Union organising

A number of countries, including the US and France, are seeing waves or flurries of strikes as workers try to gain or make up ground as economies revive after lockdowns. Here, pay in the private sector is rising but inflation is rising faster, with the left-Blairite Resolution Foundation noting that "real wages are already falling and are likely to continue to do so for the next six months”. In the public sector the government is seeking to impose even more real-terms cuts after more than a decade of huge cumulative losses. There is a wave of attacks on pay, terms and conditions as bosses try...

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of our union, PCS, on 9 December will discuss a proposal for a consultative ballot of the entire civil service membership for industrial action as part of a national campaign around the cost of living. Whilst the union has been running a campaign on this for some time, we now have to move things up and test the mood of members. There’s undoubtedly a huge amount of work to do but the ballot will give us a focus to our work. In addition to this, I will be arguing for parallel campaigns for our culture sector, Metropolitan Police, and privatised members. In...

With one week remaining of the three weeks of strike at Goldsmiths University of London (23 November to 13 December), the local branch of the University and College Union (UCU) is planning an escalation of its dispute against management’s threatened 52 job cuts, part of an extensive “fire and rehire” plan, alongside radical restructuring at the college which will see further cuts. Already the branch has requested the national union apply an academic boycott on Goldsmiths. The national union will back up the local dispute by asking for a range of actions which might include asking external...

On Monday 6 December, Stuart Delivery, which does deliveries for online takeaway retailer JustEat, implemented a 24% cut in the per-delivery base rate of pay for couriers in Sheffield. The pay cut had already been postponed for over a month, following a militant display from Sheffield drivers. The 6 December strike was solid. Drivers maintained picket lines at seven of the nine McDonald's restaurants across the city. As a result of strong picketing but also sympathy among McDonald's staff, all but two of the strike-hit McDonald's branches turned off their JustEat tablets. This effectively...

Following their victory in the recent dispute, our members in Royal Parks are preparing further demands, including over a range of safety issues, to submit to management. Throughout my time as Assistant General Secretary I’ve worked support and empower outsourced workers in the civil service to organise and take action. We’ve increased our membership by hundreds. We have a number of targets for next year, including winning company-wide bargaining with Mitie. This company holds ten major outsourced contracts in the civil service; we currently have recognition in seven. We want an agreement that...

On Sunday 28 November Sheffield’s JustEat couriers — who are employed by the gig-economy contractor Stuart — held a demonstration through central Sheffield against an impending pay cut. They were supported by the city’s Trades Council, labour movement and left. They are members of the IWGB union and have been organising in the city for two years with the help of members and friends of Workers’ Liberty, who were also central to organising this demonstration. Olivia Blake, MP for Sheffield Hallam spoke on their platform, as did representatives of GMB health workers, Unite and UCU members at...

Outsourced cleaners and attendants in the Royal Parks have voted to accept a settlement in their dispute. A vote was held at a meeting on 18 November, with a follow-up check of members who couldn’t attend. It vastly improves sick pay arrangements, and enhances holiday pay. It also recognises the union, and several workers have come forward to be elected as reps. Although a clear victory, this is an interim settlement. There are many outstanding issues and other demands that workers want to press for, including issues regarding their contracts, health and safety and other matters. Another key...

Workers at the Rolls Royce site in Barnoldswick have voted to accept a new offer from the company in their dispute over staffing at the site. Ross Quinn, a Unite officer involved in the dispute, spoke to Solidarity . The key concession in the settlement is the extension of the no-compulsory-redundancies guarantee to five years. That’s a three-year extension on what was on the table previously. The deal also includes an agreement for a company furlough scheme for up to 70 workers, which is a kind of baseline insurance policy if work streams dry up in future. But that’s not something either...

Last week I wrote that one of our members in the Royal Parks dispute was facing victimisation. Until that threat was lifted we couldn’t settle the dispute. The good news is that the threat of dismissal has now been withdrawn, and the member’s probation period has been extended, which is the outcome he was looking for. That means we can move forward with discussion around the employer’s offer. That offer includes the recognition of PCS, significant enhancement of sick pay arrangements, and improvements in many contractual terms. We’ll discuss the offer with members at a meeting on Thursday 18...

The ERF [Energy Recovery Facility] where we work is fuelled and funded by bin waste. In a series of morning meetings, we’ve heard that the city’s refuse collection workers are taking strike action over pay and conditions. The first strike day [scheduled for 1 November] was called off after the company made a pay offer, but the GMB drivers’ branch rejected it. The following week, workers and managers at the ERF began discussing the effect on the plant. Management estimate (or at least tell us that they estimate) a small reduction in waste. Other waste streams will be tipped at the plant as...