeling across the workforce as well as from students:
EMERGENCY CAMPUS PROTESTS WEDNESDAY
Calling all staff & students
We need a show of strength ahead of crunch talks with university bosses
Across the UK, universities saw demos. Oxford was packed:
2⃣ Clarendon Steps Take Overs These steps have been flooded by pickets, rallies , and marches. Its been the background for some of our most iconic moments and biggest turnouts@UCEA1 & @RKJethwa you should come along sometime … or you could just #SettleTheDispute? pic.twitter.com/Q7yYncirV9
Brighton University has been at the centre of a separate, ongoing dispute over bosses’ plans for redundancies. You can read the Canary‘s coverage of that here. So, staff and students were out in force there, too:
UCEA, make serious credible moves that will settle the dispute. We were right about USS pensions. Acknowledge we are right about stopping pay degradation, closing of gender, race & disability pay gaps, reversing casualisation, reducing workload. #SettletheDispute@UCEA1@ucu . pic.twitter.com/iho25bblMm
— University of Nottingham UCU branch (@UoNUCU) July 26, 2023
Crucially, though, and students also supported the UCU’s action. The National Union of Students (NUS) officially backed the protests – while branches came out at individual universities, like University College London (UCL):
— UCL Students for UCU (@uclsolidarity) July 26, 2023
Some students had previously even used their graduation speeches to send support to the UCU – despite them not actually getting their grades. One student said:
It would not be right to stand here and not acknowledge the hard work of staff, who have been fighting for no more than the bare minimum, fair treatment, and fair pay.
This is so powerful.
Students are finishing university with TBC instead of grades and staff are still receiving punitive salary deductions.
The bosses could have ended this dispute well before graduations.
The day of action came before the UCU re-entered negotiations with the UCEA. The union’s general secretary Jo Grady said:
We cannot and will not allow employers to filibuster talks to a point where students miss out on their degrees and punitive pay deductions plunge staff further into debt.
UCEA now has a choice, listen to the modest demands of staff and students, and work with us to end the marking boycott, or lay the ground for even more disruption in the coming months and into the next academic year.
The challenge for the UCU is two-fold.
Firstly, and while a marking boycott is effective, to university bosses it represents nowhere near the same level of disruption as strikes. Do they really care if students have to wait for their final grades? Probably not.
Then there’s the issue of pay. The government’s acceptance of pay rises of between 5-7% for public sector workers doesn’t help the UCU – given the UCEA was offering between 5-8%. So it remains to be seen how far bosses will move. Therefore, the UCU is likely to have some difficult decisions to make – accept a lower pay offer, or continue the dispute. What it does next will shape the next academic year across higher education in the UK.
The Tories, transport secretary Mark Harper, and train operators’ plans to close most ticket offices in the country have been thrown into chaos – thanks, in part, to disabled activists and trade unions. After they lashed out over the public’s objections, train bosses have now been left red faced. However, it’s also emerged that they aren’t taking the “Save Our Ticket Offices” campaign very well – threatening staff who get involved.
23% of disabled people are internet non-users. Ticket vending machines are often inaccessible. Plus, wheelchair users can only get their 50% discount on tickets from an office. Overall, the rail network is generally still not fully accessible as well. All this makes for a perfect storm for chronically ill and disabled people.
At the centre of the storm has been the government and train operators’ consultation on the process. It was due to close at 11:59pm on Wednesday 26 July. Two legal challenges – one from two disabled people, and one from five mayors – both claimed the consultation breached various laws and regulations.
Now, it appears that the Tories and train operators have shit themselves and lashed out.
Consultative chaos
As the Mirror first revealed, the outcry and response to the contentious consultation has thrown it, the Tories, and train operators, into chaos. It reported on 25 July that:
the process could yet be extended following crisis talks between the Department for Transport and train operators earlier today.
It is understood the consultations could even be extended over the summer and could run into September.
Ministers and train companies have been spooked over legal challenges to how the process has been conducted. At its heart are claims that the 21 day consultation was not only too short but also unlawful and discriminated against disabled people.
