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Category: Trade Unions

  • Royal Mail ‘Christmas meltdown’ incoming as letters ‘stack up’

    Royal Mail is on the verge of a “Christmas meltdown” due to the backlog in letters and deliveries. That’s the verdict of postal workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU). The warning comes as bosses refused to enter eleventh-hour talks to avert two strikes – one being today, Wednesday 30 November.

    Royal Mail: looking like shits

    The ongoing dispute between the CWU, workers and Royal Mail bosses doesn’t look like it’s ending. After the company made what it called its “final and best offer” – including an insulting 3.5% pay rise – the CWU came back with another offer. This included an 18-month pay deal and a business strategy for Royal Mail. Bosses dug their heels in – with union sources saying CEO Simon Thompson has not even turning up to recent negotiations. Royal Mail have now offered managers bonuses to push through redundancies – with some of these managers being Unite members; putting the CWU’s actions at odds with its fellow union.

    Then, Royal Mail continues its Uberisation – with the company hiring gig economy workers to cover the strikes. Little did the company know that CWU members were onto it – with hundreds of them posing as couriers and registering to do the work:

    So, on 30 November CWU members walked out once again across the country:

    But behind the scenes, boss’s arrogance is starting to seriously impact the business.

    Letters stacking up

    The CWU says workers are “sounding the alarm” over the huge backlog of letters, parcels, and deliveries stacking up. As BBC News reported, Royal Mail bosses are telling workers not to make letters a priority for delivery. One worker said:

    First thing management will say is ‘no overtime allowed and just clear your parcels and leave all the mail’, so that can mean you’ll have half a job left on the deck… This week I’ve had a hospital appointment [letter] on my round that has been there for two days… Unfortunately, you don’t agree with your management but you have to do what they tell you to do.

    Meanwhile, the CWU said in a press release that:

    Small businesses and companies reliant on mail have already expressed grave concerns about the lack of negotiations, with a recent letter to The Times signed by leading business figures rom eBay, the British Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses reminding readers that Royal Mail’s “army of postal workers” are integral to the “real economy”, and calling for a resolution to the dispute.

    The union wrote to Thompson at the weekend, calling for fresh negotiations. However, bosses have so far failed to act on the offer.

    Horrible bosses

    CWU general secretary Dave Ward said:

    Royal Mail bosses are risking a Christmas meltdown because of their stubborn refusal to treat their employees with respect. Postal workers want to get on with serving the communities they belong to, delivering Christmas gifts and tackling the backlog from recent weeks. But they know their value, and they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs, the destruction of their conditions and the impoverishment of their families.

    This can be resolved if Royal Mail begin treating their workers with respect, and meet with the union to resolve this dispute.

    CWU members will walk out again on Thursday 1 December. Given Royal Mail’s intransigence, it looks like this dispute will continue into 2023.

    Featured image via the Evening Standard – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • 30 November is super strike Wednesday

    Wednesday 30 November will see several unions taking national strike action – with one of them holding a rally in central London. However, with more unions planning industrial action, it could be the first of many ‘super strike Wednesdays’.

    Super strike Wednesday

    Thanks to campaign group Strike Map UK, we have a clear idea of what industrial action is happening on 30 November:

    There are three main unions on strike that day. First up, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) is continuing its long-running action against Royal Mail over dire pay and terms and conditions. The company has made inadequate offers to workers – yet still, the CWU said on Sunday 27 November that it offered to talk with Royal Mail once more to try and avert strikes. However, as of 12pm on Tuesday 29 November, nothing had changed – so super strike Wednesday will see over 110,000 Royal Mail staff walk out. The CWU has also announced a day of strike action in London on 9 December:

    The next union striking on 30 November is the National Education Union (NEU). Its members in 77 sixth form colleges are walking out over pay. As the NEU wrote on its website:

    the government is sitting on the cash that should be in colleges. Since the government started attacking colleges in 2010, our pay has fallen in real terms by 20% – that’s before the current inflation crisis.

    The NEU also noted that the colleges themselves weren’t innocent:

    colleges [have] benefitted from an average increase in student numbers of 5%. This came as a consequence of the Covid crisis and is now feeding through in increased funding for the current year. On top of this, a change in the funding mechanism will further increase per-student funding by 8.5%. If there are any affordability issues, colleges must demand adequate funding from the Government.

    So, sixth forms across England will see teachers walk out on 30 November. Strike Map UK has logged where the strikes are happening:

    Then, the University and College Union (UCU) is also striking on the same day – but it has an additional piece of action going on.

    National rallies and more unions walking out

    UCU members have been walking out over pay, pensions, and terms and conditions. As the Canary previously reported:

    70,000 staff at 150 universities walked out on 24 November over pay, pensions, and working conditions. Bosses have cut workers’ pay by around 25% since 2009, while they also want to slash their pensions by 35% too.

    The union also held a strike on 25 November. Now, not only is it holding a third a third strike on 30 November, the union is coordinating the action by holding a rally in central London. Crucially, other trade union leaders like the CWU’s Dave Ward will be speaking in solidarity:

    A UCU campaign image

    Once again, Strike Map UK has listed all the UCU action locations – check it out here.

    For the rest of the year, and heading into 2023, it’s likely we’ll see increasing numbers of these super strike days as more and more unions walk out. However, a question still remains as to why trade unions are not properly coordinating for a general strike.

    Given the sheer number of sectors currently involved in industrial action, it would seem like the logical next step to get unions to take action on the same day. Let’s hope this is something in discussion behind closed doors.

    Featured image via UCU

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • No, the Telegraph, it’s not just the ‘bloated public sector’ striking

    Right-wing shitrag the Telegraph ran an article on Sunday 27 November criticising NHS workers for striking. Of course, in reality it was little more than a poorly-written piece of gammon catnip with a clear pro-privatisation bias. Moreover, the article was devoid of actual facts.

    Telegraph: bloated with bullshit

    Economics editor at GB News Liam Halligan wrote the hit-piece on public sector workers for the Telegraph, with a predictably divisive headline:

    The bloated public sector is showing its contempt for taxpayers with plans to strike

    Demands for double-digit pay rises fail to recognise the suffering felt by private workers

    The article comes as various NHS workers are preparing to strike. In the piece, Halligan admitted that:

    Yes, hard-working front-line state employees deserve a decent pay rise.

    However, his overall points were that:

    • Workers are asking for too much money.
    • Higher-paid public sector workers shouldn’t be asking for more money at all.
    • Public sector workers have had it easier than private sector ones.

    Halligan wrote a clear piece of propaganda, pitting worker against worker across a thinly-veiled pro-privatisation narrative:

    Twisting the truth

    Of course, the article was also littered with holes and mistruths – as one reader pointed out in the comments:

    A reader comment which reads "A shameful piece of dim-witted click bait with distorted facts. Comparing public and private sector pay makes limited sense - a lot of public sector made of up of nurses and teachers who had to undergo professional qualifications - compared based on qualification not simplistically public vs private sector. Also what has been wilfully neglected is the pay erosion of many years of subinflationary pay rises over the last decade which does not match the private sector. Honestly telegraph has become lame low brow clickbate rather than any articulate, accurate balanced jounralism. Oh yes and the much touted house price 'crash' that telegrpah has totued for years..... Liam - either you sacrficed your journalistic integrity on orders to write this, or your IQ is <100. Cancelling subscription, found Times far more interesting"

    For example, Halligan claimed that:

    Average public sector wages were £579 per week in 2021, compared to £536 in the private sector.

    Here, he has cherry-picked one figure. As BBC News wrote, private sector pay is actually more than public sector pay when you take bonuses into account. Moreover, when regular public sector pay is adjusted to factor in demographics like gender and ethnicity, it is lower as well. Plus, as BBC News wrote:

    public-sector workers are more likely to be highly educated professionals who command higher wages in the labour market.

    So, overall Halligan’s article was a load of BS opinion pretending to be economic analysis. However, the GB News hack also missed another critical point in his hit-piece: that private sector workers are also striking.

    Private sector strikes

    For example, nearly all of Jacob’s Cream Crackers’ workers have recently gone on indefinite strike. As the Guardian reported, bosses have offered staff at the Aintree factory repeated real-terms pay cuts. So workers have walked out, and Jacob’s has chosen to move production of crackers to Portugal. However, crucially, the Guardian noted that:

    Workers from rival biscuit maker Fox’s recently secured a 13.5% pay rise over two years after threatening strike action backed by the Unite union while those at Heinz’s condiment factory in Telford won an 11% pay rise this week.

    Meanwhile, as the Canary recently reported, cleaning, catering, and housekeeping staff in the private health sector have won repeated pay rises after they protested and campaigned.

    Then, two of the biggest private sector strikes Halligan failed to mention in the Telegraph were that of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) against Royal Mail, and the National Union of Rail, Transport and Maritime Workers (RMT) against privatised rail companies. Moreover, charity sector workers are also striking, with staff at homelessness organisation Shelter walking out over pay.

    Blood vessel-bursting gammon-fodder

    Of course, readers of the Telegraph didn’t consider this, with one person even commenting the private sector ‘can’t strike’:

    A comment that reads: "Once again private sector who can’t strike and haven’t a gold plated pension being made to pay for idle,inefficient public sector.We need a right wing revolution in 2024"

    Telegraph readers will digest Halligan’s very obvious divide and conquer propaganda and burst a blood vessel over the “bloated public sector”. But in reality, it doesn’t matter if workers are in the public, private, or charity sectors. Everyone is feeling the effects of the Tories’ capitalist race-to-the-bottom agenda. And no amount of poorly-written drivel from Halligan will change that.

