U.K.
Strong support for COVID strike and victory for court staff
The PCS public and commercial services union reports strong support for its second round of strike action at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority in South Wales. Other unions and Labour MPs have backed the action which aims to secure improved health and safety provision at a workplace that has seen some of the highest rates of COVID infections anywhere in the country. Meanwhile the union is also celebrating a positive result from strike action taken by its members working in the court service but employed by the OCS multinational. They secured a new two-year agreement backdated to April
Civil service union plans further action over safety
Members of the PCS civil service union at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in Swansea, South Wales, have agreed to take another four days of strike action from 4-7 May. This follows the four-day action on 6-9 April that the union says was strongly supported. PCS is concerned that DVLA management have failed to take action to address safety concerns following very high levels of COVID-19 infections at the site where 4000 workers are employed. The union has also argued about the level of continuing risk involved from allowing 2000 workers to carry on working at the site.
Platform work: making workers’ rights matter
In February this year, the Supreme Court in the UK ruled that Uber, the driving, and delivery platform, should treat its drivers as workers and not as self-employed. This follows a trend across Europe where courts in several countries have forced digital platforms to revise the employment relationship with the workers providing their services. Platform work is changing the economic and social landscape, revolutionising the way services are delivered while raising major questions about social and labour rights.
Massive support for COVID-related strike action
Over 1400 workers, members of the PCS civil service union, took strike action from 6-9 April in protest at the failure to address safety issues at the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea in South Wales. Over 600 DVLA employees have tested positive for COVID since last September with no effective response from management or the Department of Transport (DoT). Following the strike the union has called for immediate talks to resume with the DoT and will be discussing next steps with members.
Health workers in Scotland offered 4% pay rise
In contrast to the 1% increase on the table in England, health trade unions in Scotland are considering a 4% pay offer. This would be backdated to 1 December 2020 and cover the period to 31 March 2022. The lowest pay rates (up to around GBP 25000 pa (EUR 29000)) would get a GBP 1009 (EUR 1180) increase worth 5.46% for the lowest paid. The 4% applies to pay rates from GBP 25000 to around GBP 50000 (EUR 58500) and higher rates get lower increases. Health trade unions have been calling for higher pay rises, not just in recognition of the efforts of staff during the pandemic but also as a crucial
Union anger over 1% pay offer for health workers
Health unions have attacked the government for offering a 1% pay increase to health workers – a figure that unions say will fail to keep pace with inflation and does nothing to compensate workers for the real term loss in pay over the past 10 years. The RCN nursing union is calling for a 12.5% increase for nursing staff which it underlines is crucial to deliver fair pay, recruitment, retention, and safe staffing. The GMB general workers’ union reveals the impact of pay freezes and below-inflation pay rises since 2010 that have effectively cut staff pay by anything from GBP 3000 (EUR 3500) to
Civil service union secures 13% pay rise over three years
PCS, the largest union in the civil service, has negotiated a three-year deal covering workers in the HMRC department (revenues and customs), the third largest section of the civil service with around 60000 workers. The deal includes an average 13% increase in pay over three years: with 3% paid in March 2021 and backdated to June 2020; a further 5% payable from June 2021; and a further 5% payable from June 2022. The pay award is significantly weighted towards providing major increases for the lowest paid. The agreement also allows for significant progression through the various pay ranges for
Local government unions call for substantial pay increase
The three main unions representing municipal workers – Unison, Unite and GMB – have put in a pay claim for an increase of at least 10% from this April. They say this will begin to redress a decade of cuts and recognise the key role played in the pandemic by school and council staff. The negotiations cover staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the claim aims to bring the lowest paid workers above £10 (EUR 11.50) per hour. This would put them above the real “living wage” of £9.50 (EUR 10.90) per hour (outside London). The unions calculate that staff working in local government
Care review calls for sector bargaining across Scotland
An independent review of the system of adult social care in Scotland has endorsed action on fair pay and called for the establishment of sector collective bargaining. The review has been welcomed by public services union UNISON which points out that the review highlights the structural challenges in the social care sector that inhibit workers ability to collectively bargain for improved pay and conditions. The union underlines the importance of better training, standards, pay and fair working conditions for improving the quality of care and as a boost to the economy.
Health unions call for pay rise to be brought forward
Fourteen health service unions have submitted their evidence for negotiations for this year’s pay claim for 1.3 million NHS workers calling for early implementation. To back this up UNISON, the Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of Midwives have written to the prime minister also urging him to support a pay rise as soon as possible. Although the current agreement expires at the end of March, it would be unlikely that negotiations would be finished by then and in normal circumstances workers might not receive the pay increase until the summer. Unions argue that an early increase would
Gas workers strike over attack on pay and conditions
Around 9000 employees of British Gas were due to begin a five-day strike from 7 January in protest at the company’s decision to fire all workers and rehire them on worse pay and conditions. British Gas’s parent company Centrica claimed the measures are necessary in response to the impact of the pandemic. However, the GMB trade union, representing engineers and call-centre staff argue that the initiative is excessive particularly in view of the company’s latest reported operating profits. 89% of the union’s members in the company voted for the strike action.