Strike Spotting UK 26.01.04 - 21.02.04

Civil Service Strike

29/01/04
COURTS STAFF in Bristol ON STRIKE OVER PAY
Staff from Bristol's Crown and County courts went on strike today in protest against poor pay. Clerks, ushers and administrators picketed outside the courts to protest against below-inflation pay rise proposals. The industrial action was organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union. Court staff were due to be joined by Jobcentre employees and staff from the Department for Work and Pensions in Bristol but they decided to call off their stoppages while talks continue.

29/01/04
20,000 civil servants go on strike
The Prison Service could be hit by the strikes
Almost 20,000 civil servants in four government departments are starting a two-day strike in separate pay rows. Staff including court ushers and clerks and immigration officers are joining the walkout as part of a campaign to tackle low pay in the civil service. The Public and Commercial Services union accused management in the Whitehall departments concerned of "driving down" pay. Union leaders claimed the strike would disrupt courts in England and Wales. But a planned walkout by up to 86,000 civil servants in the Department of Work and Pensions was postponed on Wednesday for at least two weeks. Staff in the Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office, Prison Service, Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Treasury Solicitors voted in separate ballots to take industrial action, with majorities ranging from 54% to 63%.

30/01/04
New strike by civil servants
Dispute over pay leads to walkouts
CIVIL servants across Northern Ireland are to stage another one-day strike next Friday as part of their ongoing pay protest, it was confirmed today.
The news came as thousands of civil servants who are members of the public service union Nipsa staged walkouts of up to two hours to attend protest rallies at Stormont in Belfast and in the centre of Londonderry.
The strike next week by around 20,000 public servants will be the second mass day-long stoppage mounted during the dispute.

30/01/04
Jail staff strike over pay deal
STAFF at a prison near Burton have defied the freezing winter weather to man picket lines as part of a civil service strike.

06/02/04
Strike threat to Jobcentres
Up to 86,000 government workers are to go on strike after the breakdown of talks over pay and benefits, in action that could close Jobcentres and benefits offices. The action on February 16 and 17 was called by the Public and Commercial Services union after the Department for Work and Pensions failed to move significantly on either pay or a threat to bonuses.

06/02/04
NI government in Northern Ireland offices hit by strike action
Strike action by civil service union members in an ongoing dispute over pay has been condemned by government who have called for staff to return to work. Many government offices will remain closed today as industrial action by up to 20,000 Northern Ireland civil servants forced many offices to be shut down Meat inspection staff are currently on a four-day strike as part of the civil service pay dispute. Meat plants in Ballymena and Crumlin have been closed and NIPSA is warning that the action is very likely to extend to other parts of the province.

16/02/04
Strike fails to shut job centres
Thousands of workers are on strike
The Department for Work & Pensions has downplayed the impact of the biggest civil service strike in 13 years. It said the vast majority of job centres remained open on Monday, despite the decision by up to 85,000 workers to go on strike. The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said 80-90% of its members had walked out of job centres and benefits offices, disrupting services. The DWP said that nearly 90% of job centres were open and providing a service. "Early reports suggest that only 146 offices have closed as a result of action," the DWP said in a statement.

17/02/04
Striking staff in Northern Irland to lose pay
Ian Pearson said pay would be withheld where work was not done
Striking civil servants will have to face the prospect of losing pay for taking industrial action, the finance minister, Ian Pearson, has said.
In a letter to staff in all the government departments in Northern Ireland, Mr Pearson said there would be no increase to the 2003 pay award.

Car Industry

08/02/04
Land Rover workers in pay strike
Production of Land Rover vehicles was being hit by another 24-hour strike over pay today. Thousands of workers out of the company's factory in Solihull were staging a second walk-out in two weeks after rejecting a two-year deal worth 6.5 per cent. Unions have been pressing for a bigger settlement arguing that Land Rover workers deserved parity with wages at Jaguar. Both firms are owned by car giant Ford. Picket lines were being mounted outside the plant and officials from the Transport & General Workers Union said they were expecting solid support. Union leaders urged the company to reopen negotiations in a bid to head off the threat of further industrial action.

19/02/04
Land Rover workers accept pay offer
Workers at Land Rover have accepted a pay offer ending the threat of further strikes, it has been announced. Employees had rejected a 6.5% pay increase offered over two years and recently staged two 24-hour strikes at the company's Solihull plant in the West Midlands. A fresh ballot was held and 65% of those voting had accepted the two-year offer, the Amicus union confirmed.

12/02/04
Black Cab Manufacturer strike deadlock remains
WORKERS at black cab manufacturers London Taxis International have pledged to stay out on strike until company chiefs agree to a four per cent pay rise. Production was halted at the plant in Holyhead Road over a fortnight ago when all 199 workers walked out in protest over the company's 2.9 per cent pay offer.