    Featured image via puffernutterlou – YouTube and the Telegraph – screengrab 

    By Steve Topple

  • Letters to the Canary: Royal Mail, Scotland, and Don’t Pay UK

    The Canary is excited to launch our members’ letters page. This is where we publish people’s responses to the news, politics, or anything else they want to get off their chest. However, this is a members-only benefit! If you’d like to subscribe monthly to the Canary – starting from just £1 – and get a letter published, then you can do that here:

    Subscribe here

    This week’s letters

    This week we’ve got an open letter from a postal worker, debate around Scottish independence, and some thoughts on Don’t Pay UK.

    Royal Mail

    Hi guys, postie here,

    As you have seen over the past few days, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) has announced more strikes over the Christmas period. We do not want to do that.

    I myself have a one-year-old baby, a mortgage, am the only earner in my household, and have lost hundreds of pounds because of the strikes.

    I love my job at Royal Mail, and wish to continue loving it.

    But as you have seen, the CEO of the company does not care about us, and does not care about the great service we provide. Our terms and conditions are already being broken across the country. We are being told we are not working hard enough, not working fast enough – but I am doing 50, 60, 70 hours a week. How much more can I do? Royal Mail gave away £500m in bonuses to shareholders and then announced a £219m loss. They are hiring 11,000 agency staff at a higher rate than what posties get. Yet they want to make 10k redundancies? Management have been offered £1k bribes to break the strike and work through it, while also getting food vouchers and extra holidays. But Simon Thompson CEO is saying there is no money?

    Now they have told Parcelforce members – who are struggling financially – that they will receive a £300 payment if they break strikes over Christmas. Yet they are telling the public that they want an agreement with the CWU, and that they are in deep talks. Yet all their actions are showing they are not:

    They want to change our sickness terms so we do not get sick pay for first three days of being off sick. They want us to do silly hours of 9-5. But if we cannot finish our duty in those hours, we cannot cut off until we deliver every parcel and letter – and we will not get paid for going over. They are telling you that letters are just as important as parcels. But we are being told in our offices ‘don’t worry about the letters, just get all the parcels done and bring letters back for next day if you cannot finish’. Postal workers are not allowed to do overtime during strikes to help cover the £150-£200 they are taking out on a weekly basis.

    It’s not even about a pay rise for us. It’s the terms that make this job, this service, invaluable for the country. They are literally ripping up our terms and conditions and nothing is getting done about it.

    They want to destroy Royal Mail. They don’t care about us. They care about profits.

    I don’t know if you will read this. I don’t know if you will publish it.

    All I know is Royal Mail is a national service that is being destroyed by people who will be leaving in a couple of years.

    Anonymous

    Don’t Pay UK

    We need enough ‘flame-proof’ people to withhold payment from 1 December on behalf of all those who cannot: pre-pay meter folk, younger people worried about their manufactured ‘credit scores’ (a ruse to keep people scared), and those who fell for the ‘install a smart meter to save the planet’ when those same bits of kit will enable energy companies to remotely disconnect!

    I am off to a training session in Manchester so I will know my rights. I consider myself flame proof: I have old-style meters, I will not give permission for anyone to enter my home; at 67 I have no need to worry about my ‘credit score’, and as a pensioner I am considered ‘vulnerable’ so cannot be cut off from October to March!

    Caroline Wilkinson, grandmother of 6

    Scottish independence

    There’s a lot of confusion on whether Scots want independence. It is true, as your article states, that a majority of independence-supporting “lawmakers” were elected in Scotland at the last election, but anti-independence candidates from Labour, Tory, and LibDem parties received more votes in total. The SNP benefited enormously from first-past-the post, and Sturgeon is relying on this in her nonsensical claim that the next general election will be an independence referendum.

    The Supreme Court was right to state that Scotland was not an oppressed nation (unlike, say, Ireland) when it joined the union. Scottish regiments provided the backbone of the imperialist British army across the globe. But if the Scottish government votes for a referendum on independence, then it should be allowed to have one, and socialists should then campaign vigorously against the dead-end of nationalism.

    Everything that can be devolved to Holyrood should be, which is the point of “devo-max”, a concept that is popular with many Scots, and that is why Alex Salmond was so desperate to keep it off the ballot paper in the last referendum in 2014. Self-determination, yes; nationalism, no. The SNP thrives under a Conservative government in Westminster, which is why it refused to support a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson in 2019, as it could’ve led to Jeremy Corbyn becoming interim Prime Minister.

    David Carter, Dunfermline, Fife

    Want to get involved? Support the Canary here and we’ll publish your letters, too! Terms and conditions of publication apply.

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Mick Lynch has been rinsing TV reporters as the RMT prepares to go to war with bosses

    Rail, Transport and Maritime union (RMT) general secretary Mick Lynch is back on the war path. The straight-talking trade union leader did another round of the TV studios ahead of planned strikes. The results were predictable: posh, smug TV presenters left gaping.

    Strikes have been set for multiple days in December and January. The Morning Star reported:

    The warning came after the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operating companies, refused “without any credible explanation to make promised written proposals” which could have ended the six-month dispute, [RMT] said on Monday.

    They added:

    The walkouts, due to hit on December 13, 14, 16 and 17 and January 3, 4, 6 and 7, will take place alongside an overtime ban across the railways between December 18 and January 2, RMT confirmed.

    Liars!

    Among Lynch’s victims was shrieking Tory rent-a-gob Richard Madeley, to whom Lynch gave both barrels after being asked if the government was simply lying:

    One attack line being used against the workers of the RMT is that they are trying to wreck Christmas. Earlier in the week, Lynch took down a Daily Mail journalist who called him “Mick Grinch”. Lynch responded by reminding those present that the Daily Mail was deeply fond of Oswald Mosley’s fascist pro-Hitler Blackshirts, endorsing them in the 1930s:

    Elsewhere, journalist and satirist David Osland pointed out that while right-wing journalists liked to attack Lynch over his pay, they themselves weren’t doing much to justify their (much larger) salaries when they encountered him:

    And even BBC Question Time – supposedly a flagship debate show – let its mask slip to reveal its anti-working-class politics. In a contender for reach of the century, an audience question tried to conflate the RMT with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic:

    In fact, it’s notable how many media outlets follow in the footsteps of the Daily Mail when anything about workers being treated properly comes up. Fortunately, Mick Lynch was happy to point this out when one particularly inept interviewer suggested that the RMT, rather than fat cat bosses, were holding the public to ransom:

    Festive feelings

    There’s few better sights than that of Mick Lynch destroying the media representatives of the boss class. We can only hope the RMT get their pay and conditions met in full for the sacrifices they are making on behalf of the public. That would be a worthy Christmas present.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Steve Eason, cropped to 770 x 402, licenced under CC BY-SA 2.0.

    By Joe Glenton

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The right-wing media is already rabid about striking nurses

    The Royal College of Nurses (RCN) has announced the first two dates its members will be striking on. Predictably, the right-wing media has already worked itself up into a cliché-driven frenzy – with the fear factor headlines coming thick and fast.

    Nurses: everybody out

    As the Canary previously reported, the RCN’s industrial action is over appalling pay and working conditions. Successive Tory governments have slashed nurses’ real-terms pay by around £4,300 a year since 2010. This year, the government has capped NHS pay rises at 4% for most staff, while inflation is over 11%. So, the RCN balloted its members on strike action – and they overwhelmingly voted ‘yes’.

    The union has now said the first walk outs will be on Thursday 15 and Tuesday 20 December. As the Canary previously reported, the RCN will ensure that it protects life-critical services such as A&E. The union said in a statement that:

    Strike action will happen in phases, meaning more strike dates could be announced after initial action in December, if governments fail to enter into formal negotiations. They have the power and means to stop strikes at any point but have chosen to go down this route.

    Not all members at employers where there is a mandate to strike will be called to strike on these first two dates. Phase one could be just the beginning of a longer period of strike action.

    The strikes are the RCN’s first ever national walk out. So, the right-wing media’s response has been true-to-form for trade union coverage.

    ‘Sick grannies stuck in hospital’

    The Telegraph ran with the headline:

    Nurse strike risks elderly stuck in hospital for Christmas as union targets key dates

    It noted that the RCN strikes could mean backlogs in discharging older people from hospital. The Telegraph quoted one NHS source as saying:

    it’s inevitable that more people will be left in pain and discomfort, and it will be harder to transfer elderly people out of hospital.

    Of course, the idea that the NHS is transferring older people out of hospital in a timely manner anyway is a nonsense. As the Telegraph itself reported in October record numbers of people are stuck in hospital when they’re well enough to be at home – because of the government-created crisis in social care. So, if you think nurses fighting for their rights will stop your sick granny coming home for Christmas – then wake up. She was unlikely to be coming home, anyway.

    ‘Ruining YOUR Christmas!’

    Then, the Daily Mail was equally rabid (don’t click the link!). It too ran with the ‘save granny’s Christmas’ line – but threw in a big old ‘CANCER’ just to stoke people’s fear even more:

    NHS nurse strike threatens Christmas chaos: Fears for cancer appointments and elderly patients stuck in hospital over festive period as thousands of nurses walk out for two days in historic national strike

    • Health insiders have warned the NHS disruption this winter will cost lives
    • NHS bosses say the health service faces ‘its most challenging winter ever’
    • Health Secretary Steve Barclay said that he ‘deeply regrets’ the walk-outs

    Of course, like the Telegraph, the Daily Mail omits the fact that cancer treatment waiting times are dire due to successive Tory government cuts – and that these times have been a problem for years.

    A nurse says…

    Nurse Holly Turner from campaign group NHS Workers Say No told the Canary:

    Within the first few hours of strike dates for nurses being announced, the right-wing attacks have begun. Lies and spin, with attempts to demonise us and turn public opinion against hardworking staff by invoking fear in response to our action.

    The focus should be around WHY nursing staff have been forced to take this decision. The highest waiting lists on record and a national staffing and bed crisis are not our fault, we have been raising the alarm for years with the government refusing to listen. It is not right that nurses are being driven into poverty, whilst working days of unpaid overtime a month in a desperate attempt to plug the gap of 135,000 vacancies across the service.

