Personnel Today monitors the latest developments concerning major industrial action in different sectors, outlining who is on strike and when, whether pay offers are being accepted, and the results of trade union members’ ballots.
Who is on strike and when?
Charities
Civil Servants
Doctors
Fire and Rescue
Food and drink
Further education
Local Government
Midwives
Military
Nurses
Physios
Radiographers
Rail
Retail and distribution
Teachers
Universities
Utilities
In the week commencing 27 November, rail strikes will again cause disruption with the strikes organised by Aslef train drivers on Saturday 2 December starting on East Midlands Railway and LNER. These will be followed by a series of strikes at many other train operating companies until 8 December.
Meanwhile, members of the RMT union have voted to accept a pay deal with the train operating companies, ending their long-running dispute.
Teachers went on strike in Northern Ireland on Wednesday morning (29 November). And in England, consultants and government have reached agreement on a fresh pay offer which union members will now vote on.
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 has now become law, forcing trade unions to adhere to minimum service levels set by the government following consultations in rail, ambulance and fire services.
The government held a consultation on minimum service levels setting out to advise unions on “reasonable steps they should take to ensure minimum service levels are achieved during strike action”.
The government hopes other sectors’ minimum service levels in healthcare, education, border security, other transport sectors and nuclear decommissioning, will be mutually agreed without the need for consultation.
The Labour Party has pledged to repeal what has been nicknamed the “anti-strikes act”, together with the Trade Union Act 2016, which introduced longer notice periods for industrial action, a six-month expiry deadline for ballot mandates, and higher ballot thresholds for public services.
Industrial action in fire, health, education, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning sectors require the support of at least 40% of all those entitled to vote in the relevant ballot and at least a 50% turnout in order to be valid.
Finding cover for striking workers is now much harder. Since August 2023, employers are no longer able to engage agency workers to cover striking employees, following a judgment by the High Court. The court ruled on 13 July that it was unlawful for the government to repeal laws last summer banning employers from using agency workers to cover for staff.
Here, we provide an overview of all major industrial action across the UK, including strike dates, ballots and pay offers…
Last updated: 30 November 2023, 12:20pm
HEALTHCARE
Doctors
There has been a breakthrough in the six weeks of talks between the British Medical Association, the Hospital Consultants & Specialists Association and the government over consultants’ pay.
After having said in July that the 6.5% pay offer was “final”, the government has added another 4.95% to the pay pot for consultants. Members of the BMA and HCSA will now vote on the new pay package, with a result expected in January 2024.
Junior doctors and some Specialist and Specialty (SAS) doctors, however, remain in dispute with employers but are now in “constructive” talks with the government.
Junior doctors
In England, the BMA‘s latest six-month strike mandate for junior doctors expires on 29 February 2024, but there are currently no strikes scheduled as negotiations take place with the Department for Health and Sociial Care.
Junior doctors, members of both the BMA and HCSA last went on strike on 2-4 October, when BMA consultants also took industrial action.
The action followed strikes by junior doctors that took place on 20-22 September, 11-15 August, 13-18 July, 14-17 June, 11-15 April and 13-16 March.
Pay vs inflation
Junior doctors are demanding their pay be restored to 2008 levels, potentially meaning around a 35% pay increase.
The government accepted the pay review body’s recommendation of 6.5% for 2023-24, which was imposed in September.
BMA Cymru Wales has rejected a 2023-24 pay offer of 5% – below the pay review body’s recommended 6.5%. It is organising a ballot on industrial action for junior doctors which runs for six weeks from 6 November, closing 18 December. Consultants and SAS doctors are also expected to be balloted. The BMA accepted a revised offer from the Welsh government for 2022-23
In Scotland, members of the BMA and the HCSA accepted the government’s latest pay offer of 12.4% backdated to April. The Scottish government offered a pay uplift in 2023-24 of 12.4%. On top of the 4.5% pay award already made for 2022-23, it takes the package over two years to a 17.5% aggregated pay increase.
In Northern Ireland, the BMA is organising a strike ballot of its junior doctor members that closes on 19 February 2024.
Consultants
The government and doctors’ unions have reached an agreement on consultants’ pay in England after more than a month of negotiations.
