Pay: take up the fight
Health workers will have to decide whether to meekly acquiesce in a continuous reduction of earnings or find a way to do what generations of workers before them have done: fight to improve pay.
Pay
Pay
Victory for Sheffield electricians
22 December 2014
Unite electricians based at Amey Council Work depot Olive Grove Sheffield have settled their dispute, winning a 3.7 per cent pay rise, reports Sheffield Trades Council.
ITV unions unite over pay
Workers at ITV will start the new year with a strike ballot over pay. Three unions – broadcasting and entertainment union BECTU, the National Union of Journalists and Unite – have all rejected a pay offer of 2 per cent.
Rail engineers suspend pay strike
14 December 2014
A planned strike at the Doncaster plant of Wabtec, where rail engineering staff were set to strike for five days from 15 to 19 December in a fight over pay and conditions, has been suspended following eleventh-hour talks with the employer.
NHS staff in second walkout
24 November 2014
Health workers throughout England walked out on strike this morning (24 November) for four hours in their long-running dispute over pay. The action followed a similar walkout on 13 November.
Ritzy workers face sackings threat
28 October 2014
The owners of the Ritzy art house cinema in Brixton, announced on 27 October it would sack a quarter of the workforce – to pay for the wage rise won in one of the year’s most imaginative struggles.
Midwives act on pay, staffing
On Monday 13 October the Royal College of Midwives struck for the first time in its long history – a four-hour stoppage.
NHS strike: News from hospitals
It is a reflection of the discipline and loyalty of health workers to their unions that despite the low ballot turnout they struck and held out in the face of adversity.
Pay: Fiasco in local government
The local government workers’ pay “dispute” is in now in period of consultation, set to end on 12 November – and the latest stage of an increasingly bad farce.
Arts: National Gallery strike
Staff at the National Gallery in London held a 24-hour strike on 15 October, the opening day of the blockbuster Rembrandt exhibition.
Union organisation answer to benefits freeze
17 October 2014
Chancellor Osborne told the Tory conference in Birmingham he will freeze working-age benefits re-elected. The consequences might – and should – be a rise in trade union organisation.
Ambulance workers’ power blunts emergency provocation
The first strikes in the NHS for 32 years on 13 October – especially in the London Ambulance Service – gave the lie to the idea that workers are weak and that unions don’t matter.
Midwives to take historic action
30 September 2014
Midwives and maternity support workers will walk out on Monday 13 October after the government overruled the Independent Pay Review Board’s recommendation for a 1 per cent rise.
Strike call in NHS England
Unison members in the NHS in England are to be called on to take part in a four-hour strike on 13 October for more pay. But after that, what?
Health care professionals face 7-day challenge
People who work in health know that low levels of service provision over the weekend put patients’ lives in danger. The problem is how to move to 7-day provision while preserving wages and conditions…
Pay: Chief execs rake it in
Chief executives of the FTSE 100 companies are now earning 131 times the average wage of their employees, compared with 41 times in 1998.
Zero hours: Sham proposals
Government talk of banning clamping down on zero hours contracts is a way of helping employers find ways round any new rules.
TUC and pay - time to grasp the nettle
We need to destroy the pay freeze and put wages centre stage. But in preparations for Congress the real focus has been on the next general election.
Pay: a step in the right direction
This October’s TUC national demo will have a single concrete demand: Britain Needs a Pay Rise. It's a welcome change from vague calls such as the March for the Alternative.
Marx on pay
The ruling class has used parliament to introduce various methods of wage restraint to demoralise the working class. The minimum wage and the “living wage” are current examples.
“Britain needs a pay rise”
“Britain needs a pay rise”
Saturday 18 October 2014 11:00
The TUC has chosen pay as the topic for a national demonstration in London. Assemble from 11am at the Embankment before moving on to Hyde Park for rally, speeches. Check www.britainneedsapayrise.org for updates.
Eurobriefs: The latest from Brussels
Britain’s largest union backs referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union…Euro-election turnout lower than first thought…Government report into free movement of labour
Meat safety: Abattoir action
Vets and hygiene inspectors working in abattoirs on behalf of the Food Standards Agency have voted for industrial action after a below inflation pay offer coupled with a refusal to negotiate.
Second strike at TfL
Travel centres at stations across the capital were disrupted on 13 June in what the unions involved have dubbed a “let them eat cake” dispute at Transport for London.
NHS protests across England
As part of the ongoing pay dispute in the NHS, Unison and other health unions organised protests across England with lobbies, banners and stalls at dozens of hospital gates on 5 June.
Six calls to action
The Communist Party of Britain Marxist-Leninist held its 16th Congress in late 2012, a coming together of the Party to consider the state of Britain and what needs to happen in the future. Here we set out briefly six Calls to Action for the British working class.
The NHS: fighting inside, fighting to win
For those working in the NHS, our best chance of entering the field in our best shape is the battle for pay...