    Turner also had a rallying-cry for fellow NHS workers:

    We are urging all staff to stay angry, stay focused, and stay united as the attacks on each other and our profession heat up. Striking staff will be seen on the right side of history, not the right winger media and commentators, who are enabling the decimation of our national health service, and costing lives in the process.

    Nurses would not carry out a national strike for the first time in their union’s history without good reason. Their fight is for all of us who use the NHS. While the right-wing media uses tired tropes against industrial action, the reality is the NHS is broken – and its staff, such as nurses, are desperately trying to fix it. Striking is a last resort – but that’s the position nurses are now at.

    Featured image via Unsplash/Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Strike coverage from the mainstream media is predictably shit

    By Ralph Underhill

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • BBC News has been ripped a new one over its coverage of UCU strikes

    On Thursday 24 November, BBC News ran an article on the University and College Union (UCU) strike. It went down like a lead balloon with staff and people on social media alike. This is because BBC News was clearly promoting nonsense propaganda over pay – at the expense of striking workers.

    The Canary has been following the UCU’s industrial action. As we previously reported, 70,000 staff at 150 universities walked out on 24 November over pay, pensions, and working conditions. Bosses have cut workers’ pay by around 25% since 2009, while they also want to slash their pensions by 35% too. All this has led to the UCU and its members striking.

    Workers were out across the UK:

    Other trade unions showed their support for the UCU:

    Pack of lies

    Of course, despite this widespread support, our public service broadcaster couldn’t possibly have given balance in its reporting. Instead, BBC News covered the strike with what many people are claiming are a pack of lies.

    BBC News ran an article on Wednesday 23 November with the headline:

    University Strikes: Will my lectures be cancelled?

    And, true to form, the BBC changed the headline  – and it didn’t go down well:

    However, what the BBC didn’t change were its claims about university pay:

    Film studies lecturer Louis Bayman explained that the infographic from the BBC didn’t even get the basics right:

    Another Twitter user had a wry laugh, given that the BBC doesn’t seem to consider how academics are often overloaded and overstretched:

    The idea that research assistants could make almost £32k a year was laughable to anyone who’s actually worked in higher education:

    Solidarity needed

    As the latest UCU strikes kick off, this scandalous reporting from the BBC shows exactly why those of us who believe in workers’ rights need to stick together. Mainstream media can cover up the truth as much as it likes, but workers on picket lines are there to defend their rights and push back against the BBC’s lies. It’s simply not true to present academics’ wages as so high when we know that it’s actually university bosses who take home the big money. Instead, workers are the ones who are overworked. It’s more important than ever to follow the example of union leaders like Mick Lynch and show solidarity with workers no matter which union is on strike – we’re all in this together.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Evening Standard

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • ‘Armageddon’ at Royal Mail as CWU warns the end is nigh

    Postal workers are warning the public of the “end of Royal Mail as we know it”. 115,000 employees will strike on Thursday 24 November and Black Friday (25 November). The union has warned that Royal Mail is inflicting “Armageddon” on workers, as the company has essentially walked away from talks – delivering what it’s branded as a “final and best” offer. However, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) basically said the whole thing stinks.

    Royal Mail: a catastrophic impasse of its own making

    The story of the dispute between the corporate capitalist Royal Mail and its workers and their union has had various twists and turns. For example, Royal Mail has threatened 6,000 redundancies and made legal threats. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn and other socialist MPs supported the CWU – while Labour leader Keir Starmer turned the other cheek. However, it now appears that the dispute is at a catastrophic impasse – thanks to Royal Mail. It’s one which could see this industrial action roll-on ad infinitum.

    The CWU said in a press release that Royal Mail had made a last-ditch offer to workers; its “final and best offer”. Overall, the CWU noted the proposals included:

    • Turning Royal Mail Group into a gig economy-style parcel courier, reliant on casual labour.
    • Thousands of inevitable compulsory redundancies.
    • A wholly inadequate, non-backdated 3.5% pay increase.
    • Demands that the CWU no longer formally supports workers who have submitted employment tribunals for unlawful pay deductions during strikes.
    • Demands that the CWU be removed from the workplace and transformed into a company union to help management implement plans.
    • Later start and finishing times that will see Royal Mail abandoning the AM delivery period.
    • Cuts to sick pay.
    • Removal of Sunday premium payment.
    • The introduction of technology that will monitor postal workers every minute of the day.

    Obviously, none of this is acceptable to the CWU and its members. Not least in this is the derisory 3.5% pay increase – when inflation is running at 11.1%.

    CWU: not having it

    So, the CWU said in response that it’s arguing for the following proposals to help resolve the dispute. These include:

    • An improved 18 month pay deal including back pay for all workers.
    • A guarantee of no compulsory redundancies.
    • The restoration of previously agreed processes for voluntary redundancies.
    • A joint review of all agreements and the relationship between the CWU and Royal Mail Group.
    • Re-establishing the right of CWU reps to be fully involved and able to negotiate on local revisions.
    • An alternative business strategy that would see Royal Mail Group use its competitive advantage to grow as a company, instead of becoming a gig economy parcel employer.

    CWU general secretary Dave Ward said:

    We are disappointed that instead of reaching a compromise to avoid major disruption, Royal Mail have chosen to pursue such an aggressive strategy. We will not accept that 115,000 Royal Mail workers – the people who kept us connected during the pandemic, and made millions in profit for bosses and shareholders – take such a devastating blow to their livelihoods.

    These proposals spell the end of Royal Mail as we know it, and its degradation from a national institution into an unreliable, Uber-style gig economy company.

    “Armageddon”

    Ward continued:

    Make no mistake about it: British postal workers are facing an Armageddon moment. We urge every member of the public to stand with their postie, and back them like never before.

    The CWU action was always going to be divisive when you have a company like Royal Mail – which is arrogant and hyper-capitalistic. However, it now looks like it will move into the territory of a long-running industrial action with no end in sight – one that will test workers’ resilience to the core. This is why, as Ward said, every member of the public needs to “stand with their postie” until the bitter end – whatever that may look like.

    Featured image via the CWU – YouTube screenshot

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The UCU just summed up the problem with universities

    The University and College Union (UCU) and its members are preparing to strike over pay, pensions, and working conditions. If you were wondering what the issue is with the UK’s university system, then the union has an answer: bosses and the government treat it like a cash cow.

    UCU: everybody out

    As the Canary previously reported, over 70,000 staff at 150 universities are taking three days strike action by the end of the year. It’s over various issues. For example:

    university bosses have cut workers’ real-terms pay by around 25% since 2009. The pension fund that manages university workers’ retirement pots has also been acting appallingly – cutting up to 35% off people’s final pension income.

    University workers also say that the sector is rife with discrimination around pay, zero hours contracts, and unmanageable workloads. So, the UCU and its members have had enough. They are striking on Thursday 24, Friday 25 and Wednesday 30 November. Thanks to Strikemap, there’s a handy interactive map of where the picket lines will be – so people can go and support workers:

    A map of the UCU strikes

    The UCU has created a ‘pledge’ for people to sign, to show their support as well. You can sign it here. Meanwhile, university bosses aren’t happy with the strikes. Some of them are apparently threatening to deduct 100% of workers’ wages if they take action short of a strike – like working to rule. Ironic, really, given what the UCU has exposed about university bosses’ finances.

    Bosses’ cash cow

    On Twitter, one user asked UCU general secretary Jo Grady:

    Where does all the cash our kids are paying for university education go? What’s the average fulltime equivalent of students a tutor teaches? Somebody somewhere must be making a mint from education in this country.

    The union had a concise response. It said that, among other things, the university industry hold £40bn in reserves in the bank:

    Like another Twitter user, you’d be forgiven for asking why students being burdened with debt when universities make so much money:

    24 November will be a busy day on the picket lines – the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) is taking action against Royal Mail on the same date. Meanwhile, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has also announced further strikes across December and January. The corporatisation of all these industries – be it via privatisation or profit motivation – plays its part in the workers’ strikes. This affects all of us, too – so solidarity with these workers is crucial.

    Featured image via the UCU

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Cleaners have successfully challenged outsourcing at London Bridge Hospital

    Radical trade union the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain declared a victory on 21 November. The union said that cleaners, catering and housekeeping staff at the private London Bridge Hospital have had success in their campaign against unequal conditions for outsourced workers.

    The union tweeted:

    Victory against outsourcing

    London Bridge Hospital is run by Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), which is the world’s largest private healthcare company. The US healthcare giant began operating in the UK in the 1990s. It now runs 30 health facilities here, including private hospitals. The company is pushing privatisation in both the US and the UK. HCA and its shareholders have made donations to both the Conservative Party and to Labour leader Keir Starmer. Meanwhile, in the US, the company also has a track record of connections to pro-privatisation politicians.

    The cleaners – who are mostly migrant workers – have been holding protests and organising against London Bridge Hospital’s unequal treatment of its outsourced staff, who are employed by multinational company Compass. These workers are paid significantly less than those directly employed by HCA.

    The union said that the move comes after whistleblowing by workers and multiple demonstrations outside HCA offices. Bosses have informed workers that outsourced staff will be moved in-house from 1 April 2023.

    “A big step”

    Marino, who is an outsourced cleaner at the hospital, said that the move is “a big step”:

    Despite risking our lives during the pandemic, we were treated like second-class citizens. We were forced to take on extra work and faced bad management from subcontractors who refused to listen to our safety concerns. Moving in-house is a big step forward in improving our working conditions and we expect HCA to give us the same terms and conditions as our colleagues.

    Marino added:

    But with the rising cost of living, we are still struggling to support ourselves. We want to build a future for our families, so we will continue to organise and fight for the pay we deserve.

    An inspiration for other outsourced workers

    Henry Chango Lopez, the general secretary of the IWGB, emphasised the importance of the cleaners’ victory for other outsourced workers in the UK:

    By coming together and campaigning for an end to this injustice, they have shown outsourced workers across the UK that workers have the power to bring an end to the scourge of outsourcing. We expect HCA to ensure that workers receive the same pay and conditions as directly employed workers.