Transport

01/02/04
Hundreds of taxi drivers strike
Hundreds of taxi drivers refused to work in Wrexham on Saturday night, leaving thousands of revellers stranded. The private cab drivers were protesting after the local council warned them to display stickers on their cars to show people they are getting into a registered taxi. But drivers claim the signs will damage their cars' paintwork and invade their privacy because they drive them for personal use.


19/02/04
Bus Strike Action
Bus drivers in Lincoln manned a picket line today in a strike over pay - but their employer RoadCar said services remained unaffected. Around 150 workers from the travel firm were expected to take part in walkout today and again on Monday after claiming their union was ignored during recent pay talks. Strike leaders claim votes cast by members of the Transport and General Workers' Union were disregarded.

20/02/04
BUS COMPANY HIT BY STRIKE
BUS passengers in West Lothian could face further disruption this week. Disgruntled bus drivers from First Scotland East, West Lothian's main service provider, held a one day on strike last Saturday, as part of an ongoing dispute with management over conditions and pay. More upset to bus services is expected after many drivers began an unofficial overtime ban on Monday, and further industrial action has not been ruled out.

22/02/04
BUS DRIVERS' BETTER DEAL
Bus drivers threatening to strike over pay have been offered an improved deal which could avert any industrial action.
The Transport and General Workers Union met Trentbarton bosses yesterday and the company described the talks as "most constructive".
A spokesman said : "Trade union representatives have taken away a deal that they will be recommending to their members for acceptance."

Education

02/02/04
College staff in Leicester on strike
College lecturers in Leicester have gone on strike in protest over workload and holiday concerns. Teaching staff at Leicester College have been locked in a dispute with management for more than a year.

Rest of Public Sector

28/01/04
Cleaners Strike at Southampton Institute
The GMB, Britain's General Union, today expressed its outrage at "greedy" service provider MacLellan Group Plc, over its treatment of low paid cleaners contracted to Southampton Institute, who are striking today. The company boasted on its website of a whopping 54% increase in profits to £2.34m in its June 2003 interim financial report, yet bosses have decided to scrap the cleaners' annual pay rise.
The cleaners are predominantly women on part-time contracts and currently earn just £4.80 an hour, barely over the minimum wage, with an annual salary of approximately £3,120.

01/02/04
Cleaners Strike in London
The T&GWU has named two more strike dates as the Hackney refuse dispute hots up. The Council has upped the stakes by refusing to compromise, or even talk, so solidarity with the strikers is more important than ever.
The refuse workers are fighting against new contracts which cut their wages by up to £3,000 and introduce unacceptable new working conditions.
Last week, they took four days of action, which were solidly supported by members. The Council organised a scabbing operation, bringing in agency workers at a big cost to Hackney's finances. Strikers responded by demonstrating outside the agency workers' depot and attempting to persuade them not to undermine the action.

11/02/04
More strikes of Nursery Nurses
About 4,000 nursery nurses have taken part in further strike action as par of a pay row. It comes as the result of a ballot for all-out strike action is expected later this month. The dispute involving local authorities and the public sector union Unison began in May last year. Nursery nurses, who earn about £13,000 a year, want an increase of £4,000 to reflect the extra duties they say they have had to undertake.

16/02/04
Driving tests hit as strike grows
About 5,000 driving tests could be cancelled
Unions say thousands of driving tests have been cancelled as more than 1,000 examiners joined a strike by office staff at the Driving Standards Agency. The strike has added to what is already the worst outbreak of industrial unrest in the civil service for 13 years.


Things waiting to happen...

Car Industry

03/02/04
Ford faces UK strike threat
Workers at Aveley create prototype models
Car giant Ford could face a national strike in the UK in a row over plans to shut a factory in Essex. The company wants to close the site in Aveley, Essex, which produces prototype models and employs 550 staff. Ford says new technology has reduced the number of model vehicles required before production. Workers at the factory voted on Monday to take industrial action over the job losses and unions warned they will hold a ballot on industrial action across the country.

Transport

09/02/04
Ba CitiExpress pilots in Bristol are being balloted on whether they are prepared to strike. The British Air Line Pilots' Association (Balpa) launched a ballot earlier this week. The pilots are unhappy about a pay offer and restructuring of BA CitiExpress, a subsidiary of BA.

11/02/04
Hundreds of workers at Birmingham International Airport are voting on a pace setting 11 per cent pay deal to cover them until 2007. More than 600 staff, including administrators, security and manual workers, are expected to give the union backed settlement the thumbs up.

