Strikes and lock-outs

Genoa revolt subsides

After five days of all-out strikes by Genoa’s public sector transport workers, a ferociously contested four-hour mass assembly on Saturday 23 November resulted in resigned acceptance of a shabby deal cooked up by the local mayor and the bureaucrats of the major unions involved. The strike had been launched by rank-and-file workers against the “leftwing” Mayor’s plans to privatise the lcoal public owned transport company, against a background of cuts to wages and conditions. Almost instantaneously the radical momentum of the collective “downing of tools” of nearly 3,000 workers spread across...

Outsourced workers strike for equality

On Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 November, outsourced workers at the University of London will strike as part of their “3 Cosas” (“3 Things”) campaign for sick pay, holiday, and pension equality with their directly employed colleagues. The strike coincides with the University’s “Foundation Day”, due to be attended by Princess Anne. A protest is planned for 6pm on Wednesday 27 November at Senate House. A University of London worker spoke to Solidarity about the strike. What are the demands of the strike? There are three demands which form the basis of the industrial dispute between our union...

Fighting casualisation in Higher Education

Higher Education workers will strike again on Wednesday 3 December in a fight against a 1% pay deal. Many HE workers also face battles over zero-hours contracts and casualisation. Here, a UCU activist reports on the campaign against precarious working. Contract-researchers are employed precariously by universities to fulfil short-term projects. We may be employed on temporary contracts of various kinds, some of which are termed “occasional” or “exceptional”. Each species of contract carries its own set of terms and conditions, and these may differ significantly. Essentially, all such fixed...

Railway workers win in Georgia

Over the course of two days earlier this month, a drama played on the Georgian railways that showed the labour movement at its best. This has not always been the case in Georgia, a country whose most famous sons in recent times have been Stalin and Beria. And yet Georgia has a long tradition of working-class struggle, and Georgian labour and social democratic leaders punched far above their weight in the Russian Social Democratic Party and the Second International in the years up to 1917. That tradition was largely forgotten in the decades following the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia. But...

Outsourced University of London workers to strike

Outsourced cleaning, catering, and security workers at the University of London will strike on 27 and 28 November. Their strike ballot returned a 97% vote in favour of strikes, on a 70% turnout. The workers, who are employed by agencies such as Balfour Beatty and Aramark, have been fighting for sick pay, holiday, and pensions equality with their directly-employed colleagues through the "Tres Cosas" ("Three Things") campaign. The campaign has organised regular direct actions, often in conjunction with the University of London Union, and has recently been the victim of attempts to university...

University workers to strike again

Higher Education workers’ unions UCU, Unison, Unite (and the EIS union in Scotland) have called a strike on Tuesday 3 December. Lecturers’ union UCU has begun a work-to-contract, asking members not to take on any duties not strictly required by their terms of employment. Universities depend on the willingness of staff to work well beyond reasonable hours, and a well-organised campaign will help put management under pressure. Local organisation, down to departmental level, with regular members’ meetings, is the key to making the work-to-contract effective. Already one employer — the University...

Industrial news in brief

Outsourced cleaning, catering, and security workers at the University of London are balloting for strikes in their long-running campaign to win sick pay, holiday, and pension equality with their directly-employed colleagues. The workers are organised by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), a small union with few resources. Solidarity and financial support are essential if the workers are to be able to take the kind of action necessary to force concessions from the bosses. You can donate to the strike fund online . For more information on the campaign, including updates on...

More strikes due in fire dispute

Firefighters in England and Wales were posed for their fourth short pension strike this week, as the battle began to harden into a more protracted dispute. On Wednesday 13 November, FBU members in England and Wales will strike from 10am to 2pm, another short action designed to show that firefighters do not accept the government’s unworkable pension changes. The differences have hardened since the last strikes on 1 and 4 November, after the fire minister withdrew part of an earlier offer, making the actuarial reduction for retiring early even more draconian. The most prominent issue is the...

The left on Grangemouth

The Unite union’s defeat by Ineos at the Grangemouth oil refinery and petrochemicals plant in Scotland merits serious analysis and discussion by socialist organisations. We need to understand what happened and draw appropriate lessons in order to minimise the risk of such defeats in future. Much of the left press has been desperate to spin a narrative of a militant workforce champing at the bit to take radical action, but being held back (and, ultimately, stitched up and sold out) by a capitulatory bureaucracy. Workers Power told us: “The workers and their shop stewards, who bravely campaigned...

University workers fight for better pay

On 31 October, Higher Education workers in three unions (UCU, Unite, and Unison) struck against a 1% pay offer. Here, we feature snippets from picket lines around the country. “The consensus from UCU members on the picket line was that there should be a “‘general strike” (their words), by which they meant more coordinated public sector strike action.” University of Northampton “There were around a dozen pickets from all three unions at each of the main entrances to University of East Anglia (UEA) all morning. They were lively despite the showers, and busy, but no-one, or hardly anyone, turned...

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