A list of upcoming strike action

With little sign of demands for fairer pay and working conditions being met in many sectors, industrial action is set to continue across the UK into next week and beyond.

Unite balloons being flown at a TUC march

The four-day junior doctors’ strike for fairer pay came to an end this morning. With little sign of pay demands being met in many sectors, industrial action is set to continue across the UK into next week and beyond.

Here’s a list of upcoming strike action.

RCN nurses

Nurses in the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union have rejected the government’s pay offer in England and will go on strike over the first May bank holiday.  Members voted narrowly, by 54 percent to 46 percent, on a turnout of 61 percent, to reject the government’s 5 percent pay rise offer this year and a cash payment for last year.

Teachers

After rejecting the government’s pay offer of a 4.5 percent increase this year on top of a 5.4 percent increase last September, and a £1,000 one-off payment, teachers in England voted overwhelmingly for further strike action.

A walk-out is set to take place on April 27 and May 2.

In a statement, NEU joint general secretaries Kevin Courtney and Dr Mary Bousted said: “No teacher wants to be on strike. Nor can they accept this offer that does nothing to address the decades of below inflation pay increases making them the worst paid teachers in the UK.

“The offer will do nothing to stem the teacher recruitment and retention crisis which is so damaging to our children and young people’s education.”

BBC

Local radio staff at the BBC are due to strike again in opposition to cuts that are planned to regional services, which will result in job losses.

The strike action is taking place to May 5, coinciding with the results of the local election.

Paul Siegert, National Union of Journalists’ (NUJ) broadcasting organiser, said: “Video didn’t kill off radio and nor will digital. We understand that digital services need to be improved but it shouldn’t come at the expense of local radio which is at the heart of the BBC’s public service remit.

“Once local radio stops being local then it is the beginning of the end and BBC bosses don’t have the right to destroy an institution that has existed for over 50 years.”

Amazon workers

Members of the GMB union who work for Amazon are set to start a fresh round of strike action on April 16 – 18 and April 21 – 23.

Amanda Gearing, GMB senior organiser, said: “Three months ago Amazon told our members there was no money left for pay rises, yet through pressure, campaigning and strike action we’ve forced Amazon to sit up and take notice. 

“Six further days of strike action in Coventry is a clear statement from our members they are worth more; they will not accept a pay rise of pennies from one of the world’s wealthiest corporations.”

Train cleaners

Hundreds of contracted out cleaners working on trains across the UK are taking part in a two-day strike walk-out, which ends today – April 15.

RMT members working as cleaners for the companies like Bidvest Noonan, Churchill, and Atalian Servest are demanding £15 an hour, decent holiday, company sick pay, and good pensions from contractors who are raking in profits worth millions of pounds.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Contracting out on the railways is one of the most perverse and exploitative practices in the industry.

“It is leading to our members in the cleaning grades barely scraping by on poverty wages and appalling terms and conditions. 

“RMT is calling time on these multimillion-pound contractors. They now need to pay up and use their generous dividends and profits and invest in their workforce.

“Ultimately the train companies and the government must step in, to end outsourcing and bring train cleaners in house, paying them properly and giving them decent holidays and sick pay.

“Our members are fully prepared take whatever industrial action is required to get justice in the workplace and a decent life for them and their families.”

Civil service and public bodies

Around 124 government departments have voted to strike, amid demands for a 10 percent pay rise, job security, no cuts to redundancy terms, and pensions justice. On April 3, staff at the Passport Office began a five-week walkout, as part of the civil service dispute. More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) at eight passport processing centres across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are taking part in the walk out.

The strikes are set to last until May 5.

Driving examiners  

Some driving examiners who are members of the PCS are also taking part in strike action throughout April. Test centres in the north-east of England and Scotland will be affected on April 17 and 18. Centres in the north-west, and Yorkshire and the Humber will be disrupted on April 20 and 21. On 24 and 25 April, centres in the east of England, the East Midlands, West Midlands and part so London will be affected, and in London, south-east England, south-west England and Wales on April 27 and 27.

Ofgem

PCS members working in the delivery and schemes division at Ofgem are set to continue last week’s strike action on April 17. The walk out is part of targeted strikes action of pay, pension, job security and redundancy terms.

Environment Agency

This week, thousands of Environment Agency workers began a three-day walk-out over claims of ‘endemic low pay.’ The action from the Unison trade union will see staff working on flood defences, river pollution and fires walk out, will end on the morning of April 17.

Junior doctors

After 15 years of below-inflation pay increases the BMA has warned that if full pay restoration is not achieved following this week’s 96-hour walkout, there will be further action to come.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward

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