So it came to pass on Thursday 26 July that train operators extended the consultation – probably coupled with red faces in bosses’ offices up and down the country. People now have until 1 September to submit their objections – on top of the 170,000 responses already sent in.
I have received very disturbing reports this morning from members at your company who are being threatened by managers with disciplinary action and being sent home without pay as a result of them wearing “save our ticket offices” stickers.
Threatening staff who are fighting for their very futures and for the services they provide in this way is a quite disgraceful tactic to use and I can advise you that any moves to discipline any RMT member for having a simple statement on a sticker will be met with a full industrial response.
Lynch continued:
If a genuine and meaningful consultation process really is to be followed in this process, then surely this would include allowing the very staff whose future employment is threatened to voice their opinions.
I would therefore ask that any disciplinary threats are withdrawn and that you will assure your staff their democratic right to have their opinion heard on this extremely important matter will be respected.
I look forward to hearing from you on this as a matter of extreme urgency.
Members have told the RMT that bosses at other train operators, including Northern, and Greater Anglia, have “interfered with campaigns and removed materials from stations”.
Great British Chaos Plc
It seems that far from being a done deal, the Tories’ and train operators’ plans are in chaos – thanks to the hard work of campaigners, trade unions, and chronically ill and disabled people. But then, why break the habit of a lifetime? Chaos in ticket office closures is par for the course from a rail network that exists in a perpetual state of chaos anyway – thanks to Tory privatisation.
Virgin Media O2 is laying off 10% of its workforce, amid a mountain of debt – yet oddly, they also have made billions in profits, and paid over £1bn in dividends to shareholders. Yet the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has issued a tepid response at best. This is probably because it looks like it made an error of judgement months ago over a pay deal with the company. Moreover, it sends a warning to the other deal the CWU has just agreed with Royal Mail – because if Virgin Media O2 can strike a pay deal with the CWU and then lay off countless staff – Royal Mail could well do similar.
Virgin Media O2: if in doubt, lay off staff
UK telecoms group Virgin Media O2 provides phone, broadband, and television services. However, it announced on 24 July it will cut up to 2,000 jobs, or over 10% of its staff. Spanish operator Telefonica and US group Liberty Global merged their UK units O2 and Virgin Media in 2021. The company said in a statement for Agence France-Presse (AFP):
As we continue to integrate and transform as a company, we are currently consulting on proposals to simplify our operating model to better deliver for customers.
The group employs 18,700 staff – and after its statement, the CWU hit back. The union’s assistant secretary Tracey Fussey said in a press release:
This news is causing a tremendous deal of anxiety among our membership, who are now feeling vulnerable about their jobs during an historic economic crisis.
The confirmation of job losses is a tremendous disappointment, and we will be doing everything we can to mitigate against the redundancies.
The announcement of 2000 redundancies includes changes already made this year. We will continue to actively work with VMO2 through the consultation processes.
Workers deserve clarity and security over their futures, and the CWU will do everything in our power to ensure that is what our members will get.
This news was not new, though. The Mirror reported at the end of June that the company was planning between 800 and 2,000 lay offs.
The problem is, Virgin Media O2’s job cuts have come just two months after it reached a deal with the CWU and workers over pay and conditions.
The CWU: a deal amid redundancies?
Virgin Media O2 had originally tried to impose a 2% rise in 2022. But after the CWU balloted for strike action, it backed down. The union wrote at the end of May that:
Members across Virgin Media O2 have voted by nearly nine-to-one to accept a CWU-brokered pay deal which delivers fully consolidated rises for all CWU represented grade employees in excess of 7, 8 or 9% this year – plus a cash lump sum of £400 to be paid in June.
The company’s final offer… was accepted by 86.5% of members participating in a consultative ballot…
Taking both consolidated and unconsolidated elements into consideration, the deal is worth just over 10% in cash terms this year for members working in O2 stores.
the move is not unexpected. The operator is known to have been trying to cut costs and are also hoping to benefit from the efficiencies that are likely to flow from their network upgrade projects.
