Inflation and pay
28 November 2021
Inflation is at its highest in a decade and prices continue to rise. Trade unions are beginning to respond, but there’s opportunity for doing more.
Pay
Pay
Long-running pay fight engulfs ScotRail
21 August 2021
Scotland is currently hosting the longest pay dispute on the railways so far, with ScotRail guards striking every Sunday since 28 March.
Wages on the up - just
Wage growth in the UK rose to 3.6 per cent in the year to May 2019, the highest growth rate since 2008, according to Office for National Statistics figures.
Employment and earnings on the rise - a little
27 July 2019
Wage growth in the UK rose to 3.6 per cent in the year to May 2019, the highest growth rate since 2008, according to official figures – despite media gloom over Brexit.
Fleet Auxiliarly action over pay
Nearly 700 Royal Fleet Auxiliary sailors, members of the RMT union, are to take industrial action from 2 July in a dispute over pay.
Action over pay in Royal Fleet Auxiliary
27 June 2019
Nearly 700 Royal Fleet Auxiliary sailors, members of the RMT union, are to take industrial action from 2 July in a dispute over pay.
Home truths - hard times
28 February 2019
Young workers are finding it harder to set up their own home. This is due to rising house prices, static wages and low levels of employment.
We need to talk about pay
At a time when many in the country are becoming alive to the possibilities of control in the context of Britain and the European Union, collective control of pay is at a low point. That has got to change…
Bus drivers striking for pay
9 December 2018
Bus drivers in two areas of northern England are striking over pay.
Glasgow equal pay fight
Thousands of women workers, including cleaners, carers, learning support staff, and those in nurseries and administration walked out on 23 October on a two-day strike.
Unison accepts NHS pay agreement
Members of Unison, the largest union in the NHS, have voted overwhelmingly to accept the latest pay agreement.
NHS staff consider pay offer
It’s bad enough that the NHS has been lagging behind inflation for seven years but take the rise in travel costs, accommodation and food into account and the gap between the pay “rise” and RPI becomes even starker.
'Strength in workplace' matters most, admits Unite
28 March 2018
While stoking fears about the impact of Brexit, Unite has acknowledged that protection comes from collective strength in the workplace.
Fake militancy over pay
Unison, GMB and Unite are currently considering a pay offer to local government and schools staff from local government employers of 2 per cent a year over two years from April.
Call that a campaign?
Blink and you would have missed it. The TUC’s campaign on public sector pay kicked off on 17 October with a desultory lobby of parliament.
NHS pay battle falters
More and more staff at Barts Health are seeing the importance of protecting Agenda for Change rates…
CEO pay: out of all proportion
The ratio of pay between the average top FTSE 100 Chief Executive Officer pay and the average worker now stands at 129:1.
Glasgow janitors' dispute ends in victory
20 August 2017
Janitors in Glasgow’s primary, nursery and additional support schools have won a pay rise – and the principle of one janitor, one school.
Real earnings slump for Londoners
10 July 2017
A survey of average earnings across London’s 32 boroughs by the GMB union shows London in a very different light from the usual picture of the capital as a thriving business centre.
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.
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.