    The campaign has already won the workers an increase in wages earlier this year, from £9.69 an hour to £10.50 an hour. However this is still well below the London Living Wage, so workers are continuing to organise and are demanding £12.50 an hour and full sick pay.

    The IWGB is calling for people to join their ‘solidarity squad’ to support workers’ future actions for better pay and conditions.

    Featured image via IWGB (with permission)

    By Tom Anderson

  • Royal Mail’s unacceptable offer leaves workers with no choice but to strike

    Royal Mail has thrown strike negotiations with the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) into chaos. It made an offer which the CWU said it couldn’t agree to. However, Royal Mail also issued an ultimatum: agree to the deal or it walks away from negotiations. Now the CWU is being forced to mobilise even further.

    Royal Mail: an unacceptable offer

    The CWU issued a press release late on 19 November. It said it had:

    been informed by Royal Mail Group CEO Simon Thompson that negotiations to find a settlement to the long running dispute on pay and change will end on Monday. This comes after the company presented documents to the union today (Saturday 19th November) with a deadline of Monday to agree to them.

    The press release followed an earlier tweet published by the CWU. It said that the documents, which were the Royal Mail’s updated offer to end the dispute, were something it “simply cannot agree to”:

    In a Facebook post, the CWU explained the situation more.

    Ridiculous demands for workers

    The union said Royal Mail’s offer made it “clear” it wanted to turn the company “into a gig economy style parcel courier, resourced over time through a self-employed model”. The CWU noted it also said:

    Royal Mail Group have refused to put in place any commitments whatsoever on job security and we believe they will now move ahead with compulsory redundancies.

    Then, the CWU detailed specifics of Royal Mail’s latest offer:

    • The pay offer remains inadequate and the 3.5% is not backdated.
    • Pay for Parcelforce – Nil.
    • Pay for Fleet – 3% – not backdated, alongside a demand to outsource Fleet work, leading to compulsory redundancies…
    • Ill health and sick pay slashed.
    • Allowances slashed.
    • Removal of Sunday premium payment.
    • A combined proposal on flexibility and seasonal variations that means the company will be in total control of when you work and when you don’t.
    • Later start and finishing times that will see the company abandoning the AM delivery period, forever denying growth opportunities and new products and services being developed.
    • Technology being used to bare down on and monitor postal workers every minute of the day….

    The union has also claimed that the company is demanding that:

    • the CWU withdraws support for members who have submitted employment tribunals for unlawful pay deductions during recent periods of strike action.
    • …local representatives and members must fully accept their revision proposals without any opportunity for these to be negotiated at local level.
    • …the CWU be removed from the workplace and will only recognise us in the future as a company union – there only to help introduce their plans.

    Meanwhile, Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson has been mocking the CWU and its members on internal social media:

    Royal Mail strikes will continue

    The CWU has said that it will be consulting its members in the days leading up to Thursday 24 November’s strike. Plus, the union will be issuing a counter-proposal to Royal Mail. A CWU spokesperson said:

    Millions of customers and thousands of businesses are relying on the postal service. 120,000 postal workers are desperate to protect their terms and conditions. The next strikes are on Thursday – for the company to walk away from talks three days before that is reckless. We call on the government, media and all businesses to demand Royal Mail takes a serious attitude to these negotiations and matches the unions commitment to reach an agreement.

    As of 11am on 21 November the situation hadn’t changed, and it appears that the CWU and Royal Mail are now at an impasse. Thompson’s arrogance, as well as the company’s clear agenda, means workers either submit to their unacceptable demands or continue to strike. It’s clear which option the CWU and its members will take – and rightly so.

    Featured image via the CWU – YouTube 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Royal Mail staff are not the only postal workers striking: walk outs at the Post Office are coming

    Royal Mail staff have been hitting the headlines, and more strikes from the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) are imminent. However, they’re not the only postal workers striking – Post Office staff are also now set to take industrial action.

    Post Office strikes

    The CWU and its Post Office workers have been in an ongoing dispute with bosses for most of 2022. It’s over dire pay offers from the company. The dispute centres around workers rejecting a pay freeze for 2021/22. They also dismissed a pay offer of 5% with effect from 1 April 2022, plus a £500 one-off lump sum. The first strike was in May, followed by more actions over the summer. The last strike was at the end of September.

    As the CWU wrote on 29 September:

    With a six-month period since the result of the strike ballot (28th March) having been reached yesterday (28th September), the union is unable to call any further action until a new statutory ballot has taken place and the CWU will now being [sic] this process once again. Although, the new trade dispute will encompass pay years for both 2021 and 2022. The door of course remains open for the Post Office leadership to settle the dispute by putting forward an improved offer.

    Now, the CWU have held that ballot – and once again, workers have voted to strike.

    Everybody out

    The union said in a press release that Post Office workers:

    have voted in a national reballot by 91.24% on a 65.21% turnout to continue their industrial action. There was also a 92.36% positive vote (also on a 65.21% turnout) for “action short of a strike”, which in essence means working to rule (no overtime, and so on).

    So, what could this look like? As the Guardian reported, a previous Post Office strike in August involved:

    Staff who work in crown offices – the larger branches often sited on high streets – plus supply chain employees and admin grade workers.

    Around 1,500 Post Office workers were involved – and it’s likely that similar numbers will walk out again.

    “Betrayal”

    CWU acting deputy general secretary (postal) Andy Furey said in a press release:

    This dispute has always been about a company having respect for dedicated public servants who, as key workers, provided unprecedented customer service during the pandemic. The determination of these people hasn’t swayed, and nor has their sense of betrayal. They won’t accept their living standards being smashed by people running a service that generated tens of millions of pounds in profit out of our members’ efforts. There is more than enough money for a reasonable pay rise – implementing this real-terms pay cut has always been a management choice, not a necessity. We urge management to see sense, get into real negotiations and cut a fair deal to avert these strikes.

    The CWU has not said when the strikes will be – except that they’ll happen next year. It’s a damning indictment of the UK’s postal service that both Royal Mail and Post Office workers may well be striking at around the same time. That’s what happens, though, when successive governments privatise everything they can get their hands on – with the end result being a worsening service and terrible conditions for staff.

    Featured image via David Anstiss – Wikimedia, resized to 770×403 under licence CC BY-SA 2.0

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The CWU was right, as Royal Mail continues its ‘gross mismanagement’

    The Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) has been in a protracted dispute with Royal Mail. It’s over pay and working conditions – but also about the direction the company is taking. CWU general secretary Dave Ward has called it the “gross mismanagement”. Now, it looks like he was right – as Royal Mail has just allowed notorious gig economy employer Evri to move into its business territory, just as it reported losses of £219m.

    The CWU: an ongoing dispute

    The ongoing dispute between CWU members and Royal Mail has seen various twists and turns. The company first proposed a paltry pay offer of 5.5% – but that was dependent on staff agreeing to worsening terms and conditions. The workers refused this – so Royal Mail said it would make 6,000 people redundant and strip 4,000 more jobs on top.

    Then, it offered workers a 7% pay rise – still far below the rate of inflation. However, the CWU still wouldn’t budge. So, Royal Mail took a legal route, which briefly meant the CWU had to pull some strikes. This didn’t last long, and workers are now back to walk outs again.

    The union will now continue strikes planned for Thursday 24, Friday 25, Wednesday 30 November, and Thursday 1 December. The CWU said in a press release that while it recognises that progress in recent negotiations has been made in some aspects, Royal Mail management failed to put any commitments into writing. Meanwhile, the chaos at the company continues.

    Evri: an example of “gross mismanagement”?

    Ward said in a press release:

    No business making record profits of £758m in May this year should now be losing over £1m a day in a matter of weeks without gross mismanagement. The truth is that the current senior leadership of Royal Mail have been treating employees, union representatives or future investors with a lack of integrity and transparency. Dramatic errors of judgement have been made, like announcing 10,000 job losses to threatening striking workers, abandoning previous agreements and handing over £567m to shareholders while neglecting the pay of employees who generated that profit.

    A perfect example of Royal Mail’s gross mismanagement has come to light. As the Daily Mail reported (please don’t click the link), former Royal Mail business the Post Office has done a deal with Evri. That’s the company formerly known as Hermes, which did a rebrand and name-change to try and clean-up its poor reputation. In March 2022, the Post Office ended an exclusive deal it had with Royal Mail, where only the latter would deliver parcels. Now, the Post Office has struck a deal with Evri. It will be trialling a self-service from the company in 50 branches. As the Daily Mail noted, this is the first time in 360 years that the Post Office has got anyone other than Royal Mail to deliver parcels.

    Evri (when it was Hermes) was a notorious gig economy employer. Workers had to take it to court in 2018 to win proper employment rights – and even after this, still had to fight for further, basic protections. Its workers are still classed as “self-employed plus” – and only won pension and parental leave rights this year.

    Royal Mail: “reckless”

    Overall, the question remains: how has Royal Mail stood by while the Post Office has outsourced delivery services for the first time in 360 years?

    Ward said in a press release:

    Many things remain unexplained, like giving up Royal Mail’s household name in favour of ‘International Distributions Services’, refusing the union’s offer to escalate negotiations and ignoring the unrivalled network of Royal Mail Group to create new financial opportunities. We firmly believe these reckless decisions have been informed by power struggles in the boardroom, in the full knowledge of a potential future takeover bid – backed up by the government’s green-lighting of VESA to increase their shareholding.

    Meanwhile, on Thursday 17 November, Royal Mail reported six-month losses of £219m. It blamed the strikes (naturally), and also a drop in the number of parcel deliveries. So, the company looks even more “reckless”,  as Ward said, letting Evri start to scoop up even more of its parcel business via the Post Office.

