Strikes: Labour MPs including Tarry, Lavery and Osborne defy Starmer’s order not to joint picket line – but no action taken yet February 1, 2023 A number of Labour MPs have joined picket lines to support striking workers, despite party leader Keir Starmer previously saying no MP should be on a picket line “if they want to be in government”. The official Conservative Party press office account shared tweets from 13 Labour MPs such as Richard Burgon, Ian Lavery and [...]
Network Rail makes new offer to RMT in bid to avert more strikes: Pay increase stays but hours reduced February 1, 2023 Network Rail has tweaked the offer it made last month to the union RMT in a bid to avert more strike action. Chief negotiator Tim Shoveller sent yesterday an email to staff, saying the new offer “added some fresh proposals.” These include cutting down the hours of maintenance staff from 40 to 35 per week, [...]
Rail strikes: End is now ‘further away’ than when walkouts started, Aslef says February 1, 2023 A resolution to the dispute between train drivers and operators is “further away than when we started,” according to rail union Aslef. Around 12,500 Aslef members at 15 companies are on strike today as part of a ongoing dispute over pay and jobs, joining hundreds of thousands of workers in what is considered the biggest [...]
Strikes happening TODAY: Hundreds of thousands of school and rail workers walk out as students and commuters left stranded February 1, 2023 Hundreds of thousands of workers – including school teachers – are going on strike for what will be the biggest day of industrial action in more than a decade. Teachers in England and Wales, who are members of the National Education Union (NEU), will embark on their first day of strikes on Wednesday, which threaten to disrupt more [...]
Hospitality braces for £100m in lost sales ahead of biggest day of strikes in over a decade January 30, 2023 Retail and hospitality figures have described strike action set to take place on Wednesday as “damaging” to the sector and “entirely avoidable”. Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality told City A.M. she estimates union strikes this week will set the sector back a further £100m in lost sales, with “much of that impact being felt [...]
Amazon mutiny: 300 UK staff strike over pay in historic first for the company January 25, 2023 Amazon workers are staging their first ever strike in the UK in a dispute over pay. Members of the GMB at the company’s fulfilment centre in Coventry voted to walk out on Wednesday in protest against a pay rise the union said is worth 50p an hour. Stuart Richards, GMB senior organiser, said: “Today, Amazon workers in Coventry [...]
Glass half-full: Why Fuller’s chief remains optimistic despite strikes leaving a £4m dent in Christmas sales January 23, 2023 Pub chain Fuller’s lost £4m in sales due to the impact of strikes over Christmas and new year, as its chief warned of lower expectations for the full year. Chiswick-based Fuller, Smith and Turner reported in the 43 weeks to January that like-for-like sales were up a fifth on the Covid-impacted previous year – despite [...]
RMT receives new pay offer from train companies in bid to avert more strikes – but will its members accept? January 19, 2023 The RMT rail union has announced it has received a new and improved pay offer from train operators in a bid to avert more strikes. Union bosses said they will consider the deal – which is worth a minimum of nine per cent over two years – and decide whether to put it to their [...]
Sunak accused of acting ‘like A-list celeb’ by flying to Blackpool instead of £257 strike-affected train ride January 19, 2023 Rishi Sunak has been criticised for using a jet to travel to Blackpool as he opts for flights around Britain rather than trains. The Prime Minister took an RAF jet from Northolt to Blackpool as he carried out a series of visits in northern England linked to an announcement on new levelling up funding. Labour [...]
Settling rail dispute would have been cheaper than strikes, admits minister January 18, 2023 Rail minister Huw Merriman has admitted the government has lost more money due to the rail strikes’ impact than it would have if it had settled the dispute with unions months ago. “It’s actually ended up costing more than it would have if [the dispute] had been settled,” the minister told members of the Commons’ [...]