Industrial news in brief

Submitted by Matthew on 4 June, 2013 - 9:41

Tube cleaners working for ISS suspended a planned strike after management backed down on use of the “Bradford Factor” sickness management system (which allows bosses to sack workers for missing as few as three days) to discipline staff.

Cleaners are also demanding an end to biometric fingerprinting, and want ISS to pay the arrears of a pay rise from November 2012 to bring wages in line with the London Living Wage. ISS cleaners on new contracts have also seen their working day increase with no extra pay.

As in the past, ISS bosses have used immigration controls as a weapon of class warfare and responded to the ballot by colluding with the Border Agency to conduct immigration raids on workplaces that have seen over 20 cleaners snatched. Workers say biometric fingerprinting could be used to deport cleaners with precarious immigration status if they stand up for themselves.

One cleaning worker told Workers’ Liberty’s Tubeworker bulletin: “We have a message for ISS: we will not be silenced by your intimidation. We are not slaves. We have the right to take action against your brutal management.”

The Rail, Maritime, and Transport workers’ union (RMT) is preparing to ballot its London Underground and London Overground members for strikes to demand these two companies stop using agencies and give the agency staff permanent jobs.

On London Overground, agency STM “locked out” workers when they started lawful action short of strikes. RMT responded by escalating its protests, and STM backed down.

On London Underground, the “Justice for the 33” campaign in support of sacked former Trainpeople agency staff has maintained a near-constant presence outside the head offices of LU and its parent company TfL in St. James’s Park, as well as visiting workplaces across the network to build support amongst other Tube workers.
Some of the workers had been working on the Tube for five years at the point they were sacked, and had even been asked to train newly-recruited, directly-employed staff, despite not being offered direct contracts themselves.

The proposed strike aims to stop the process of casualisation, demanding that all agency staff are brought into direct employment.

Brighton Greens plan strike busting

The result of a strike ballot by CityClean refuse workers at Brighton Council is due on Friday 7 June.
The workers already launched an unofficial sit-down strike, and have been operating a work-to-rule, against a cuts plan from the Green Party council which could see workers lose up to £4,000 a year from their pay.
The council is discussing “contingency plans” to deal with any strike. It has begun moving a number of vehicles away from CityClean sites for use by agency workers during any potential strike. A statement from the GMB union said it had written to council leader Jason Kitcat to “warn him that the use of agency labour to replace striking workers is unlawful.
“[…] It appears that the Green Party administration on Brighton Council is now gearing up for a full blown strike-busting operation.
“These plans place them amongst the worst employers in the country, with even the Conservative party in Brighton never having attempted such draconian measures.”

Culture workers strike

Culture workers in the museum and galleries sector staged effective full and half-day strikes on May 30 and 31, as part of their Group action strategy linked to the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) national campaign on pay, pensions, and job cuts.
There were lively, well-attended picket lines at Tate Liverpool, Modern, and Britain, and actions at National Museums Liverpool, the National Gallery, and National Portrait Gallery resulted in disruptive room and gallery closures.
Support from comrades in other PCS sections (London DEFRA and Liverpool HMRC) and the Lost Arts campaigning group was warmly welcomed, as were the messages of solidarity from the gallery-going public, as well as the wider union movement.
The culture sector, like many other departments, expects another cut to its operating budget of between 8-10 % in the Comprehensive Spending Revenue due on the 26 June.
Arts and heritage administrations will be looking to pass these cuts down the line to workers. This could take the form of redundancies, further outsourcing and possible enforced closures.
Workers in these revenue-generating sectors are steeling themselves for a further national strike at the end of June, whilst preparing for the inevitable, looming, local disputes.

Mid Yorks NHS strikes escalate

=Health workers at the Mid Yorks NHS Trust have escalated their six-month dispute against downbanding and pay cuts by voting for Trust-wide strike action.
Unison members voted by 75% to strike again in an attempt to stop a cuts plan which could see workers lose up to £2,700.
Workers at Dewsbury, Pontefract and Wakefield Pinderfields hospitals have already struck for nine days during the dispute. The escalation of the action, from around 250 affected administrative and clerical workers at the three hospitals to all Unison members across the Trust, is a bold step by the union. The overwhelming vote in favour of strikes demonstrates the depth of solidarity throughout the Trust. A date for a strike is expected to be announced soon.
Messages of support can be sent to the branch at midyorksunison@aol.co.uk.
Send donations for the strike fund to Mid Yorks Unison c/o Trade Union Office, Pinderfields Hospital, Aberford Road, Wakefield WF1 4DG. Make cheques payable to Mid Yorks Unison 20671.

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