    “Couldn’t care less”

    As Ward summed up:

    Postal workers need a deal that works for them, the communities they love and the industry they loyally serve, not one that covers up for CEO and boardroom failures. The CWU – or this country – will never accept Royal Mail becoming another Uber-style gig economy courier. 32 million households and countless small businesses are relying on this dispute to be over for the Christmas period. The pattern of behaviour displayed by Royal Mail top brass suggests they couldn’t care less about resolving any of this.

    The Post Office deal with Evri sums up bosses’ gross mismanagement at Royal Mail. The company is floundering while bosses make knee-jerk decisions – even considering begging the government to let it deliver letters just five days a week. Royal Mail has become a clusterfuck. It’s little wonder, then, that workers have had enough.

    Featured image via Lionel Allorge – Wikimedia, resized to 770×403 pixels under licence CC BY 3.0, and Evri – screengrab 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • We’re running out of trade unions to start new strikes

    As the UK is gripped by the Tory-induced cost of living crisis, another trade union has announced a series of strikes. This begs the question: are there any workers left who aren’t taking industrial action?

    A winter of severe discontent… for the Tories

    In recent days, we’ve had announcements from the Royal College of Nurses (RCN), the University and College Union (UCU), London Unite bus drivers and Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union that their members will strike. The PCS union action must be particularly galling for the Tories, as government civil servants will be walking out.

    Other unions are still balloting their members – including teachers, bus drivers elsewhere in the country via Unite, and Unison’s NHS division. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is currently running a consultative ballot for its members. Meanwhile, strikes from the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) and National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) continue.

    And now, a rail union has announced further strikes, too.

    Trade unions: another walk out

    The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) has said its train drivers will be striking across the UK. It said in a statement that:

    ASLEF members at 12 companies – Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; CrossCountry; East Midlands Railway; Great Western Railway; Greater Anglia; London North Eastern Railway; London Overground; Northern Trains; Southeastern; Transpennine Express, and West Midlands Trains – will strike on 26 November.

    As with many of the strikes, ASLEF members will walk out again over pay. Train operators are giving workers a real-terms pay cut due to spiralling inflation and companies’ greed. The union previously held strikes on days across the year. However, many of the train companies have refused to budge. So, the strikes will continue.

    When’s the general strike, guys?

    ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said:

    We regret that passengers will be inconvenienced for another day. We don’t want to be taking this action. Withdrawing our labour is always a last resort for a trade union.

    We have come to the table, as we always will, in good faith but while the industry continues to make no offer… we have no choice but to take strike action again.

    They want drivers to take a real terms pay cut. With inflation now well into double figures, train drivers who kept Britain moving through the pandemic are now being expected to work just as hard this year as last year but for less. Most of these drivers have not had an increase in salary since 2019.

    We want the companies – which are making huge profits – to make a proper pay offer so that our members can keep up with the cost of living.

    All of this begs the question: if so many unions are striking, why are they not taking coordinated action? That is, why aren’t unions organising a general strike? Hopefully they are, and we just don’t know it yet – coordinated union action would send the strongest message to the Tory Party that workers won’t tolerate their toxic governance any longer.

    Featured image via the Guardian – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Now the state is stopping a protester carrying ‘eggs in public’

    The state’s latest attack on our right to demonstrate is a bizarre one – as a court has allegedly banned one protester from carrying eggs in public, unless they’re for eating. Feel free to say ‘you couldn’t make this shit up’.

    Eggcellent work by a protester

    As the Mirror reported, police arrested student Patrick Thelwell after he threw eggs at king Charles Windsor and his wife Camilla. The Mirror reported that:

    Charles and Camilla were being welcomed by city leaders when four eggs were hurled at them, all of which missed before the pair were ushered away. The monarch continued shaking hands with a member of the public as the eggs flew in his direction, pausing briefly to look at the shells cracked on the ground. The lone protester was heard shouting “this country was built on the blood of slaves” as he was wrestled to the ground by several police officers at Micklegate Bar, a medieval gateway and focus for grand events. Onlookers in the crowd started chanting “God save the King” and “shame on you” at the man.

    Of course, as the Guardian noted, egg throwing is “Britain’s most traditional form of protest”:

    David Cameron, Nigel Farage, Ruth Kelly, George Galloway, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Griffin, Simon Cowell, David Blaine: all have been egged with varying degrees of accuracy and response. Still most famous of all is John Prescott, North Wales, 2001, when the then deputy prime minister responded to a perfectly aimed egg hurled by a farm worker with a Kevin Keegan haircut by punching him in the face, creating the gif that never stops giving.

    However, according to the state, this is now subject to police conditions.

    The thin end of the wedge?

    The Mirror reported that Thelwell claimed:

    his bail conditions had been quite “amusing”. He said they include not being allowed to be 500 metres within the King and not being allowed to possess any eggs in a public place. Although he says they had to alter that condition so he could go grocery shopping. He said he has been charged with Section 4 public order offence and due in court on December 1st.

    North Yorkshire police confirmed Thelwell’s arrest and release. However, while the story is amusing, there is a sinister undertone to it.

    With the Tory government legislating to try and break strikes and stop protester actions like blocking roads – while police are arresting journalists reporting on activism – banning a protester carrying eggs is the thin end of the wedge in an increasingly authoritarian state.

    Featured image via the Royal Family Channel – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Here’s why RMT underground workers are striking

    National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) members were striking on the London underground on the morning of Thursday 10 November. The reason is simple: once again, bosses are attacking workers’ rights. However, this time the strikes are less about pay and more about the Tory government interfering in Transport for London (TfL) – and TfL capitulating.

    London underground: at a standstill

    Early on 10 November, striking workers shut down most of the tube network:

    The RMT is taking action over pensions, redundancies and changes to staff working conditions. It tried to make a last-minute deal with TfL on Tuesday 8 November. However, the company rejected the RMT deal. So, underground workers have walked out. As one worker tweeted:

     

    Tory attacks on London’s transport

    The situation that has caused RMT workers to strike is complex, but the union summed it up well on Twitter.

    First, the RMT noted that the Tory government is at the root of the problem:

    This “politically motivated attack” on the underground stems from the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. As the Guardian noted:

    TfL’s finances were wrecked by the coronavirus pandemic, with its budget mostly dependent on tube fare revenue. Ridership sank to 4% of normal levels in 2020 and has only recovered to around 70% of 2019 weekday levels.

    The government stepped in to plug the revenue shortfall. However, in August a new deal it made with TfL had conditions. As the RMT noted, these include forcing:

    1. … pay restraint… [which] ties TfL pay awards to the public sector…
    2. TfL [to] continue to waste time and resources on the futile project to deliver more ‘driverless trains’ on the Underground.
    3. TfL [to] produce two proposals for reform of the pension scheme…

    The RMT said:

    These conditions are underwritten with the threat to remove funding if TfL fails to comply.

    So, TfL complied. The RMT says the result of this is bad for underground workers:

    Specifically, the RMT says the deal will result in:

    • 600 job losses.
    • A worsening of the work-life balance for staff, with managers being empowered to make shift changes at the last minute.
    • Around a 30% cut in people’s pensions.

    Crucially, the RMT says TfL is not blameless in this. It claims the company was previously against the government’s pension plans:

    London mayor Sadiq Khan also agreed with TfL on pensions:

    However, both have now caved to the Tory government’s demands. So, RMT underground workers have been left with no choice but to strike.

    Underground bosses must ‘stop indulging the Tories’

    The union is demanding that TfL:

    • shelve its plans to cut station staff jobs,
    • withdraw its threats to existing agreements and
    • commit to not attacking the TfL pension scheme.

    The RMT had some choice words for TfL and Khan, too:

    The Mayor and TfL should stand firmly with their workers, the people who kept London’s transport services moving during the pandemic. Instead, they are allowing London Underground managers to cut jobs and undermine employment conditions on the Tube and they continue to indulge the government’s spiteful raid on the TfL pension scheme.

    However, with a funding shortfall and the Tories on the counter attack, it is unlikely that TfL will back down anytime soon. So, expect more RMT underground strikes as the union is again forced to defend its members – and workers are forced to fight for their basic rights.

    Read the RMT’s full briefing here:

    Featured image via the Canary 

    By Steve Topple

  • As the UCU takes action, can we just have a general strike please?

    University and College Union (UCU) members are to strike across three days before the end of the year. The action will be the biggest in the union’s history. However, the UCU strike poses the question of whether it’s time for unions to call a general strike across the UK.

    UCU: had enough

    As the Canary previously reported, university bosses have cut workers’ real-terms pay by around 25% since 2009. The pension fund that manages university workers’ retirement pots has also been acting appallingly – cutting up to 35% off people’s final pension income. This element has been particularly dire. Pension managers claimed that the workers’ overall fund had a shortfall of £14.1bn – meaning they had to cut the amount of people’s final pension payouts. However, this shortfall then shrank to £2.9bn – but bosses still claimed they had to cut the fund. Then, the shortfall was nothing – and finally, in October, the UCU revealed that actually the fund would be in surplus. Yet despite all this, bosses still want to cut workers’ pensions.

    However, the action is not just about pay. As Union News wrote, workers want:

    an end to race, gender and disability pay injustice; a framework to eliminate zero-hours and other insecure contracts; and meaningful action to tackle unmanageable workloads

    Workers at individual universities have taken industrial action for many months this year. Strikes had to be carried out at individual campuses because the UCU couldn’t meet the legal threshold for a national strike. That’s now changed.

    70,000 workers – out

    As the Canary previously reported, UCU balloted its members for a national strike on the issues of both pay and pensions. The result was a ‘yes’ – so, UCU wrote that:

    Over 70,000 university staff at 150 universities will strike for three days later this month over attacks on pay, working conditions and pensions. The National Union of Students (NUS) has backed the strikes, which will be the biggest ever to hit UK universities and could impact 2.5 million students.

