GMB

Workers at Amazon’s BHX4 facility in Coventry will strike on 7-9 and 24 November as their fight for better pay and conditions goes on. The strikes will take the number of walkouts at BHX4 since the dispute began to nearly 30. Amazon has recently announced an intention to increase hourly pay by just £1, a move dismissed by the GMB union as coming nowhere near meeting workers’ needs. The strike is timed to cover Black Friday (24 November), a major trading day for Amazon globally. GMB organiser Rachel Fagan said: “This is an unprecedented and historic moment with low-paid workers taking on one of...

Pro-Ukraine activists in the UK seem to have tacked on to the Veolia workers’ pay dispute in Notts the demand for the company to pull out of Russia, as an act of solidarity with Ukraine’s fight against the Russian imperialist invasion. Clearly, as I have already stated, the Veolia workers’ pay dispute should be supported. My objection is that the additional demand is a distraction and wrong. Firstly, because the demand for Veolia to pull out off Russia will have no impact on Putin’s war. If Veolia gave in tomorrow it would not stop a single Russian bullet being fired. Putin’s state (in so far...

After a meeting with management at ACAS, striking GMB workers at three Veolia waste-management sites in Nottinghamshire will vote soon on a new offer. One member described it as nothing to get excited about. It includes an agreement to negotiate on other issues. After a strong start workers stopped challenging lorries bringing loads into the facilities, having been cowed by management threats. Some members of the local Trades Council and a few socialist activists have succeeded in blocking the entrance until the police turn up, which does enthuse the pickets. But the numbers and availability...

Over 50 members of the GMB union at three plants of the multinational Veolia in Notts began a strike for pay rises on Monday 25 September. Despite a half-yearly turnover of £23 billion and huge profits, the company has paid most workers only the national minimum wage over the 13 years of its operation so far. Notts County Council manages a contract involving Veolia and several district and borough councils to process recyclable waste from local authorities in its area. The strikers are picketing in the way it should be done: challenging every lorry that tries to gain entry, successfully...

The April 2023 pay round in England and Wales local government is not yet settled. No increase has been paid, but the three unions are failing to coordinate. This makes the case for one workplace one union, as Workers’ Liberty has fought for. Immediately we need to build unity on the ground across all three unions. After a ballot between 23 May and 4 July, Unison, the largest of the three unions, decided to take no action. 75% voted for industrial action to improve an offer of £1,925 (£2,352 for London members), but the ballot fell short of the Tory 50% turnout threshold in the overwhelming...

Unison members in Scottish schools will strike 26-28 September, despite the GMB and Unite pulling out of what was to be a joint strike by the three unions. 21,000 Unison members working in 24 of Scotland 32 local authorities will strike. GMB members in ten local authorities and Unite members in eleven local authorities had been due to strike. Although the strike is for a pay rise for all council staff, it specifically targets schools and early years centres. Unison members on strike are school cleaners, kitchen staff, admin. workers and support staff. All three unions had rejected an offer by...

Ministry of Defence workers based at the MoD munitions depot at Beith on the outskirts of Glasgow began a two-week strike on 11 September. Workers struck for two days in July and for two days in August in a dispute about retention bonus payments - these are paid to craft workers (mainly Unite members) but not to non-craft workers (members of the GMB). As a result, a gap of around £18,000 has opened up between craft and non-craft workers. In a ballot held in May, 93% of the 50 or so members the GMB has among the non-craft workers voted to strike. Plans for a fortnight’s strike in late August...

The GMB union has resubmitted a claim for formal recognition at Amazon's BHX4 facility in Coventry to the Central Arbitration Committee, the government body which oversees claims for union recognition. A previous claim earlier this year was paused after Amazon took on up to a thousand new workers. GMB restarted the recognition process in August because they believed they had a solid majority amongst the permanent workforce at Coventry, with union membership standing at 1,100. Legislation stipulates that an employer must accept recognition if a union has more than 50% membership of a...

Amazon workers at two sites struck again in early August.

Barring a last-minute settlement, GMB members employed at the Department of Defence Equipment and Support depot in Beith (near Glasgow) will strike again Friday 4 and Monday 7 August. The munitions depot supplies weapons to British nuclear submarines based in Faslane, and Storm Shadow and Brimstone missiles to Ukrainian forces fighting the Russian invasion. The dispute centres on the existence of a two-tier workforce in the depot. Managers and craft workers are paid bonuses, but non-craft workers are not. To make matters even worse, their current hourly rate of pay is just 23p more than the...