So, if you’re a boss who’s making money – but also owes even more money to other people – then the first rule of Capitalism 101 is ‘get rid of the plebs’ to save £350m. Which is exactly what Virgin Media O2 has done.
Lesson learned for the CWU, you’d think? Possibly not.
Detailed talks are underway… on behalf of 1,357 employees who’ve been placed ‘at risk’ of potential redundancy as a result of a massive site rationalisation and restructuring exercise.
Yet, it failed to act on this during its negotiations over pay with Virgin Media O2. Secondly, the union’s most recent weak response to the redundancies is simply not good enough. Saying that it will try and “mitigate” the redundancies, and “work” with Virgin Media O2 over them is flaccid. Given the shareholder dividends and core operating profit last year, the CWU should be balloting for strikes over this.
However, this disaster for workers has ramifications elsewhere.
The CWU’s now-ended industrial dispute with Royal Mail is a case in point. The union and 50% of its members recently voted ‘yes’ to a deal. However, it was hardly a good one – for example, with just a 10% pay rise across three years (not even touching the sides of inflation and rising prices) plus some worsening of working conditions. Many members accused the CWU of effectively selling out:
It's not really 10% pay rise is it though, 2% was enforced before any of this started, it's 8% £500 after tax and ni will be around £380
Good luck selling this one… think this could spell the end of the cwu, I hope I'm wrong, but £150 a year and that's what we're offered…
But with Royal Mail’s unenviable position of being one of the most notorious corporate capitalist entities in the UK, who’s to say that it won’t impose cost-cutting exercises on its workers anyway – in spite of the CWU deal? Parts of the agreement are dubiously phrased (no “compulsory” redundancies until April 2025, ‘learning and honing’ on changes to people’s hours). Moreover, last September Royal Mail was perfectly willing to ‘rip up’ the previous one, agreed in 2013.
The situation with Virgin Media O2 should be a warning to the CWU: never dance with the capitalist devil. Except it’s probably too late, as the rumba with Royal Mail reached its choreographed denouement weeks ago. Now, we wait and see if the devil bosses have an encore up their sleeves for workers. If it’s the case, the CWU will have serious questions to answer – which it already has plenty of about the situation with toxic Virgin Media O2.
“Gruelling” work intensity is a growing problem in “burnt-out Britain’. That’s the conclusion of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which has published a new report showing people work harder and longer now compared to previous years. Unfortunately for us, it doesn’t look like things are changing any time soon.
‘Work intensification’ on the rise
The TUC says increasing work intensity means workers are having to pack more work into working hours – with work often spilling over into their private lives. It says “work intensification“:
has been defined as “the rate of physical and/or mental input to work tasks performed during the working day”. Work intensity comprises several elements, including the rate of task performance; the intensity of those tasks in terms of physical, cognitive, and emotional demands; the extent to which they are performed simultaneously or in sequence, continuously, or with interruptions; and the gaps between tasks.
The union body thinks work intensification is getting worse, so it looked into the issue.
Polling company Thinks Insight did research for the TUC. Of over 2,100 workers it spoke to:
55% said that their work “is getting more intense and demanding”.
61% are “exhausted at the end of most working days”.
Moreover, compared to 2021 workers said things were deteriorating:
36% are working more outside of their contracted hours. Tasks include “reading, sending and answering emails”.
32% are doing the same, but on “core work activities”.
40% say bosses have made them “do more work in the same amount of time”.
38% say work is making them feel “more stressed”.
Predictably, work regimes are hitting women harder than men. The TUC’s research found that:
compared to men, women are more likely to say they feel exhausted at the end of most working days (67% to 56%) and that work is getting more intense (58% to 53%).
Women are overrepresented in sectors such as education and health and social care. These are sectors where staff shortages and other factors, such as burdensome scrutiny and long working hours, have led to increased work intensification.
And women continue to shoulder most of the caring responsibilities at home, which can further add to time-pressures on them.
Of course, it’s bosses that are making a killing off flogging workers to the brink of exhaustion.