    Pay is central – bosses have imposed a 3% rise this year, which is of course an effective cut, given inflation. The UCU is demanding a “meaningful pay rise” to support workers with the cost of living crisis. The union also wants bosses to act over pensions. It says they must “revoke the cuts and restore benefits”. UCU general secretary Jo O’Grady said:

    This is not a dispute about affordability – it is about choices. Vice-chancellors are choosing to pay themselves hundreds of thousands of pounds whilst forcing our members onto low paid and insecure contracts that leave some using foodbanks. They choose to hold billions in surpluses whilst slashing staff pensions.

    General strike now

    O’Grady continued:

    UCU members do not want to strike but are doing so to save the sector and win dignity at work. This dispute has the mass support of students because they know their learning conditions are our members’ working conditions. If university vice-chancellors don’t get serious, our message is simple – this bout of strike action will be just the beginning.

    However, the bigger picture here is that government and capitalist bosses are effectively causing the UK to grind to a halt – from the NHS, to education, via postal and phone/internet services, the London Underground and Heathrow airport. Surely now is the time for unions to call a general strike – after all, it’s getting towards the point where we’re in one, in everything but name.

    Featured image via the UCU

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Here’s how you can financially support striking CWU workers

    The Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) has been at the forefront of industrial action against the Tory government and its capitalist supporters this year. It has scared the living daylights out of Royal Mail and taken huge action against BT. However, the CWU cannot do this work in isolation – and it needs your help to continue its crucial industrial actions.

    CWU: unparalleled industrial action

    The Canary has been following the CWU’s work this year. Over at Royal Mail, workers have been striking over the company’s dire pay offer of nearly half the rate of inflation. After Royal Mail announced 6,000 redundancies and 4,000 job cuts, the company then threatened the CWU with a legal letter. It was over a tiny technicality in the strike action, and the CWU had to cancel its strikes. However, the union wasn’t having it – it immediately sorted the situation and announced more strikes.

    Meanwhile, the CWU has also been showing BT what’s what. Around 40,000 members in call centres and Openreach held repeated strikes against (again) dire pay and working conditions. Much like Royal Mail, BT has offered workers a paltry pay rise below inflation. As the Canary previously reported, BT made over £1bn in profit. So, workers have been striking – with a small measure of success. BT has agreed to get back round the table to talk with the CWU. We’ll have to see if a resolution comes out of the negotiations.

    However, workers cannot keep striking and fighting the bosses without our support. So, the Canary asked the CWU Newcastle branch how our readers could support its members locally and nationwide during industrial action – aside from sharing news on social media and attending pickets.

    Support the workers if you can

    You can donate to the union’s strike fund via PayPal here. But it knows this platform isn’t accessible for some people. So, the CWU Newcastle Amal branch told the Canary:

    Individuals can donate by making a payment to the CWU General Fund and referencing Welfare Fund with the payments. Payments can be made via bank transfer to the following account;

    Sort Code: 60-83-01 – Account: 33019822

    Of course, it goes without saying you should only financially support the CWU if it won’t hurt your own finances. Supporting them in person at strikes and on social media is also vital.

    It is crucial that we back the CWU workers. Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson has already warned workers that he’ll make more of them redundant if they continue to strike. And while the overtones from BT look slightly better, that could change at any moment. So, striking workers will surely appreciate anything you can give.

    This article is thanks to a Canary reader’s email.

    Featured image via the CWU

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The Tories’ stealth cut of £1bn to education was just exposed

    The Tories will be making a real-terms cut of £1bn to the education budget in 2023. That’s the analysis of a campaign group which previously exposed the government’s huge slashing of school funding. It’s calling on prime minister Rishi Sunak to increase the education budget. But will he listen –  especially as he promised to restore real-terms education spending to 2010 levels by 2024/5?

    Stop School Cuts

    Stop School Cuts is a campaign group linked to the National Education Union (NEU). In 2015, it showed that by 2020 the government would be giving 83% of schools in England less in real terms. At the time, think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) backed Stop School Cuts, saying:

    This analysis shows that most schools will have seen real-terms cuts in school funding per pupil between 2015 and 2020 once you account for confirmed school funding allocations and the likely costs faced by schools.

    Now, the group has performed another analysis. It’s found that next year, even more schools will be facing real-terms cuts.

    Tory cuts of £1bn

    Stop School Cuts says the government will be cutting funding to 90% of schools in 2023:

    As Stop School Cuts wrote, the Tories will be cutting £1bn in total – affecting over 18,000 schools. The group noted that:

    For millions of children, these cuts will lead to larger class sizes, reduced subject choice and less individual support for children. For teachers it means more real-terms pay cuts, more unmanageable workloads and less time to teach each child.

    So, the group wrote an open letter to Sunak. It said:

    At the 2021 spending review, you promised to “restore per-pupil funding to 2010 levels in real terms” but with rising costs, schools now face a real terms cut of £1bn next year. In total 18,060 schools face cuts, with millions of children impacted losing on average £146 per pupil in one year. After a decade of real terms cuts to school budgets and teacher pay, school communities simply cannot afford to bear further cuts.

    The government will spend £324 less per pupil in 2023 than in 2015 in real terms. Teacher’s have suffered real-terms pay-cuts in the same period.

    12 years of education austerity. Is there more to come?

    Stop School Cuts’ analysis comes after 12 years of previous cuts. The IFS previously said that the government’s education budget between 2015/16 and 2019/20 faced:

    the largest cut in school spending per pupil over a four-year period since at least the early 1980s and would return school spending per pupil to about the same real-terms level as it was in 2010–11.

    Now, it appears Sunak’s government is compounding the issue. So, Stop School Cuts laid down the gauntlet to the PM. It asked him if he would:

    • Reverse the cuts facing schools next year?
    • Ensure deserved pay-awards for school staff are fully funded?
    • Keep your promise to restore per-pupil funding to 2010 levels in real terms?

    With the government already putting austerity on the cards, whether or not Sunak will honour his 2021 pledge to restore real-terms education funding remains to be seen. It’s therefore likely that Stop School Cuts will have a lot more work to do in the future.

    Featured image via Unsplash and Rishi Sunak – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • NHS nurses tell the Canary ‘we expect Labour to support us’

    It looks like the Royal College of Nurses (RCN) union will be striking across the UK. After it balloted 300,000 members, the union has indicated the result was a ‘yes’ to walkouts. The strike may be the biggest in the RCN’s history. However, so far the Labour Party leadership has not supported NHS nurses’ action. Nurses, meanwhile, have told the Canary they “expect” Labour to support them.

    RCN: everybody out?

    As the Guardian reported, the RCN is saying that the result of its ballot will mean strikes before Christmas. The industrial action is over appalling pay and working conditions, as Tories have inflicted a £4,300 real-terms cut to nurses’ pay since 2010. The Guardian noted that one RCN source said:

    This will see the majority of services taken out, and picket lines across the country.

    The RCN will protect life-critical services from the strike. This includes A&E and critical care – but otherwise most other services will be hit. As the Guardian reported:

    The counting of the RCN ballots is continuing, but officials expect to announce shortly that the majority of nurses in some of the UK’s main trusts and health organisations have voted to strike.

    So, the Canary spoke to one campaigner and frontline NHS nurse. She told us her and her colleagues have had enough.

    NHS nurses: “angry” and expecting Labour’s support

    NHS Workers Say No is a grassroots campaign group. Founder and nurse Holly Turner told the Canary:

    Nursing staff have made history by voting for a national strike with the RCN. There has been a dramatic shift in mood and union engagement over the past 12 months. These results are evidence of that. NHS workers are angry, and they are focused on getting organised to win change for themselves and their patients. The results are a testament to the hard work of activists across the UK who have not given up, despite campaigning alongside working in full time clinical roles in unsafe and emotionally gruelling conditions.

    Turner didn’t mess around when it came to what nurses faced. She noted that:

    The media onslaught has begun. But we are ready for that. We know why these strikes are necessary, and we won’t be guilted or cajoled into giving up by the right-wing press and Tory mouthpieces.

    Crucially, Turner said:

    What we now need, and expect to see, is full support from the opposition, labour movement and class solidarity to support us in our fight.

    However, so far this hasn’t happened.

    Starmer busy dropping racist dog-whistles about the NHS

    The Labour leadership has not stated whether it supports the RCN strike or not. Back in October, Keir Starmer said:

    I don’t want the strikes to go ahead. We want to be in government – in government you resolve issues.

    On NHS workers’ pay, he said that was a:

    question for each of the negotiations, exactly where it lands

    And in recent days, Starmer showed his dog-whistle racism by saying there should be fewer foreign-born nationals working in the NHS. But as of 12pm on Monday 7 November, he had not commented on the RCN strike.

    Meanwhile, former Labour leader Ed Miliband couldn’t bring himself to say Labour supported the RCN strike either, merely saying [0:21]:

    nobody wants to see a strike go ahead, including nurses

    NHS workers deserve all our support. It’s a damning indictment of the current Labour leadership that so far, no-one will come out and say as much.

    Featured image via Clara Paillard – Twitter, Sky News – YouTube and Sky News – YouTube 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Campaign groups have come out in support of Shaima Dallali

    Several campaign groups have signed a joint statement in support of sacked National Union of Students (NUS) president Shaima Dallali. This shows the strength of feeling that exists over the NUS’s actions – and that there is cross-organisational support for Dallali.

    The NUS: “deeply politicised” against Dallali

    As the Canary previously reported, the NUS suspended and then sacked Dallali over alleged antisemitism – including a tweet from 2012 for which she had already apologised. People have hurled racist and Islamophobic abuse at her online due to the situation. Dallali said on this:

    Unfortunately, as a black Muslim woman, it is something that I expected because I’ve seen it happen to other black Muslim women when they take up positions in the student union or the NUS, where they are attacked based on their political beliefs or their pro-Palestinian stance.

