TUC pay campaign: to be or not to be?
7 July 2017
First they will, then they won’t. TUC indecision over its “Britain needs a pay rise” campaign is fast becoming a tradition.
Pay
Pay
Victory over paramedic pay
9 June 2017
Ambulance employers have given way and agreed to the unions’ demand that paramedics be upgraded. It’s the result of a two-year national negotiation – and decades of organisation.
Minimum wage? For millions it's a maximum
With a rise in the minimum wage coming into effect on 1 April, the Low Pay Commission has published its analysis of the impact of the National Minimum Wage introduced by the Treasury in 2016.
Millions more struggle to make ends meet
20 February 2017
New research on living standards shows that four million more people in Britain are living below an adequate standard of living.
Wages falling in real terms
Real wages in Britain have fallen by more than 10 per cent in the past ten years, according to government figures.
Unison: no movement on pay claim
Unison’s go-it-alone stance on local government pay has hit the buffers. Its additional pay claim for 2017-18 is not supported by other unions. Employers have refused the claim. New thinking is needed by workers to make progress.
Generation reverse
3 October 2016
Real wages in Britain have fallen by more than 10 per cent in the last ten years according to government figures. The current generation of new workers will be the first since records began to earn less than their parents.
Local government: divisions over pay
As the 2016-17 pay claim looms. Unison, GMB and Unite cannot agree what the claim should be – so Unison has decided to go solo.
North Sea oil workers vote for strike over pay
14 July 2016
More than 200 Unite and RMT workers in the Wood Group working on Shell’s North Sea platforms have voted in favour of strike action over pay.
Action spreads in universities
31 May 2016
University academic staff in the University and College Union began their campaign of industrial action with two-day strike on 25 and 26 May. More action will follow.
Ambulance workers ballot over pay
5 May 2016
Ambulance service workers are to be balloted this month on their attitude to a possible national ambulance strike over pay.
Local government pay in disarray
Pay strategies in local government are now in disarray. Unison, the largest union in local government, has come to a standstill as the members reject the union’s direction of travel.
Junior hospital doctors’ action continues
14 March 2016
Hospital doctors were on strike again on 9 and 10 March. Picket lines were well populated and supported by the public as action against imposition of the junior hospital doctors’ contract continued.
Pay again - local government
9 March 2016
The Trade Union Bill will soon to become an Act. This may even save local government trade unions from another fiasco over the so-called fight for pay in this year’s pay round.
Unions mull local government pay offer
21 January 2016
Unison, Unite and GMB are now consulting their members over the Local Government Association’s two-year pay offer of 1 per cent a year. Once again, rhetoric is outpacing reality.
1972 -1974: The London Allowance campaign
Astronomic rises in house prices and rents, young teachers unable to live in the capital, a staffing crisis in the schools. Sounds familiar?
Local government pay talks under way
The 2016 local government pay negotiations are under way. Unite, GMB and Unison gird their loins for a battle, but the claim is weighted towards the “Living Wage”.
Wardens break pay barrier
Traffic wardens working for outsourcing company NSL in Camden, north London, have voted to accept a new pay agreement. The settlement, which breaks through the ceiling of the “London living wage”, also avoids the need for another two weeks of planned strike action.
Finns strike against government pay cuts
19 September 2015
Finland’s national trade unions held a mass demonstration on 18 September at Helsinki Railway Station, combined with widespread strikes, against government plans to cut pay and benefits.
For employers, subsidies are forever
The assumption that the national minimum wage was good for workers was always wrong.
EasyJet cabin crew ballot over pay
7 July 2015
Cabin crews at the airline easyJet are to be balloted for industrial action by their union, Unite, following a breakdown in negotiations over pay for over 2,000 cabin crew at 11 bases throughout Britain.
Indesit delivery workers ballot on action in fight over pay
6 July 2015
The delivery of thousands of “white goods”, from fridge freezers to kettles, could be severely disrupted if industrial action by more than 200 drivers and warehouse staff at Indesit goes ahead.
After the election
After 7 May, what should workers do? We don’t have the luxury of just preparing for the next election, as the Labour party is doing – though it looks like it is seeing how to lose the next election too.
UCU ready to fight on pay
As Workers goes to press, the Higher Education Committee of the University and College Union will be meeting to discuss the results of its consultative pay ballot.
Higher education union ballots on 'final' pay offer
16 June 2015
University and College Union members in higher education across Britain are currently being consulted on the “full and final” offer for 2015-16 made to the union by the University and Colleges Employers Association.
Sheffield bakery staff into second day of strike
16 June 2015
Workers in the food industry union BFAWU today enter the second day of their 48-hour strike at Gunstones factory, Sheffield, following the employer’s decision to force through a pay freeze.
Rail strike threat draws new offer
2 June 2015
Planned strikes at Network Rail over pay and conditions this week and next have been called off after the rail operator increased its pay offer to 2 per cent this year.
Globe tour guides prepare fresh action over pay
25 May 2015
Guides at London’s Globe Theatre are preparing for their second day of strike action over pay. The 38 tour guides have been in dispute since 2014, fighting for pay parity with similar prestigious organisations.
National rail strike suspended after improved pay offer
25 May 2015
Rail unions RMT and TSSA suspended a national rail strike scheduled for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend after Network Rail improved its pay offer. It would have been the first national rail strike for two decades.