Strikes and lock-outs

Amazon workers prepare for 28th strike

Workers at Amazon’s BHX4 facility in Coventry are preparing to strike on 24 November, “Black Friday”, a major trading day for Amazon. The walkout will be the workers’ 28th of the year, with official strikes having first taken place in January. 2022 saw unofficial strikes over pay at a number of Amazon facilities. Amazon workers in the USA, Germany, and Italy will also strike on Black Friday, with protests planned in other countries, organised via Make Amazon Pay, a coalition of unions and campaign groups. GMB union membership at BHX4 now stands around 1,000, five times the level prior to the...

Amazon strikes resume

Amazon workers at the BHX4 facility in Coventry resume strikes on 7 November, walking out for three days, with a further strike planned on 24 November, the so-called “Black Friday” which is a major trading day for Amazon and other retailers. 24 November will also see strikes and other protests against Amazon in over 30 other countries. Speaking to a recent conference of the “Make Amazon Pay” campaign coalition, US senator Bernie Sanders said: “No company is a better poster child for the corporate greed and arrogance that we are seeing in the US, the UK and throughout the world than Amazon.”...

UAW strike wins gains

The United Auto Workers (UAW) strikes in the US look close to ending, with major concessions won by the union. Strikes were suspended on Monday 30 October. The UAW had taken six weeks of action (starting 15 September), which was spread to include, eventually, around 35,000 of the UAW’s estimated 146,000 membership in the three affected companies, Ford, General Motors (GM) and Stellantis (Fiat-Chrysler-PSA). Major steps came in late October towards contract agreements, with union president Shawn Fain announcing tentative deals at Stellantis, Ford and, finally, on 30 Oct, GM. These are set to...

Veolia workers accept

After three weeks striking for a pay rise, waste management workers at three Veolia sites in Nottinghamshire have voted to accept a £500 one off cost of living award which will be paid in January. The deal also included commitments from Veolia to change the workplace culture but they’ve already reneged on that at the Forest Town site by stopping smoke breaks and trying to discipline some strikers. GMB Veolia drivers, who also got the payment, have been asking why they weren’t balloted even though they would have had an impact in the dispute. Stranger still, some of those drivers have now left...

Veolia workers strike for pay. Plus: debate on Veolia and boycotting Russia

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...

Autoworkers stand up strikes at the big three

United Auto Workers union members at three production plants in the USA walked out on Friday 15 September following the expiration of a national contract with General Motors (GM), Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), and Ford (collectively, the Big Three). This is the first time the union has ever struck at all three companies simultaneously. Strikes in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio saw just 13,000 of the unions near-150,000 members at the Big Three walk out at midnight. The union leadership strategy is one of escalating action, that threatens to bring more shops out one-by-one for as long as it...

Scottish council workers to strike over pay

Glasgow City Council workers are one of the council workforces due to strike on 26-28 September. 21,000 Unison members working in 24 of Scotland's 32 local authorities are due to strike. GMB members will strike in ten local authorities; Unite members in eleven. Ballots in other local authorities had a majority for strikes, but not 50% turnout. GMB members had been due to strike in mid-September, having been balloted earlier, but postponed so as to strike alongside other unions. The demand is a pay rise for all council staff, but action specifically targets schools and early years centres...

Health workers strike for re-banding

Clinical support workers in Unison at Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals on the Wirral struck for another 72 hours on 11-13 September, with a claim for re-banding back pay. A number of trusts including Manchester University Foundation, Pennine Care and Stockport NHS Foundation, have re-banded their Cases and Health Care Assistants from Band 2 to 3 and paid back pay to 1 April 2018. This dispute is to win the same for workers on the Wirral. Strikes this week have been well supported and the picket line has been lively. More strike days are planned. Organisers are making sure the workers...

Glasgow care workers strike

Silverline care workers struck at the company’s three care homes in Glasgow (Baillieston,Cardonald and Stobhill) on 5-6 September. An overwhelming majority of the hundred-plus GMB members employed in the three homes had voted to strike in a dispute over pay and terms and pay and conditions. 98% of the votes cast in the ballot backed strike action. Silverline - which took over the homes from the Four Seasons Group, although running them has been outsourced to the Minster Group - had imposed a pay rise of between 8p and 13p an hour - just over 1% at a time of 9% inflation (RPI). In addition...

Beith munitions workers strike from 11 September

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...

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