    Moreover, the NUS went public with Dallali’s sacking before telling her, and did so on the first day of Islamophobia Awareness Month. So, various people and organisations have condemned the NUS’s actions. The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) called the union’s decision “deeply politicised” and said that they had:

    come to the conclusion that NUS is no longer an organisation that take Muslims or Islamophobia seriously and therefore is not a safe space for Muslims.

    Now, a collective of organisations has written an open letter about the situation.

    Contributing to “anti-Palestinian racism”

    The groups which have signed the letter are:

    • The Palestine Solidarity Campaign,
    • The British Palestinian Committee,
    • The Diaspora Alliance,
    • The European Legal Support Center,
    • The Muslim Association of Britain,
    • The Palestinian Forum.

    You can read the full statement here. The groups said in a joint press release that the letter raises:

    concerns about the conflation of legitimate critique of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people with antisemitism. It also criticises the NUS for abandoning “its duty of care to its elected President” adding that Dallali has faced “horrifying abuse and death threats.”

    Signatories also raise concern about the disproportionate involvement of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), who they say were given significant authority in the framing of the investigation and the appointment of the Independent Investigator. They outline how this violates due process due to many of the allegations against Dallali involving criticisms she had made of the UJS. They also point out that this fails to take into account the role the UJS has played in the conflation of antisemitism and legitimate critique of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people.

    The statement also expresses concern about the awaited outcome for the broader NUS investigation into the institution itself. And it shares fears that results of the investigation “rather than combatting the very real problem of antisemitism, will instead contribute to anti-Palestinian racism and the silencing of legitimate advocacy for Palestine”.

    The NUS and Dallali: see you in court?

    So far, the NUS has said nothing further to the statement it released on 1 November. However, chair of the Muslim Association of Britain Raghad Altikriti hit the nail on the head regarding the union’s actions:

    We are deeply concerned about the racist, Islamophobic precedent that the NUS has now set. Regrettably, Shaimaa is yet another young Muslim woman of colour subjected to a public onslaught of hate.

    And the situation isn’t over yet. Dallali has already got legal representation. Her solicitors, Carter-Ruck, said in a statement that she is:

    considering all available legal remedies following her summary dismissal

    Let’s hope Dallali takes the NUS to court over her appalling treatment.

    Featured image via City, University of London – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Outrage as NUS sacks Shaima Dallali on first day of Islamophobia Awareness Month

    The National Union of Students (NUS) has sacked its president Shaima Dallali. The union claims it’s because of her alleged antisemitism. However, some people and organisations disagree – saying it shows open Islamophobia from the NUS. Moreover, the accusations of antisemitism against Dallali concerned a tweet she sent 10 years ago. And to top this all off, the NUS sacked her on the first day of Islamophobia Awareness Month.

    NUS: sacking its own president

    As the Guardian reported, members of the NUS elected Dallali in July. Almost immediately afterwards, in August, the union suspended her while it investigated claims of antisemitism. One of the allegations was about a tweet Dallali posted in 2012 which read:

    Khaybar Khaybar O Jews … Muhammad’s army will return Gaza

    Dallali was 17 when she posted the tweet. As the Canary reported in May, she has since apologised for it. Since then, people have hurled racist and Islamophobic abuse at her online due to the situation. Dallali said of this:

    Unfortunately, as a black Muslim woman, it is something that I expected because I’ve seen it happen to other black Muslim women when they take up positions in the student union or the NUS, where they are attacked based on their political beliefs or their pro-Palestinian stance.

    Yet it was the Khaybar tweet and other undisclosed accusations that led to the NUS sacking Dallali.

    The NUS says…

    The NUS said in a statement:

    Following the independent [King’s Counsel]-led investigation into allegations of antisemitism, specifically into the then president-elect under the NUS code of conduct, an independent panel has found that significant breaches of NUS policies have taken place. As per this finding, we have terminated the president’s contract. In strict accordance with rules around employees and confidentiality, we will not be sharing any further details on the investigation into the president,” the NUS said. “We can assure any interested parties that this process has been incredibly robust and that we can and must trust in the outcome.

    We know that there will be strong feelings around this issue, so we urge people to respect this process and to refrain from taking part in or perpetuating any abuse, particularly online, towards anyone involved in this matter.

    There are indeed strong feelings around the NUS’s sacking of Dallali.

    “Deeply politicised”

    The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) said in a statement that it has:

    come to the conclusion that NUS is no longer an organisation that take Muslims or Islamophobia seriously and therefore is not a safe space for Muslims. Following numerous attempts to engage NUS and its leadership, no satisfactory outcome has been reached. The investigation into Shaima has been deeply politicised from the outset, and due process has not been followed, opening Shaima up to the court of public opinion and denying her the opportunity to fairly represent herself.

    On this basis, the NUS sacking Dallali on the first day of Islamophobia Awareness Month does seem highly politicised.

    “Islamophobia is rife”

    Over on social media, people were defending Dallali. Academic Tarek Younis stated that the NUS’s sacking of Dallali was “outrageous”:

    Dr Nilufar Ahmed called the NUS’s treatment of Dallali “horrific”:

    To compound all this, Dallali revealed that the NUS had not told her it had sacked her. She only found out about the dismissal via social media:

    Regressive

    Meanwhile, the FOSIS has said that it’s:

    calling on all Islamic societies, friends and those who oppose Islamophobia to organise and lead disaffiliation campaigns against the NUS on their campuses.

    Without full disclosure from the NUS, it is impossible to draw any other conclusion other than that its sacking of Dallali was politicised and laced with Islamophobia. She, and other Muslim students, deserve better.

    Featured image via Shaima Dallali – Twitter and the NUS – screengrab 

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The CWU showed it won’t be bullied by Royal Mail

    The Communications Workers’ Union has announced more strikes against Royal Mail. It’s quite the turnaround, given the company recently threatened the CWU with legal action. Not to be beaten down, the union and its members clearly weren’t having it – they’ve announced strikes that will hit some of the busiest shopping days of the year.

    CWU and Royal Mail: protracted dispute

    As the Canary previously reported, the CWU has been in a protracted industrial dispute with Royal Mail. The company offered workers a pay rise that was nearly half the rate of inflation, and compounded this with worsening working conditions. Then, Royal Mail warned it would lay off 6,000 workers and axe around 4,000 positions.

    To top this all off, on Sunday 30 October the CWU said it was cancelling all planned strikes because Royal Mail had threatened it with a legal letter. As the Canary exclusively revealed, Royal Mail stopped the strikes on a pedantic legal point. However, the CWU has fought back once again.

    More strikes

    The union has regrouped and announced a series of 48-hour strikes. It said that workers will be striking on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 November. The latter is known as ‘Black Friday’, the biggest shopping day of the year. Then, workers will strike on Wednesday 30 November and Thursday 1 December – just two days after Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days. The CWU will also hold a vote of no confidence in Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson. On top of all this, the CWU’s postal executive will meet on Thursday 3 November to discuss new actions in the Christmas build-up.

    All this comes on top of a new, yet equally derisory, pay offer from Royal Mail. The company offered a 7% two-year pay offer – once more, an effective pay cut. It also wants to make sweeping changes to working conditions. These include introducing what the CWU calls “Uber-style” owner-drivers, mail centre closures, and changes to Sunday working. The union says workers are rightly outraged.

    Tackling nefarious bosses, the CWU way

    CWU general secretary Dave Ward said:

    Posties are in the fight of their lives against the Uberisation of Royal Mail and the destruction of their conditions. But 115,000 of our members will not just accept this war on their livelihoods and their industry. They will never give up the fight to protect this industry and to protect their hard-won working conditions. Simon Thompson has to either accept that or walk away – until he does one or the other, serious disruption will continue.

    The union’s acting deputy general secretary, Andy Furey, said:

    So many of our members have given their entire working lives to building this company. They deserve a much better deal than what is on offer, and Simon Thompson is on another planet if he thinks we’ll stop fighting to achieve that.

    Announcing strikes during the year’s busiest shopping period and after a legal threat is a strong move from CWU. It shows that the union is not only savvy but also that it will not be compromised by nefarious bosses trying to shut it and its members up.

    Featured image via the CWU – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • A nurse just nailed why we all need to support NHS strikes live on the BBC

    The Royal College of Nurses’ (RCN’s) ballot on strike action closes on Wednesday 2 November. The result may well be a walk-out by hundreds of thousands of NHS nurses. At the same time, other healthcare trade unions are balloting their members for industrial action. And one healthcare professional made the case brilliantly for NHS staff to strike, specifically paramedics, live on the BBC.

    Tories: decimating NHS pay

    Successive Tory governments have decimated NHS staff wages. In 2010, the coalition government froze public sector pay for two years, then imposed a 1% fixed increase. This year, the Tories have capped NHS pay rises at 4% for most staff, while inflation is over 10%. The end result is that since 2010, the Tories have cut around £4,300 from nurses’ real-terms pay. So, the workers and their union have had enough.

    The RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said:

    We are understaffed, undervalued and underpaid. For years our profession has been pushed to the edge, and now patient safety is paying the price. We can’t stand by and watch our colleagues and patients suffer anymore. Though strike action is a last resort, it is a powerful tool for change. And we must demand that change. Enough is enough. I urge you to vote ‘yes’ in this ballot.

    The union is balloting over 300,000 members. If they vote ‘yes’, it would mean the number of staff walking out could be huge. However, to get an idea of why healthcare workers are considering this, we need to listen to them.

    “Patients are already at risk”

    Holly Turner is an NHS nurse and co-founder of campaign group NHS Workers Say No! She was on BBC Politics Live London on Sunday 30 October, in her capacity as GMB London regional organiser. The union is balloting 15,000 paramedics over strike action. Turner said that NHS workers need a pay rise because:

    They’ve faced over a decade of cuts to their pay, and the situation that’s left us with is 135,000 vacancies… We know there’s seven million people sat on waiting lists, and when we talk about ambulances specifically, we’re talking of people waiting up to 30 hours for an ambulance…

    Crucially, Turner noted that:

    This is a dispute about pay, of course… but it is as much about safety as it is about pay.

