Solidarity 593, 19 May 2021

A slow week, with only a further £110 towards sponsoring Tim Cooper’s parachute jump, but another donation of £500 takes us to a total of £6720.94. Please keep donations coming in towards our target of £20,000 by 11 July . Or sponsor Tim here .

Bosses at the Swansea Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), where our members have struck twice against a lack of workplace safety, threatened to increase the number of workers on site even further from 17 May. Under the threat of a week-long strike starting the 17th, though, they have backed off. They have this week to reach a deal with us; if they don’t, then we have served notice for another strike for the entire week beginning Monday 24 May. Previously our strikes have only involved those workers who were being made to work from the physical workplace. This time it’ll involve...

As expected, the majority of NHS union members and trade unions in Scotland have voted in consultative ballots to accept the 4% pay offer. Members of Unison, Unite, and the smaller profession-based unions such as the RCM and CSP voted to accept. 85% of those voting in Unison, the biggest union, accepted. GMB and RCN members rejected in line with their leaderships’ recommendations. The Scottish government quickly announced it would be implementing the deal with no further negotiation, and it looks unlikely that the rejecting unions will seriously oppose this. Although not quite meeting the...

Bus drivers working for Metroline, one of London’s largest bus companies, will strike on 25-26 May and 7-9 June. Metroline employs around 16% of all bus drivers across London. The workers, who are members of Unite, want the company to scrap plans to impose a “remote sign-on” policy. Currently, workers book on for duty at a bus depot; under the new system, drivers would pick up their bus at a location along its route. Unite says the scheme has no benefit for passengers, and could lead to disruption and delays. It says the measure is designed to cut costs for Metroline. Workers scored a victory...

Sadly, Rick Sumner of the National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign has died. Once a miner at Shuttle Eye Colliery in West Yorkshire, in the aftermath of the 1984-5 strike he, along with his wife, Christine, organised the Justice campaign to help the many miners who were victimised and unable to find work. I met him a few times at various functions such as the Chesterfield May Day Rally and the Durham Miners’ Gala, where he was a regular presence with his stall of miners’ memorabilia and publications. A few years ago he stood down and the work of the campaign is being continued by others...

On Tuesday 18 May there was a Palestinian general strike across Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. Since the bombs and rockets started, some Palestinian mobilisation in Israel has been turned to reactionary mirror-images of the Jewish-chauvinist outrages, with attacks on synagogues. But also there, dominant before, and with chances of being dominant in future, is mobilisation for democratic rights, jointly with Jewish protesters. There have been Jewish-Arab protests against evictions or threats of eviction in the Jerusalem district of Sheikh Jarrah for many years, and with increasing tempo in...

Following a meeting called by Momentum Internationalists between UK labour movement activists and Myanmar trade union leaders, there will be a series of protests directed at UK brands from this weekend. Sheffield: Saturday 22 May 11 am H&M on Fargate Newcastle: Friday 21 May, 2 pm, H&M on Northumberland Street North London: Sunday 23 May, 11 am H&M in Wood Green Lambeth and Lewisham, both to be confirmed. Trade unionists in Myanmar and around the world are demanding that global brands work with their suppliers to safeguard the jobs of workers who are unable to attend work due to the political...