Bosses: £26bn of our labour for free
Another piece of TUC analysis found that workers doing unpaid overtime in 2022 meant bosses pocketed £26bn of free labour. It found that 3.5 million people did unpaid overtime last year. On average, each worker put in 7.4 unpaid hours a week. The TUC said of this:
As well as being detrimental to family life, long term-ill health conditions caused by overwork include hypertension and cardiovascular disease, digestive problems, and long-term effects on the immune system, increasing risk of causing autoimmune disease diagnoses.
When workers are tired, or under excessive pressure, they are also more likely to suffer injury, or be involved in an accident.
Moreover, things are not improving any time soon.
No improvement on the horizon
The TUC says several factors combine to create a perfect storm for work intensity – which aren’t currently going anywhere. These include:
Surveillance technology and algorithmic management: Algorithmically set productivity targets can be unrealistic and unsustainable – forcing people to work at high speed. Algorithmic management can also force workers to work faster through constant monitoring, including monitoring the actions they perform and their productivity.
Staff shortages: Low pay, excessive workloads and a lack of good flexible work are key drivers of the staffing crisis. Staff shortages put huge strain on those who remain as they try to plug the gaps, fuelling excessive workloads and long-working hours. This undermines the quality of our public services, and leads to high attrition and absenteeism rates, worsening the workload crisis.
Inadequate enforcement of working time regulations: The working time regulations contain important rights for workers which could help safeguard against work intensification and the consequential health and safety risks, but… [the] Health and Safety Executive, which is responsible for enforcement of the maximum weekly working time limits, night work limits and health assessments for night work, has had its budget slashed in half over the past decade.
Decline in collective bargaining: Industrial changes have combined with anti-union legislation to make it much harder for people to come together in trade unions to speak up together at work. This decline in collective bargaining coverage has led to less union negotiation around work organisation, resulting in work intensification.
Plus, the Tories are planning on making all this worse. The TUC said:
Ministers are currently looking to water down rules on how working time is recorded by employers in the UK, which they could impose using powers in the controversial REUL (Retained EU Law) Act.
This could significantly weaken our already-inadequate enforcement system even further, making it more difficult for labour market inspectors to prove non-compliance.
So, what’s to be done?
Join a bloody union
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said:
No one should be pushed to the brink because of their job.
Gruelling hours, pace and expectations at work are growing problems up and down the country. This is a recipe for burnt out Britain.
Chronic staff shortages, intrusive surveillance tech and poor enforcement of workers’ rights have all combined to create a perfect storm.
It’s little wonder that so many feel exhausted at the end of their working day.
It’s time to tackle ever-increasing work-intensity. That means strengthening enforcement so that workers can effectively exercise their rights.
It means introducing a right to disconnect to let workers properly switch off outside of working hours.
And it means making sure workers and unions are properly consulted on the use of AI and surveillance tech, and ensuring they are protected from punishing ways of working.
Of course, Nowak could have summed all that up quite easily: ‘join a bloody union’. While the trade unions in the UK are far from perfect, they are currently workers’ best defence against unscrupulous bosses who are earning off overworking and underpaying their staff.
Consultants in England are carrying out a two day strike that managers have warned will leave “routine care virtually at a standstill”.
The strike comes amid record patient waiting times and multiple strikes across the economy over the past year, as workers battle a cost of living crisis. The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents consultants, found that:
the pay of consultants in England flatlined at just 14% growth in the 14 years to 2022/23. In stark contrast, the average pay for the UK went up by around 48% in the same period and those in the professions such as law, accountancy, financial services, architects and engineering, enjoyed growth of nearly 80% in wages – almost six times that of senior doctors.
This shows all too clearly that not only has consultant pay has failed to keep up with inflation, but it has also failed to keep up with comparable professions.
The consultants’ strike, only the third time the senior specialist doctors have taken industrial action, began at 6am on Thursday 20 July and will run until 6am on Saturday 22 July.
Disruption is the point
NHS medical director Stephen Powis said:
This could undoubtedly be the most severe impact we have ever seen in the NHS as a result of industrial action, with routine care virtually at a standstill for 48 hours.
