The ease with which Elon Musk is pushing forward with his mass redundancy plan at Twitter has turned people’s attention to the precarity of jobs in the tech sector that had typically been thought of as prestigious. But as employees of the social media company wade through collective redundancy consultations, workers at two other technology companies are taking steps towards making their jobs more secure.
In Glasgow, Apple Store workers have become the first UK employees of the company to secure union recognition, while Monzo staff announced last week they were planning on taking similar steps. With some rare exceptions, tech has been a sector that has been mostly absent from the recent strike wave, but these initial steps towards unionisation suggest this could change.
Read on for this, but also the RCN expecting a strong strike mandate when ballot results are announced this week, GMB balloting tens of thousands of workers at Asda and the Bank of England predicting that unemployment will double.
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DISPUTES
Nurse ballot result: RCN officials expect to announce shortly that the majority of nurses in some of the UK’s main trusts and health organisations have voted to strike, the Guardian reports.
Asda ballot: GMB is balloting tens of thousands of Asda workers in a dispute over pay, as the supermarket refuses to increase basic pay to £10.10 per hour, in line with the other ‘big four’ supermarkets, the union says.
Rail strikes cancelled: Planned rail strikes have been suspended as the RMT and TSSA enter into a period of “intensive” negotiations with Network Rail and the train operating companies, the unions say. Network Rail had previously declared that it would go ahead in imposing changes to maintenance without agreement from the RMT, but has now conceded that all issues can be up for negotiation, the union says.
Scotland NHS strike mandate: Unite and GMB are progressing with strike plans in Scotland, while Unison says it has suspended its strike ballot and is consulting member’s on the government’s latest offer. Unite members have rejected the latest pay offer by NHS Scotland and have voted in favour of strike action, the union says.
Nearly 4,000 GMB members working in the NHS and ambulance service in Scotland, including paramedics, technicians, nurses, porters, domestics, and radiographers, have also secured a strike mandate, the union says.
UCU national strike and marking boycott: UCU’s higher education committee has agreed to take three days of strike action in every UK university in November and to kick-off a marking boycott in the new year, the union’s general secretary Jo Grady says.
BEIS outsourced workers strike: Outsourced caterers, cleaners, security guards, reception workers, post and porterage staff at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are taking strike action over pay, PCS says.
Qatar World Cup flights scuppered: Around 7000 Workers employed by Dnata and Menzies at Heathrow will take three days of strike action, affecting Qatar Airlines flights in the first days of the World Cup, Unite says. The pay dispute comes after Dnata offered its workers a 5% increase and Menzies offered between two and 6%.
Tyne and Wear Metro strike: More than 50 Tyne and Wear Metro engineers employed by Stadler Rail Service Ltd will strike in November over a 4% pay offer, Unite says.
Island transport at risk: Workers employed by Highland and Island Airport Limited who support travel between some of the most remote islands in Scotland are being balloted for strike action following the rejection of a 5% pay offer, Unite says.
Morrisons drivers balloted: Hundreds of drivers employed by Wincanton PLC on the Morrisons contract are voting on strike action after being offered a below-inflation pay raise, Unite says.
Refuse workers strikes: Waverley refuse workers employed by Biffa are taking three weeks of strike action after they rejected a pay deal, GMB says. In East Suffolk, more than 96% of refuse workers have voted to strike on an 88% turnout, Unison says.
Going nuclear: Workers at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermarston and Burghfield in Berkshire are being balloted for industrial action in a dispute over pay, Unite says.
Oil and gas strikes: Mechanical contractors employed at ExxonMobil’s Fawley Refinery in Southampton, the UK’s largest integrated petrochemical refinery site, are voting on strike action after the company refused to pay an incentive bonus arrangement, GMB says.
Meanwhile, more than a hundred Petrofac oil and gas workers are taking strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute over historical cuts to conditions, Unite says.
Stagecoach pay vote: Hull Stagecoach strikes have been suspended so workers can vote on a new pay offer, Unite says.
Birkbeck cuts: If Birkbeck refuses to “rethink its knee jerk” plans to cut 140 jobs, then UCU will move towards an industrial ballot, the union’s Birkbeck branch president says.
Darlington College ballot: Darlington College workers are being balloted for strike action in a dispute over low pay, UCU says.
Teacher safety ballot: Workers at Northfield Academy in Aberdeen are being balloted for strike action due to safety concerns arising from the “extremely challenging behaviour” of a group of pupils and the failure of school leadership to act, The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) says.
Twitter redundancy consultation: Twitter staff who face losing their jobs in the UK have been given three days to nominate a representative for a formal consultation, the Guardian reports.
Monzo recognition: Workers at online bank Monzo have notified management of their intention to seek union recognition, CWU’s UTAW branch says in a tweet.
Physios vote to strike: Chartered Society of Physiotherapy members in Scotland have voted to strike, the union says.
Fox’s strike suspended: A strike at Fox’s biscuit factory has been suspended as members are balloted on a new pay offer, Unite says.
Al Jazeera strikes cancelled: Planned strikes will no longer go ahead at Al Jazeera following the company’s offer of two pay increases, one in 2022 and another in 2023, the NUJ says.
JOBS AND PAY
BOE predicts unemployment to double: Unemployment will double to nearly 6.4% by the end of 2024, according to the Bank of England. The Bank also points out that people who are economically inactive - those without a job and not seeking one - has increased by more than projected since its august report and is much higher than in other developed economies.
Civil service cull scrapped: Ministers plan to scrap the target of cutting 91,000 civil service jobs and resume recruitment of graduates through the fast-stream scheme, the Guardian reports.
POLITICS AND POLICY
Public support worker representation on boards: Six out of ten people think having worker representation on corporate boards would improve the performance of the UK economy, according to research by the High Pay Centre.
