U.K., Greece

The ADEDY public sector trade union confederation has called a national, public sector strike for 21 May over the cost of living and low pay across the public services. ADEDY argues that the pay rise awarded from 1 January 2024 of €38-€42 a month has done little to compensate for the loss of purchasing power over the years since austerity. The confederation says that a nurse has to survive on a net salary of €680. ADEDY is calling for a 10% pay increase for all public sector workers, for collective bargaining on pay, for abolition of the 2% unemployment levy, an increase in the tax-free

Health workers around the country, many of them employed by private contractors and among the lowest paid, have had to resort to strike action to ensure they get a £1600+ (€1870) lump sum payment that was paid to most directly employed staff last year. Action has just paid off for members of UNISON and Unite in Dudley in the West Midlands where until recently their employer, Mitie, had refused the payment. UNISON members were also successful following their action in the South West against the contractor Sodexo and Wiltshire Health and Care, a company jointly owned by three NHS trusts. UNISON

Employees of HC-One – the UK’s biggest private care provider – have accepted a pay deal negotiated by the GMB trade union that gives them the contractual right to at least statutory sick pay from day one of any absence. Previously, sick pay only kicked in after three days of sickness. The union points out that this created a perverse incentive for workers to spread germs among the elderly people they care for. The deal comes after a GMB survey of HC-One care workers revealed one in four were considering quitting over ‘poverty pay’. The GMB says that this is a landmark shift in culture for the

The PCS trade union is set to launch a ballot for industrial action on 18 March as a first step in a renewed campaign around pay, jobs and working conditions. The union has around 150,000 members in over 200 bargaining units across the civil service and has been successful in recent years in securing support for targeted strike action despite the strict UK ballot rules covering public services. The ballot will close on 13 May and there will be a special meeting of the PCS national executive on 15 May to consider the results. The union’s key demands include: a cost-of-living rise, with an

The UNISON, Unite and GMB trade unions have been mobilising their members in the NHS and private contractors to secure unpaid COVID bonuses and pay rises. UNISON and Unite members are taking on Mitie, the large private contractor, which has refused to pay a COVID bonus despite the company being signed up to the national Agenda for Change agreement which requires the payment. Meanwhile, Unite members formerly employed by the contractor Serco but now directly employed by the NHS at Bart’s Hospital in London are also claiming their COVID payment which the hospital management have so far refused

The Unite trade union has welcomed a 7% pay increase in the salaries of clergy working for the Church of England after submitting a pay claim for the first time in history. This was a 2% improvement on the offer originally proposed by church leaders. Unite said the increase was a step towards tackling the financial hardship faced by many in the profession. The national minimum salary will now increase to £28,670 (€33,600) from 1 April 2024 and the national benchmark be increased to £30,638 (€35900). The figures are then used by the church’s dioceses to set individual salaries for their clergy

Public service unions have organised one of the biggest strikes and mobilisations in Northern Ireland for many years as they try to put pressure on the UK government to stop delaying a pay offer for public service workers. The government claims that its hands are tied by the political stalemate in the province and the lack of a functioning Assembly. The unions argue that this is an excuse and that the money is available to make a pay offer immediately. EPSU affiliates UNISON, Unite, GMB and RCN are involved in the action, along with NIPSA, RCM, CSP, SoR, BDA as well as the teaching unions

In a long-running dispute over pay, the BMA doctors’ union has launched a six-day strike involving junior doctors – the occupational category that covers a wide range of qualified doctors and consultants. The union is seeking a deal which will compensate for the 26% decline in real pay for junior doctors since 2008. The strike began on 3 January and will be the single, longest strike action in the history of the National Health Service. Meanwhile, the RCN nurses’ union is maintaining its dispute over pay from last year and has strongly criticised the health ministry for a delay in beginning

On 9 December, the TUC trade union confederation organised its first special congress since 1982 to discuss its strategy to fight the government’s attack on the right to strike. EPSU affiliates in the UK are particularly affected by the new minimum services level legislation which could mean that workers who lawfully vote to strike, could be forced to attend work and even sacked if they don’t comply. The TUC says that one in five workers in Britain – 5.5 million people – the vast majority in public services, are at risk of losing their right to strike as a result of the Strikes Act. In a

The UNISON trade union has secured upgrading and back pay for 60 healthcare assistants employed in accident and emergency services at the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust in North East England. This is part of the union’s national campaign to secure the appropriate grading for workers on band two of the national pay scale, but who have been undertaking clinical duties falling under band three. In this case the workers are set to receive around £3,000 (€3.500 in back pay). Managers at the Trust have also agreed to enter negotiations with UNISON in the new year aimed at re

The local government unions – UNISON, Unite and GMB – have agreed to accept the employers’ offer of a flat-rate pay rise of £1925 (€2205) on annual salaries for 2023. The increase is worth around 9% for the lowest paid workers but about 4% for most of the workforce. The unions had initially demanded an increase of 12.7% and have made clear that they are already looking to the negotiations in 2024 to deliver better pay for local government workers. The agreement covers workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, UNISON is consulting over an improved offer from the employers

On 21 September the ADEDY civil service confederation organised national strike action in protest at labour law changes that were due to be discussed in parliament that day. The changes target the public sector and include relaxations in working time rules that could see civil servants working up to 13 hours a day/78 per week. The changes would mark the end of the five-day week, allow for highly precarious contracts as well as stricter rules on strikes.

Members of the UNISON, Unite, GMB and RCM trade unions joined five other unions in coordinated strike action over pay on 21 and 22 September. Workers in the province are frustrated by the low level of pay offered to civil service workers, the complete lack of a pay offer in the health service and the continuing problems with staffing shortages. The unions are particularly frustrated about the fact that many public service workers in England, Scotland and Wales have aleady accepted pay offers and that the pay gap between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK is increasing. The ETUC sent a