Consultants will not only stop seeing patients themselves, but they won’t be around to provide supervision over the work of junior doctors, which impacts thousands of appointments for patients.
Of course, disruption is the point of strikes. Doctors are doing what they can to signal to NHS management and the government that they’ve had enough. Support on social media was forthcoming. Campaign group Keep Our NHS Public said:
Solidarity with BMA consultants taking strike action today
Without pay restoration staff will continue to leave the NHS
— Keep Our NHS Public (@keepnhspublic) July 20, 2023
Doctor-led campaign organisation Every Doctor also urged more support:
Please support the #ConsultantsStrike. They're standing up to this government and they're doing it for all of us. Please RT this if you have their backs!
As Dr. Mehdian points out, consultants are calling for a “credible pay offer” after years of below-inflation rises have eroded their pay.
The BMA says take-home pay has fallen by 35% since 2008. The consultants, who earn annual salaries of around £88,000-£119,000, have already announced a second round of strikes for August 24-25.
The Nuffield Trust provided data just last year which shows context for how poorly paid consultants are. Since 2010, pay has fallen in real terms for most NHS professions:
Rishi Sunak has told the doctors to call off their stoppages, and warned that the government will no longer negotiate on higher salaries. However, the BMA called the government’s offer “derisory” and urged members to join their nearest picket line.
BMA consultants’ committee chair Vishal Sharma said consultants were “angry and at rock bottom”, blaming the government. He continued:
The government has had seven months to work with us to take our concerns seriously, to listen to us and to find a way to avoid industrial action.
Ministers have done absolutely nothing to stop this action taking place.
Sign of the times
Of course, the consultants strike follows months of disruption as other health staff have also walked out. Junior doctors staged an unprecedented five-day stoppage earlier this month over pay and staff retention, their third walkout since April. Nurses and ambulance staff have also taken strike action, eventually accepting a 5% pay rise in May.
Transport workers are due to strike at the same time as the consultants with staff at 14 train operators walking out on Thursday, Saturday and on July 29. They will be joined on Sunday and on July 25-28 by London Underground staff.
Sunak is facing strike after strike from profession after profession. Does he really expect us to believe that the government is right to underpay working people? It’s the same story for workers across sectors – they’re being screwed over by the government and their respective managements. Thank goodness for trade unions who can push back against the government’s lies and fight for better pay and conditions.
The government is allowing train operators to close the majority of ticket offices on the rail network. There has been widespread outrage over the decision – not least the impact on chronically ill and disabled people. However, now the government and the four publicly-owned train operators are facing a legal challenge over the consultation process.
Ticket office closures: the thin end of the wedge for disabled people
As the Canary has been documenting, the Tories began planning to allow train operators to close ticket offices in 2022. However, in recent weeks transport secretary Mark Harper has pressed ‘go’ on the scheme. We only knew this originally thanks to rail passenger group the Association of British Commuters (ABC).
The government had to sign the plan off, as there are regulations governing ticket offices. Of course, the arguments from the Tories and the companies include that only 12% of people buy tickets at offices. They have also launched a public consultation, where people can have their say.
But trade unions, politicians, and chronically ill and disabled people are furious about the plans – and it’s clear why people are angry. As the Canarypreviously reported, 23% of disabled people are internet non-users. Ticket vending machines are often inaccessible. Plus, wheelchair users can only get their 50% discount on tickets from an office. Overall, the rail network is generally still not fully accessible as well. All this makes for a perfect storm for chronically ill and disabled people.
As the ABC has now revealed, two train operators are going to make 94 stations unstaffed under the plans. This would mean that West Midlands Trains would have a total of 137 unstaffed stations (94% of its network), and East Midlands Railway would have 90 (87% of its network). It is currently unclear what the situation is across the rest of the country.
Yet despite this, the government is only doing a 21-day consultation – which closes to the public on Wednesday 26 July.
So, with all this in mind two disabled people are taking legal action against the government and the four publicly-owned train operators.
Breaching equality and accessibility laws?