07/02/04
BUS DRIVERS MOVE CLOSER TO A STRIKE
A STRIKE that could cripple Cumbria's bus services is only six weeks away after drivers rejected the latest pay offer from Stagecoach. Drivers in the Transport & General Workers' Union voted by 276 to 67 to reject the offer and will now be balloted on strike action.

20/02/04
Wildcat strike threat on the Tube
Tube workers are threatening wildcat strikes in support of eight maintenance workers sacked after empty beer cans were found in a mess room. Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are being formally balloted over taking action. But leaflets circulated among workers warn of unofficial stoppages which would cause travel chaos. Metronet, which employs the men, said they were sacked because of its "robust" policy on drink and drugs. Empty brandy and wine bottles and cans of lager and cider were found in a fridge, cooker and in a loft above the room at Farringdon Tube station.

Media

05/02/04
BBC STAFF STRIKE
Bbc staff in Leicester were expected to join a nationwide protest after the corporation was criticised in the Hutton Report.

Education

05/02/04
Essex County Council said it was 'disappointed' by a teachers' union's strike threat over plans to change the school year.
Across Essex, 553 teachers with the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) have voted for strike action to stop Essex from imposing a two-week break in April to even up term lengths
It could affect up to 200,000 children at hundreds of schools.

05/02/04
Decision looms over strike action at universities
Staff at the universities in Dundee and St Andrews will know next Thursday if they will be taking strike action over a national pay dispute.
Members of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) at the universities of Dundee, Abertay and St Andrews, together representing over 1100 members, will take part in a vote next Wednesday to decide whether to picket their respective universities or take action short of a strike.

11/02/04
Teachers split over strike
THE borough's main teaching unions are split about taking strike action over Croydon's education funding crisis. A half-day strike in the spring seems on the cards as the 1,700-strong Croydon branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) is to ballot for industrial action, with schools manual workers' unions prepared to do likewise. But last week's annual meeting of Croydon's NASUWT - the second-largest teaching union --voted not to back the strike call.

12/02/04
Lecturers vote to go on strike
University lecturers have voted to go on strike over pay and later this month are likely to join students protesting against top-up fees in an attempt to bring campuses to a standstill. The Association of University Teachers voted to strike over pay by a two to one majority.

16/02/04
LECTURERS at Cambridge Regional College are set to strike on February 26 over a pay dispute.
The college is one of 12 across England where lecturers say a new pay agreement has not been brought in. Members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) held ballots in 12 colleges where they say bosses have not introduced the new pay deal. Lecturers in each voted for the one-day stoppage.

Care

04/02/04
City care workers in Liverpool may go on strike
CHILDREN'S care workers in Liverpool are poised to walk out in protest over stress levels. Services such as adoption, foster care and emergency intervention will be thrown into chaos. Children's home workers will not be affected. Union leaders were meeting staff today to inform them of the results of the ballot. Around 100 people are involved in the action and are expected to be joined by workers from the Liverpool Direct call centre and One Stop Shops. They are all concerned about workloads, and some workers say they are unable to take days and scheduled time off because of staff shortages. branch Angela Blundell said: "If they continue to over-load people with work, the vulnerable children will also suffer."

Rest of Public Sector

04/02/04
Dinner Ladies in Islington angry
Scolarest pulls out of Wandsworth contract
Dinner ladies in Islington, north London, are threatening to strike at the end of the month over cuts to their hours by contractor Scolarest. The GMB union said staff had voted unanimously for strike action at a meeting held on Tuesday. Scolarest, part of the Compass Group, took over the contract 18 months ago from an in-house team.

06/02/2004
Staff in three of the UK's key national museums have voted to take industrial action in protest over the deferred implementation of their 2003 pay and grading deal. Over 220 Prospect members working as curators, conservators and managers are angry after a decision to defer payment was imposed without consultation.

Others

01/02/04
Musicians ready to strike over 'virtual orchestra'
Musicians playing in some of the biggest shows in the West End are threatening to go on strike to stop the theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh replacing them with an electronic "virtual orchestra".

03/02/04
Financial Times strike
FT in talks to avert strike
FT: 2% offer has been labelled 'clearly insufficient'
The Financial Times and the National Union of Journalists are to enter into talks at the conciliation service Acas in a bid to stave off industrial action at the paper.

11/02/04
Call Centre Strike
JOB threatened workers at Norwich Union were today urged to stand up and be
counted by fighting to stop their jobs disappearing abroad. The city-based insurance giant announced in December that more than 2,000 call centre jobs would be transferred to India.

12/02/04
Unions threaten nuclear strike
Union leaders have warned of fresh action at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site over an industrial dispute. BNFL was accused of cutting the number of union representatives at the plant from 11 to four just weeks after a row over pay was resolved.

