Strikes and lock-outs

Higher education workers will strike over pay on 3 December. Members of UCU, Unite and Unison in higher education who struck on 31 October will be striking again. This time they’ll be joined by Scottish education union EIS and UCU members in further education. The background to the strike is a 13% real-terms pay cut since 2009: the equivalent of working half a day a week for free. Employers have offered just 1% — well below inflation — and have made no concessions either on the living wage or the gender pay gap. On the advice of university employers’ organisation UCEA, some institutions have...

After a spike because of the 2011 public sector pensions dispute, the level of strikes in the UK fell to a seven-year low in 2012. Royal Mail, a key bastion of public sector unionism and industrial strength, was privatised in October 2013 without any effective resistance. A strike planned for 4 November was called off and anyway was called after the privatisation had gone through. At the Grangemouth oil refinery and petrochemical plant, arguably the most economically significant workplace in Scotland, bosses were able to inflict a crushing defeat on a well-organised, industrially-powerful, and...

After five days of all-out strikes by Genoa’s public sector transport workers, a ferociously contested four-hour mass assembly on Saturday 23 November resulted in resigned acceptance of a shabby deal cooked up by the local mayor and the bureaucrats of the major unions involved. The strike had been launched by rank-and-file workers against the “leftwing” Mayor’s plans to privatise the lcoal public owned transport company, against a background of cuts to wages and conditions. Almost instantaneously the radical momentum of the collective “downing of tools” of nearly 3,000 workers spread across...

On Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 November, outsourced workers at the University of London will strike as part of their “3 Cosas” (“3 Things”) campaign for sick pay, holiday, and pension equality with their directly employed colleagues. The strike coincides with the University’s “Foundation Day”, due to be attended by Princess Anne. A protest is planned for 6pm on Wednesday 27 November at Senate House. A University of London worker spoke to Solidarity about the strike. What are the demands of the strike? There are three demands which form the basis of the industrial dispute between our union...

Higher Education workers will strike again on Wednesday 3 December in a fight against a 1% pay deal. Many HE workers also face battles over zero-hours contracts and casualisation. Here, a UCU activist reports on the campaign against precarious working. Contract-researchers are employed precariously by universities to fulfil short-term projects. We may be employed on temporary contracts of various kinds, some of which are termed “occasional” or “exceptional”. Each species of contract carries its own set of terms and conditions, and these may differ significantly. Essentially, all such fixed...

Over the course of two days earlier this month, a drama played on the Georgian railways that showed the labour movement at its best. This has not always been the case in Georgia, a country whose most famous sons in recent times have been Stalin and Beria. And yet Georgia has a long tradition of working-class struggle, and Georgian labour and social democratic leaders punched far above their weight in the Russian Social Democratic Party and the Second International in the years up to 1917. That tradition was largely forgotten in the decades following the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia. But...

Outsourced cleaning, catering, and security workers at the University of London will strike on 27 and 28 November. Their strike ballot returned a 97% vote in favour of strikes, on a 70% turnout. The workers, who are employed by agencies such as Balfour Beatty and Aramark, have been fighting for sick pay, holiday, and pensions equality with their directly-employed colleagues through the "Tres Cosas" ("Three Things") campaign. The campaign has organised regular direct actions, often in conjunction with the University of London Union, and has recently been the victim of attempts to university...

Higher Education workers’ unions UCU, Unison, Unite (and the EIS union in Scotland) have called a strike on Tuesday 3 December. Lecturers’ union UCU has begun a work-to-contract, asking members not to take on any duties not strictly required by their terms of employment. Universities depend on the willingness of staff to work well beyond reasonable hours, and a well-organised campaign will help put management under pressure. Local organisation, down to departmental level, with regular members’ meetings, is the key to making the work-to-contract effective. Already one employer — the University...

Outsourced cleaning, catering, and security workers at the University of London are balloting for strikes in their long-running campaign to win sick pay, holiday, and pension equality with their directly-employed colleagues. The workers are organised by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), a small union with few resources. Solidarity and financial support are essential if the workers are to be able to take the kind of action necessary to force concessions from the bosses. You can donate to the strike fund online . For more information on the campaign, including updates on...

Firefighters in England and Wales were posed for their fourth short pension strike this week, as the battle began to harden into a more protracted dispute. On Wednesday 13 November, FBU members in England and Wales will strike from 10am to 2pm, another short action designed to show that firefighters do not accept the government’s unworkable pension changes. The differences have hardened since the last strikes on 1 and 4 November, after the fire minister withdrew part of an earlier offer, making the actuarial reduction for retiring early even more draconian. The most prominent issue is the...