Sarah Leadbetter is registered blind, and Doug Paulley is a wheelchair user. Law firm Leigh Day is representing them. Essentially the two say that the consultation is inaccessible, and so discriminates against disabled people – and, in turn, is unlawful. They say this is because:
It should have been carried out when the proposals are still at formative stage. However, the decision to close ticket offices appears to have already been taken given statutory redundancy notices have already been issued to staff.
There are multiple, serious flaws with the consultation related to accessibility which mean disabled people will not be able to understand the impact of the proposals or provide a meaningful response.
The time period of 21 days falls far short of what is required to properly consider and respond to these complex and far-reaching proposals; even more so for disabled people given the accessibility issues described above.
The… [government and train operators] have failed to take any steps to avoid or reduce this disadvantage such as extending the consultation period, providing readily accessible alternative formats and proactively consulting with organisations representing disabled people.
Proposals have been on the table for a significant period of time: there is no reason why the short consultation period could not be extended, and the process adjusted in the manner set out above to ensure it is accessible to all members of the public.
The consultation process does not eliminate discrimination or advance equality of opportunity for disabled people for the reasons set out above.
There are no paper copies available at stations (in standard, large-print or easy-read format), and most operators have failed to offer audio, Braille or British Sign Language versions of the consultation.
Operators have made no attempt to reach out to non-internet users, or current non-users of rail. They have also ignored the need to reach out to rail users outside their local area (for whom stations would be a destination, not a point of origin). The short 21-day time period is a key accessibility issue, while the lack of a quantified national overview implies that any Equality Impact Assessments produced by train operators are likely to breach the public sector equality duty held by the DfT [Department for Transport].
Leigh Day has sent the government and four train operators a Letter Before Action. However, Paulley and Leadbetter are not the only ones taking legal action.
Five metro mayors, led by Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham, said the “rushed” public consultation on the changes was not following due process and that the closures would affect thousands of jobs and “erode trust” in the railway.
Section 29 of the Railways Act 2005 sets out a very clear and detailed process which must be followed if a train operating company proposes to close a station or any part of a station. That process has simply not been followed in this instance. It requires a 12-week consultation.
The presence of dependable rail staff is incredibly important for disabled people, including me, who use our often inaccessible railways. The cuts are a fait accompli being pushed through the motions of this sham consultation, with its disingenuous claims and failure to give disabled people the information we need to respond properly. It is appalling that such an important topic is being handled in this manner and the process must be stopped.
People like me, with visual impairments, rely on ticket offices and their staff to help us when we’re travelling and their closure will be a huge blow. To hold a consultation that fails to properly hear the views of those who need assistance the most is woefully inadequate. The government should scrap this unfair process and come up one that gives rail passengers with disabilities an equal say.
Meanwhile, the independent rail regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has also intervened. It has told train operators that they have until Friday 21 July to prove they are compliant with accessibility regulations:
BREAKING: @railandroad has demanded oversight of all train operator destaffing plans. TOCs now have until 21 July to prove they are in compliance.
— Association of British Commuters (@ABCommuters) July 5, 2023
Ticket office closures: an “outrageous” situation
Overall, as the ABC summed up to the Canary:
Doug Paulley and Sarah Leadbetter are doing millions of people a great public service, and it is outrageous that disabled activists have had to undertake this case while stakeholders and regulators stay silent. We are very glad to see that this latest legal action aims directly at the government, who everyone knows are the ones really pulling the strings.
The government has clearly allowed the train operators to rush through the proposals – with chronically ill and disabled people either being the usual afterthought – or they simply don’t care. Either way, it appears that the ticket office closure plans may already be running out of track before they’ve even begun.
The Tory government has greenlit train operators to close the majority of ticket offices at stations. As is usual, bosses will do this claiming it won’t impact on passengers. Of course, the reality is very different – not least for chronically ill, visually impaired, and disabled people. So, one campaigner pulled apart the disastrous ticket office closures live on Channel 4 News.
Ticket office closures: months in the making
As the Canary has been documenting, the Tories began planning to allow train operators to close ticket offices in 2022. However, in recent weeks transport secretary Mark Harper has pressed ‘go’ on the scheme. We only knew this originally thanks to rail passenger group the Association of British Commuters (ABC).
