Defending jobs

older

Rail union plans national strikes to break pay freeze

Rail union RMT has declared disputes with Network Rail and 17 separate Train Operating Companies, and plans to ballot its members for strikes to break a rail industry pay freeze and defend jobs and conditions. The announcement represents a meaningful step forward, in terms of a major national union taking an offensive, combative stance around cost-of-living issues. TOCs have imposed a pay freeze since January 2021, when Tory rail minister Chris Heaton told them there was “no budget” for increased subsidies to finance pay increases. A statement from the government’s Rail Delivery Group said:...

Goldsmiths bosses still stubborn

After 37 days of strike action members of the University and College Union (UCU) at Goldsmiths are reballoting so that the union can take further industrial action next term if the senior management team (SMT) continues to push through 46 compulsory redundancies. Goldsmith’s SMT, after mishandling its own processes in the redundancy consultation (and refusing to uphold a grievance on it), has now delayed sending out redundancy notices which affect academic staff by just two weeks (to 13 April). Given this extra time the branch has agreed to contact ACAS to schedule a meeting with SMT to...

Nationalise P&O! Reinstate the workers!

The CEO of P&O Ferries, which recently sacked 800 workers, has told a parliamentary committee that his company deliberately broke employment law to avoid a confrontation with trade unions. Tory Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said P&O must reinstate the workers, because the government will legislate for the minimum wage to apply to ferry workers. P&O has taken on new hires at £5.50 an hour. On 29 March, P&O replied that it wouldn’t reinstate. On top of paying a lower hourly rate, it wants to pay workers only for the time actually on the ship, rather than a weekly rate for 24 weeks a year...

P&O fight: solidarity action by other workers is needed!

The left and labour movement should continue to support and build the protests and lobbying of the sacked P&O Ferries workers and their union RMT. (We should also argue for the RMT and wider labour movement to campaign for nationalisation of P&O .) But the best, most likely way to win their reinstatement is through solidarity action. As we understand it, some Hull dockers and river pilots refused to do work allowing the relaunch of the Pride of Hull. However, the Pride of Hull has now launched. We don’t know about other P&O ships. Even if they all launch, there will presumably be dock labour...

DWP plans 40 office closures

On 21 March the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced over 40 office closures. This will lead to massive redundancies, but, let’s be absolutely clear, it is not a “surprising announcement”. The union knew about the vast majority of these closures in 2017 when the employer announced immediate and transitional closure tranches. They refused to start an industrial campaign. Those of us in the Independent Left on the Group Executive of the PCS union at the time warned that the employer were closing offices in tranches to limit industrial opposition and a joint response. We called for...

Fight to save P&O Ferries jobs

Ferry company P&O announced the summary sacking of 800 workers, the bulk of its workforce, on 17 March, to replace them with new workers on worse pay and conditions. The labour movement should demand P&O is taken into public ownership. The RMT union called for this in 2020, but is so far not really making the call now (some RMT speakers have raised it at protests, one RMT press release hints at it.) P&O Ferries complain of unsustainable losses, but P&O’s parent company since 2006, the giant Dubai-owned DP World, paid £270 million in dividends to shareholders in May 2020. P&O received £14...

Hard-hitting action needed in universities

As the University and College Union’s (UCU’s) higher education disputes are about to enter their sixth month this academic year (over the USS pensions and “Four Fights” issues of inequality, low pay, casualisation and workloads), it is clear that a new push is needed if the union wants to fight on to victory. As made clear in last week’s Solidarity , this must come soon: as Solidarity goes to press, UCU members have just two weeks to win re-ballots to see the action extended into the final academic term. With the UCU bureaucracy granting us just three weeks in total to beat the anti-union law...

Nationalise P&O!

• Solidarity messages to dovershipping@rmt.org.uk Ferry company P&O has announced the sacking of the bulk of its workforce, to replace them with new workers on worse pay and conditions. The workers' union, RMT, called immediate demonstrations in Dover, Hull, Liverpool, Larne (Northern Ireland) and London, and is set to continue its campaign. Solidarity messages are flooding in from across the labour movement. Our priority is to rally round the workers and help develop a campaigning strategy to defeat this attack. An important part of a winning campaign is to vocally demand P&O is taken into...

P&O ferry workers remain on board to resist job losses

• Solidarity messages to dovershipping@rmt.org.uk P&O Ferries has laid off its entire UK workforce, making 800 workers summarily and compulsorily redundant via a video announcement. It says it plans to replace them with agency labour from a “third party” labour supplier on worse terms and conditions. The RMT and Nautilus unions, which organise at P&O, have both urged members to remain on-board ships, effectively a form of sit-in, to resist the job losses. There are reports of balaclava-wearing security staff brandishing handcuffs boarding the ships, possibly to forcibly remove workers sitting...

Tube: now follow up on 1-3 March impact!

Two days of solid action across the Tube network (1 and 3 March) have bolstered the fight against proposed job cuts, the tearing-up of agreements, and the upcoming attacks on the pension scheme. The strike was more effective than the company predicted, and caused much wider disruption than even we could have hoped for. The knock-on effect on 2 and 4 March, particularly the lack of shunters, meant the service remained up the wall till well past the morning peak. For many pickets this was their first time on strike, with no strike of station staff since 2017. Pickets were lively, often organised...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.