13/02/04
Telegraph journalists set to strike
Journalists at The Daily and Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator will go on strike next month if the company refuses to improve its current pay offer.

16/02/04
IT strike
Computer staff in talks to avert strike
Management and unions are locked in talks as a strike looms next week which could cripple Bradford Council services. Computer staff will stop work on February 26 and 27 unless the Council agrees to secondment rather than transferring them to a high-powered consortium which would deliver information technology services in partnership with the authority.

22/02/04
Strike ballot for transmission members
BECTU members working in transmission for television, radio and the emergency services are to vote on industrial action.
The 550 members of the broadcasting union BECTU are employed in the broadcast division of telecoms and transmission company ntl.
Today they voted overwhelmingly to reject changes to terms and conditions of employment which could cost some members up to £4,000 a year in salary, in addition to more unsociable working, leading to a deterioration in members' work/life balance. 85% of BECTU's membership voted in the ballot, with 78% voting against the company's proposals.

Called off or settled...

Car Industry

31/01/04
Crunch time for car plant strike threat
D-day has arrived for Nissan workers, who are about to vote on whether to stage the first strike in the history of the Japanese car maker's super-efficient plant. The vote will happen after the company vowed to press ahead with its plans to move its purchasing department from Washington 200 miles south to Bedfordshire.

04/02/04
Car plant strike 'called off'
The Sunderland plant opened in 1986
Strike action by some workers at the Nissan car plant on Wearside has been called off. Members of the Amicus union have called off industrial action following talks with management at the firm's plant in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The company is now believed to be offering alternative jobs for any purchasing staff who do not wish to make the move to Cranfield, Bedfordshire.

22/04/02
Strike avoided after Alvis in job cuts deal
Workers at at crisis factory Alvis Vickers (armoured vehicles), in Telford, will not take strike action after reaching agreement with bosses over an improved severance package, it was revealed today. Bosses revealed last month that up to 260 jobs out of a workforce of around 357 at the plant were to be lost in a £3.5 million shake-up. Staff reacted angrily and preparations were being put made for a strike ballot. But John Lloyd, regional officer for the Amicus AEEU union, today said that situation had now been avoided after crunch talks.

Transport

31/01/04
Metrolink strike called off
Manchester's Metrolink will resume full service this weekend after a planned strike was called off.
Phil Smith, Managing Director of Serco Metrolink said, " We have been advised by the parties that the ASLEF strike action for Saturday 31st January has been withdrawn.
"We are clearly very pleased that the TUC Disputes Committee has agreed on a way forward. Our task now is to concentrate on delivering first class services for the people of Greater Manchester.

Public Sector

27/01/04
Vote on pay ends bin strike threat
THE threat of further rubbish chaos across the Capital has been lifted after binmen accepted a compensation deal for losing public holidays. Refuse collectors voted in favour of accepting up to £1250 for losing six of their ten annual public holidays. The agreement brings to an end a dispute which flared last August when workers embarked on a work-to-rule, leaving rubbish piling high on streets across the city.

29/01/04
Strike called off as offer improved
Planned strike action in the social security sector has been called off at the last minute - but court administration workers are still expected to picket their offices. Hundreds of workers were expected to man pickets today and tomorrow across the city, disrupting JobCentres, the Child Support Agency and the pensions department. They were unhappy with a 2.6 per cent pay offer and a suggested new appraisal system which would have meant workers compiling information on themselves to be examined by superiors.


05/02/04
Oxford Mail Centre Strike Ballot Suspended
National discussions between the CWU and Royal Mail have led to a planned strike ballot in Oxford Mail Centre being suspended.
The dispute over annual leave entitlement led to a request for an official industrial action ballot from the CWU's Oxford branch. This was ratified by the union's Postal Executive last week, but high level discussions have led to a commitment to reach an agreement so employees can be notified of their annual leave allocation by February 20.

Others

01/02/04
Strikes end at Sainsbury's depot
Industrial action at a Sainsbury's depot that supplies produce across the north of England has ended after workers accepted a new pay deal. Members of the Usdaw union at the warehouse in Merseyside, voted by 426 to 218 to accept a deal increasing pay from £5.75 to £7.60 an hour. Up to 750 workers have staged four strikes over the past two months after rejecting previous offers.

01/02/04
Strike against the Union over
A long-running strike by Birmingham staff against their own union has been settled with the involvement of conciliators. The three women clerical workers at the Graphical, Paper and Media Union's West Midlands office in William Street North opted to take a pay-off. The trio, supported by the GMB union, were on strike for nearly eight weeks and sought to embarrass local officials by mounting a picket at national headquarters. The row centred on pay and other grievances, including sickness leave.