    The host put it to Turner that if paramedics go on strike, people will die. Turner pointed out that:

    This is not a decision any ambulance crew would take lightly. If this national ballot passes, it will be the first ambulance strike in 30 years… [Paramedics] will be agonising over making this decision. But things can’t carry on.

    Save the NHS for all our sakes

    On Sunday 30 October, it emerged that a baby died in September, after waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance. It should have arrived within seven minutes. This is not the paramedics’ fault. This is the fault of government underfunding to the tune of around £240m. It’s also because of low pay, which means people don’t want to do the job, and because of a culture of outsourcing services to the private sector.

    As Turner summed up, striking:

    is the last bit of leverage that these workers have got left. What else are they expected to do?

    The NHS is crumbling around us, which puts most of us at risk. Central to this is Tory underfunding and cuts to wages. If we want the NHS to be a functioning health service, then the government has to treat staff fairly as a starting point. Currently, it’s not – hence, we must all support NHS workers going on strike. They’re doing it for all of us.

    Featured image via BBC iPlayer – screengrab

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Exclusive: here’s why the CWU pulled its Royal Mail strikes

    The Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) has cancelled all upcoming strike action against Royal Mail. This is in response to a legal threat from the company.

    The Canary can exclusively reveal that the basis for the Royal Mail’s claim is a trifling technicality, but it was enough to force the CWU to act.

    CWU: Royal Mail strikes cancelled… for now

    Royal Mail workers have been striking for weeks. It’s over a paltry pay offer of nearly half the rate of inflation, as well as worsening working conditions. This was despite Royal Mail making £758m last financial year and paying £400m of that in dividends to shareholders.

    Recently, bosses at the privatised company threatened 6,000 staff with redundancy and plans to axe 4,000 more positions. The CWU’s next planned strike was on Wednesday 2 November. However, on Sunday 30 October the union said it was halting all strikes.

    The CWU said in a statement:

    Following a letter received by Royal Mail’s legal team which attempted to undermine pre-existing strike ballots, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voted this morning (Sunday 30th October) to withdraw industrial action notices over the next two weeks. This means that strikes involving various sections of the workforce over the next fortnight will no longer be going ahead. However, strikes will resume on Saturday 12th November.

    Reports in the corporate media failed to give a solid reason for why Royal Mail had forced the CWU into a position where it had to stop the strikes. So, the Canary spoke to the union.

    Royal Mail: pathetic

    The CWU gave us more information – it shows that Royal Mail is being petulant at best.

    It told the Canary:

    In a very small number of workplaces across the country (less than five), the crossover of peoples’ job responsibilities would mean that when they would be striking, work would be going unattended that wouldn’t be covered in the legal notice given.

    In other words, a minority of Royal Mail workers are having to do multiple jobs. Because of the terms of the CWU strike action, this multitasking is not covered. Therefore, by breaking the legal basis for the strike, the CWU might undermine the whole action. As such, it had no choice but to withdraw.

    Bear in mind that there are potentially thousands of Royal Mail workplaces in the UK. For example, Leicestershire alone has 31, so five workplaces is a tiny number. Yet Royal Mail exaggerated the situation. It told BBC News:

    The CWU has withdrawn strike action following Royal Mail writing to CWU to highlight numerous material concerns with the formal notification of planned rolling strike action

    CWU: not backing down

    General secretary Dave Ward hit back at the bosses. He said in a video message that:

    we’re not going to be stopped in doing the right thing by people who have just turned up in the last 18 months and… have plans that are not about growing the industry. They’re about levelling down; forcing people out of work to bring in new entrants on lower pay, terms and conditions

    The CWU was clearly aware that the decision to delay strikes would frustrate many workers. Deputy general secretary Andy Furey said in a statement:

    We entirely understand the anger felt by many over the decision, but we believe it is a necessary move to protect our dispute. Our members have been facing down serious harassment from the highest levels of Royal Mail as they defend their industry and those communities they serve. They will not be forced into submission so easily, and we will be reminding the company of their determination at ACAS in the coming days.

    It’s clear that the CWU will not back down, nor will its members. The union is now regrouping, with talks between it and Royal Mail continuing via ACAS on Monday 31 October. If bosses think they can stop 115,000 workers and the CWU on a pedantic and preposterous legal technicality, they’ve got another think coming.

    Featured image via the CWU – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Migrant centre in Kent ‘catastrophically overcrowded’, unions say

    Manston processing site ‘gummed up’ as more than 100,000 asylum claims waiting to be decided, says select committee chair

    A migrant processing centre in Kent is “catastrophically overcrowded”, with people waiting for their asylum applications to be processed kept in inhumane conditions and guards not being trained properly, a union leader says.

    Criticism of the government’s handling of the facility is mounting, with the chair of a parliamentary select committee saying a “crisis” was brewing given the backlog of more than 100,000 cases.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The CWU is trying to get BT shareholders to support workers

    Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) members at BT call centres and Openreach are on strike once again. It’s now the eighth walk-out in the union’s current phase of industrial action. However, the CWU is taking another step in its fight for fair pay and conditions. It’s going directly to BT shareholders and urging them to support CWU members.

    CWU: a “bitter dispute” with BT

    Currently, 40,000 workers – including 999 call handlers, BT call centre workers and Openreach engineers – are taking strike action. It’s in what the union calls an “increasingly bitter dispute over pay”. BT imposed a flat-rate pay award onto workers – without consulting the CWU first. This was originally an extra £1,200 a year. BT then upped this to £1,500 – which meant a 3-8% increase for workers. However, this is of course an effective pay cut when you factor in spiralling UK inflation – currently at 10.1%. Worse still, the Bank of England says inflation will hit 11% soon, with some analysts saying 14% is possible in the next few months.

    The CWU claims the paltry BT pay offer is “despite [BT] making £1.3bn in profits” and “handing record pay-outs to senior executives and shareholders”. It also says the £1,500 pay offer is despite:

    Philip Jansen, the BT CEO… [receiving] a £3.5 million pay package… [Jansen] refuses to engage in talks to resolve this dispute.

    The union says this was a 32% rise in Jansen’s overall remuneration package. On Monday 24 October, workers engaged in the last day of their current round of striking. The CWU says they have “been incensed by both the hypocrisy of the company but latterly their anti-strike propaganda”. So the union is taking things further.

    Getting BT shareholders on board

    The CWU is trying to organise a meeting with BT shareholders. It wants shareholders and “the media to expose the actions” of Jansen. CWU general secretary Dave Ward said in a press release:

    Meeting the shareholders of BT Group is the natural next step – it should demonstrate to the company that we won’t relent until we have exposed them and changed the course of this dispute. Alongside these external pressures, BT workers will take further strike action if needed.

    Morale is at an all-time low – we have an out of control, out of touch CEO who is counting his money while his employees are using foodbanks. This is just not right, and we will not stop fighting until our members gain a proper pay rise.

    It’s unclear at this point what any shareholder meeting would look like. However, given that the CWU is claiming its strike action has caused cracks to appear in BT Group, and the company’s share price has been steadily falling in recent months, shareholders may take up the CWU’s offer.

    Fighting back

    CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr said:

    Our members are standing strong – they know supporting the union is not only the right thing to do, it’s the only thing to do. Despite being impacted by the worst cost of living crisis in memory, CWU members are fighting back. Today’s strike turnout is rock solid once again, and this will remain the case until BT wake up and get back around the negotiating table to settle this dispute.

    Now, workers must wait to see what the outcome of their union’s shareholder meeting request is. As always, the CWU is acting in their best interests. It will be interesting to see if the shareholders do the same.

    Featured image via Vauxford – Wikimedia, resized to 770×403 pixels under licence CC BY-SA 4.0, and Good Morning Britain – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Rishi Sunak urged to scrap ‘undemocratic’ proposals to axe 2,400 laws

    Charities and trade unions among those calling on new PM to shelve bill that would scrap EU-era legislation protecting workers’ rights and the environment

    Employers, trade unions, lawyers and environmentalists are calling on Rishi Sunak to scrap Jacob Rees-Mogg’s legislation that would sweep away 2,400 laws derived from the EU.

    The retained EU law (revocation and reform) bill is due for its second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday, which would scrap protections including the ban on animal testing for cosmetics, workers’ rights and environmental measures.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Kanak trade union USTKE pioneer and militant leader ‘Loulou’ Uregei dies

    Asia Pacific Report

    Louis Kotra Uregei, an emblematic and radical figure in the independence struggle in New Caledonia, has died aged 71, announced the Union of Kanak and Exploited Workers (USTKE) in a statement.

    Nicknamed LKU or “Loulou”, this representative of New Caledonian militancy died on Thursday night after a long illness.

    Originally from the small island of Tiga, in the Loyalty archipelago, Louis Kotra Uregei founded USTKE, the very first independence union, in 1981.

    Three years later, the USTKE participated in the creation of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).

    In 1988, the day after the hostage-taking in Ouvéa, which killed 21 people, Uregei had been part of the independence delegation sent to Paris to negotiate with the French State and signed the Matignon-Oudinot agreements.

    While the USTKE became the second largest trade union force in New Caledonia, Uregei, known for his outspokenness and his radical methods, gradually moved away from the FLNKS and approached anti-globalisation circles.

    ‘Man of conviction’
    In 2007, he founded the Labour Party, in the presence of José Bové, of which he would be the representative at the congress, from 2009 to 2019.

    The independence party and member of the FLNKS Caledonian Union paid tribute on Friday to “an independentist leader, who did not mince his words . . .  and who knew how to remind today’s generation of leaders where and how it had to be fought to be heard on the national and international stage”.

    The French High Commissioner in New Caledonia, Patrice Faure, hailed the memory of “a committed activist and a man of conviction”.