The government has to sign the plan off, as there are regulations governing ticket offices. Of course, the arguments from the Tories and the companies include that only 12% of people buy tickets at offices. Train operators also claim that staff will be redeployed on stations.
However, campaigners, politicians, the public, and trade unions have all kicked off about the plan. The National Union of Rail, Transport, and Maritime Workers (RMT) has warned the Tories and train operators it will not “meekly sit by” and allow them to get away with this. But at the centre of this brewing scandal are chronically ill, disabled, and marginalised people.
Disabled people are not having it
As the Canary previously wrote, ticket office closures will hit disabled people particularly hard. So, on 6 July, campaigns and comms manager at campaign group Transport For All, Katie Pennick, made an argument as to why closing them is such a bad idea – and she made it brilliantly.
disabled people are so much more likely to rely upon the ticket office to make… purchases.
Why, you may ask? Well, apart from physical accessibility issues – as Pennick put it, “having to… trek up and down the platform” for a ticket machine – a lot of disabled people don’t have access to the internet:
23% of disabled people are internet non-users – they don’t access the internet, can’t book online. The alternative is to use ticket vending machines which are also inaccessible to so many disabled people – out of height, for example, for wheelchair users.
Moreover, another issue is – as Pennick pointed out – that the 50% ticket discount for wheelchair users is only available from ticket offices. However, there’s a deeper issue here, too.
Pennick summed up ticket office closures by saying:
We have Victorian infrastructure that is hideously inaccessible, we’ve got steps all over the place, and we need people to get out the manual boarding ramps, to sight-guide people through the station, to provide support for people who need it.
23% disabled people are internet non-users so can’t book online.
Ticket machines are inaccessible.
Staff provide assistance: if not in ticket office how will we find them?
If ticket offices close, there’s nothing to stop train operators from removing staff entirely! pic.twitter.com/1XyZrrvJc6
— Transport for All (@TransportForAll) July 7, 2023
More than one in 10 railways stations in Britain do not allow disabled passengers to “turn up and go” on some or all train services, according to research by campaigners.
The accessibility problems are caused by a combination of “driver-only operation” (DOO) trains and unstaffed stations, which result in a lack of staff to help disabled passengers board their train. Some stations have no step-free access.
At worst, this lack of accessibility can be fatal.
Is a consultation on ticket office closures enough?
A train hit and killed visually impaired man Cleveland Gervais in February 2020. This was at Eden Park station in south London. As lawyers Leigh Day wrote:
He had been waiting for the train to arrive and moved closer to the edge of the platform after its impending arrival was announced because he was unaware of where the edge of the platform was.
Eden Park station did not have tactile paving at the edge of platforms. They’re often yellow paving slabs with raised bumps in them. An inquest into his death concluded that this lack of tactile paving “caused or contributed” to Cleveland’s death. Overall, England’s rail network is already dangerously inaccessible for disabled people. Ticket office closures will only compound the issue.
The government has launched a consultation on the plans. Also, as the Canary previously wrote, the independent rail regulator could intervene to stop the closures. Moreover, Harper and the Tories could stop the plan themselves. Of course, they won’t, as it will save train operators money – and acting in the interests of corporations is the Tories’ usual MO.
It is sadly unlikely the government’s consultation will make any difference to ticket office closures. Successive governments have decimated England’s rail network for decades. Privatisation has been a disaster. And now, we’re seeing the fallout from this: the rail system on its knees, and the Tories and train operators scrabbling around to save face while desperately hoarding their profits.
Disabled people are always expendable to governments – and closing ticket offices will just be the next move in the continued degradation of their most fundamental human rights.
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come on no one’s buying that 
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employment was 75.7%
On the eve of the close of the public consultation on ticket office closures, join the march to 10 Downing Street
Thursday, August 31st 2023 
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23% disabled people are internet non-users so can’t book online.
Ticket machines are inaccessible.
Staff provide assistance: if not in ticket office how will we find them?
If ticket offices close, there’s nothing to stop train operators from removing staff entirely! 