GIG ECONOMY
Uber pays the taxman: Uber is handing £615m to UK tax authorities to settle an investigation into unpaid VAT, the Guardian reports.
WINS
Aye Mac: Apple retail workers at a store in Glasgow have become the first to win trade union recognition in the UK, after two-thirds voted to support recognition in a statutory ACAS ballot, GMB says. The workers have also set up their own website and are calling on others to join.
Local government pay deal: Unison, GMB and Unite have agreed a £1,925 pay increase backdated to 1 April 2022 for hundreds of thousands of local government workers with the Local Government Association, Unison says. The deal is equal to a 10.5% raise for those at the bottom of the pay scale and just over 4% for those at the top.
Coming clean: Linen and laundry workers at Barts Health NHS Trust are being brought onto NHS terms and conditions, which includes a pay increase of up to 17%, Unite says. This follows an agreement to bring 1,800 NHS workers employed by Serco into NHS employment at Barts, the first tranche of which were transferred on 1 November.
London bus win: Over 900 bus drivers employed by the Stagecoach group in East London have secured a 10% pay increase, following the threat of strike action, Unite says. This deal follows several successful campaigns for London bus drivers, including London United drivers securing 10%, Arriva drivers receiving 11% and Go-Ahead bus workers securing 10.5%.
Bottoms Up: Strike action by 1,000 draymen employed by multinational giant GXO has been cancelled after the workers won pay rises of between 9.5% and 12.5%, Unite says.
Taking a bigger bite: Around 700 Princes Group food workers at sites in Glasgow, Bradford, Cardiff and Lincolnshire have secured a 7% pay rise backdated to April 2022 plus a £750 one off payment, Unite says.
College pay deal: Workers at Hopwood Hall College in Rochdale have secured a 9.2% pay award, UCU says.
LEGAL
Manston House challenge: PCS is joining legal action against the Home Secretary over “horrendous, inhumane and dangerous” conditions at the Manston House immigrant detention centre, the union says.
Payout for widow: The widow of a cancer patient has been awarded £1.7 million after her husband lost his company private health insurance when he was unfairly sacked as he fought the disease, the Times reports.
Maternity discrimination: An employment tribunal has ordered Morrisons to pay a mother £60,000 for discriminating against her when she returned from maternity leave, the BBC reports.
Cleaner unfairly dismissed after “flawed” investigation: An employment tribunal has ruled that a cleaner was unfairly dismissed by United Cleaning Solutions following a flawed investigation, which included uncorroborated allegations and witnesses that were not interviewed, GlasgowLive reports.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Protest over worker death: Workers at John Lennon Airport will be protesting following the death of a colleague as she crossed the road on her way to work in August this year, Unite says. The workers are angry that despite repeated tragedies, no action has been taken to make the junction at Hale Road in Liverpool safe, the union says.
Worker death fine: Catering equipment cleaning company Pan Glo (UK) Ltd has been fined £200,000 following the death of a worker who fell into a tank of hot water in Lancashire, Safety and Health Practitioner reports.
Asbestos at oil platform: The Health and Safety Executive has found that asbestos fibres may have been unintentionally disturbed during fabric maintenance work on the north bulkhead of Apache’s Forties Charlie oil platform on 10 April 2022, Energy Voice reports.
WHAT’S COMING UP
Strikes and protests:
Ongoing: Dundee university workers strike
Ongoing: Continuous strike at Arriva Northumberland
Ongoing: Quorn continuous strike action
7 November: Liverpool dock workers strike
7 - 28 November (not continuous): Walsall Housing Group workers strike
8 November - 5 January (not continuous): West Midland Metro workers strike
7 November - 24 December (every Monday Wednesday and Friday): Arrow XL strike
7 - 22 November: Renold Couplings strike
10, 17 and 24 November 2022: Honeywell workers on strike
15 – 19 November; 23 - 24, 26- 27 December: Sunderland bus strike
7 - 21 November: Co-op coffin makers strike
7 - 9 November: Bakkavor Spalding strike
11 November: First Group workers strike in Somerset and Cornwall
10 November: RMT strikes on London Underground and London Overground
12 November - 3 December (not continuous & different departments): Strike action at Royal Mail
14 - 16 November: UCL security officers strike
14 - 28 November: Tyne and Wear Metro engineer strikes
16 - 17 November; 30 November - December: Petrofac strikes
16, 23, 30 November; 7, 14 December: BEIS outsourced workers strike
18 - 21 November: Dnata and Menzies strike at Heathrow
Ballots:
7 November: GMB NHS Northern Ireland strike ballot ends
7 November: End of PCS civil service strike ballot
8 November: End of EIS industrial ballot of Scottish teachers
10 November: Announcement of results of PCS civil service strike ballot
11 November: NEU Sixth Form College strike ballot ends
14 November: FBU consultative pay ballot concludes
15 November: RMT rail strike ballot ends
17 November: Starbucks national day of action
18 November: Unison NHS Northern Ireland strike ballot concludes
21 November: NASUWT strike ballot in Scotland concludes
25 November: Unison NHS England and Wales strike ballot concludes
29 November: GMB ambulance service strike ballots end
30 November: Unite ambulance service strike ballots end
4 December: Asda ballot concludes
9 January: NASUWT strike ballot in England and Wales concludes
13 January: NEU ballot of 300,000 teachers and support staff concludes
Legal:
16 November: GMB3 appear before Brighton magistrates court
Events:
15 November: Strike MCR, Organise Now and StrikeMap organising training in Salford
6 December: Nae Pasaran - film screening and CWU strike fundraiser in Salford
Tell me what's coming up
FEEDBACK
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