GMB

Catherine Miller works in refuse collection for a major local authority in southern England. Tell us a little bit about the work you do. I work for a local council. My department is responsible for the refuse and recycling collections, and the street cleaning for the City. I work in the office as an administrator; I pay invoices, do the filing, provide admin support to the Project Officers... Do you and your workmates get the pay and conditions you deserve? Definitely not. I am on the same salary as the operational staff, as both their and my job is deemed “unskilled”, which I find quite...

150 GMB members at Great Western Hospital in Swindon began a further week’s strike action on Saturday 17 March, as their union pursues a legal case against employment agency SkyBlue Solutions, who it accuses of supply agency labour to undermine previous strikes. A union statement said: “GMB has informed SkyBlue Solutions that it has provided the union’s solicitors with details of agency staff from SkyBlue Solutions who were recruited and worked at GWH on strike days. These details include the numbers of SkyBlue staff and of the days they were recruited and worked. “GMB is asking the Employment...

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) in Merseyside struck for three hours on Monday 5 March. The strike was part of an attempt to stop the transfer of 100 workers from local job centres to centralised call centres. 29 job centres and two existing call centres were affected by the action. Carillion workers launch more strikes Carillion workers at Great Western Hospital in Swindon will take a further five days of strike action from 8 March, followed by another 7 days from 17 March. The strikes involve porters and auxiliary workers working on a PFI contract. They are part of...

GMB members working for contractor Carillion at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital began a further three days of strike action on Monday 27 February as their dispute over bullying bosses continues. The workers have already taken several days of strike action but are unhappy with Carillion’s refusal to even acknowledge that a problem exists. "We are not satisfied that they have taken the appropriate action against the accusations of bullying”, said Pablo Fernandez, a support worker at the hospital. The dispute began in December when the GMB submitted a formal complaint from over 100 workers about...

As local councils begin setting their 2012-2013 budgets, working-class people face another round of attacks as councils across the country put jobs and services back on the chopping block. Proposed job losses at larger councils figure in the hundreds. Leeds City Council plans “savings” of £55 million, including axing 400 jobs. Swindon Borough Council’s draft budget seeks to shed over 100 jobs as part of a £12 million cuts programme, including cutting trade-union facility time. £24 million and 300 jobs could go at Labour-run Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Nearly 400 jobs are on the line as...

The June 2012 congress of the GMB, Britain’s third biggest union, will debate the union’s political activity and its relationship to the Labour Party after a large number of branches submitted motions on the topic. The GMB has historically been a “Labour-loyal” union and its leadership has found ways to prevent its relationship to the party being openly and frankly discussed at its Congresses. But a recent statement from its Central Executive Committee said: “The CEC noted that over a quarter of motions to GMB Congress from branches across the whole of the UK relate to the political stance of...

Care workers formerly employed by Southern Cross are facing a month without pay as their new employer, Four Seasons, unilaterally announced that it would withhold wages for March 2012. Four Seasons took over the management of 140 homes in autumn 2011 after Southern Cross went bust, but were themselves already running debts of nearly £800 million. Despite assurances from Four Seasons head Dr. Pete Claveley that the takeover would not lead to any changes in pay or conditions for workers, the company has told workers they will not receive any wages in March 2012 and will be paid on 17 April. Pay...

Workers at Cheshire West and Chester Council staged a three-hour stoppage on Tuesday 14 February to mark the beginning of a campaign of industrial action that will involve selective strikes in coming weeks. The workers – members of Unite, Unison and GMB – are attempting to force management to abandon a plan to introduce new terms and conditions, which unions say will reduce overtime pay and weekend allowance, by dismissing and re-engaging staff. GMB organiser Graham McDermott said: “The aim of this industrial action is to oppose the council’s decision to impose changes to terms and conditions...

Remploy employees in the company’s factories in Glasgow and Chesterfield struck for 24 hours last Thursday (26 January) in protest at moves to introduce a two-tier workforce and privatise the company. Remploy is a government-supported organisation which was set up after the war to provide employment for people with disabilities. It recently formed a partnership with Websters Ltd., a private company which manufactures aids for people with disabilities. The new company, Remploy Healthcare, has now begun to employ non-disabled production workers and apprentices in Remploy workplaces, on rates of...

Workers at food and cleaning products manufacturer Unilever have begun an 11-day programme of rolling strike action at sites across the UK in an attempt to defeat bosses’ plans to scrap their final-salary pension schemes. It is the joint strategy of the three unions involved: Unite, USDAW and the GMB. The plan is a bold move from workers at a company that had never seen strike action until December 2011. Bob Sutton from Merseyside AWL reports on his visit to a local picket line: “The picket on the production side of the Unilever plant at Port Sunlight [Merseyside] was around 25 strong on the...