Members of the BMA and HCSA will now vote on the package of proposed changes to the core pay spine, alongside other benefits and amendments to terms and conditions.
An additional 4.95% will be added to consultants’ pay funding, on top of the 6% annual pay rise they received this financial year. A minority of consultants will receive no extra pay, while others could receive as much as 12.8% extra.
Members of both unions now vote on the new consultants’ pay offer for around five weeks from mid-December.
Senior NHS doctors, members of the BMA, voted in favour of strike action in England in June and have a strike mandate that expires on 27 December 2023. On a turnout of 71%, 86% of consultants voted yes to walking out, the same proportion who said they supported strike action in a consultative ballot earlier in the year. Consultant members are currently being reballoted for strike in a vote that closes on 18 December.
Consultants in England who are members of the BMA went on strike on 2-4 October – the longest period of action by consultants so far. The three days of strike action coincided with the junior doctors’ walkout. The action followed strikes by consultants that took place on 24-26 August and 19-20 September.
Unlike when junior doctors strike and consultants can cover their work, junior doctors are unable to cover for consultants. Consultants’ industrial action takes the form of Christmas Day cover, meaning most routine and elective services will be cancelled but full emergency cover will remain in place.
Take-home pay for consultants in England has fallen by 35% since 2008-09 according to the BMA.
In November, the HCSA announced that its consultant and SAS members had voted 77% in favour of strike action should ongoing talks with the Department of Health and Social Care fail to yield results. The ballot on strike action saw 76.9% vote in favour and 23.1% against.
In Wales, BMA Cymru Wales has rejected a 2023-24 pay offer of 5% – below the DDRB-recommend 6.5%. The BMA is planning a ballot on industrial action for junior doctors, consultants and specialists.
Consultant doctors in Northern Ireland will be balloted on industrial action, the BMA has announced. The decision to move to a formal dispute and balloting members was taken following an indicative ballot of members where 77% of consultants who responded said they were willing to take industrial action.
GPs
General practitioners in England have voted overwhelmingly to ballot for industrial action if “disastrous” changes to their working contract, which they say threaten patient safety, are not reviewed in the coming months.
The vote took place at an emergency meeting of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee in England in April, with 98% of members voting in favour to begin the process of entering into a dispute – beginning with preparations for an indicative ballot in the coming months if the government fails to negotiate a new contract that is “fit for purpose”.
A survey published in July by the general practice magazine Pulse found that most GPs in England would consider withdrawing services in protest against the government’s failure to increase funding.
Nearly a third (31%) of GP partners, doctors who run their own practices, would consider taking collective action in the form of shutting routine services for one week if funding is not significantly increased for 2024-25.
The survey showed that 54% would consider shutting routine services for a day; 51% would consider lowering thresholds for referral to secondary care; 46% would consider undated resignations; and 61% would consider diverting all “on-the-day”/urgent cases to 111 or A&E.
SAS doctors
A third group of hospital doctors in England, specialist, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors are being balloted for strike action in a vote closing on 18 December. Dr Ujjwala Mohite, chair of the BMA‘s SAS Doctors UK committee, has written a letter to the health secretary, urging him to reverse years of pay erosion.
Since the government has failed to present them with an offer to urgently improve their pay and working conditions, the BMA moved forward with an indicative ballot of SAS members which closed on 16 October with 88% voting in favour of strike action. SAS doctors have now been invited to enter negotiations with the government alongside consultants.
In November, the HCSA announced that consultant and SAS members had voted 77% in favour of strike action should ongoing talks with the Department of Health and Social Care fail to yield results. The ballot on strike action saw 76.9% vote in favour and 23.1% against.
In Wales, BMA Cymru Wales has rejected a 2023-24 pay offer of 5% – below the DDRB-recommend 6.5%. The BMA is planning ballots on industrial action for junior doctors, consultants and specialists. The BMA accepted a revised offer from the Welsh government for 2022-23
In Northern Ireland, an indicative ballot for industrial action closes on 6 December.
Nurses
In England, the NHS pay deal has been accepted by the NHS Staff Council, with two of the main unions accepting the deal but notably the Royal College of Nursing rejecting it. The RCN announced on 27 June that its national strike ballot in England had failed to reach the 50% threshold required. Unlike its previous strike mandate, the ballot was organised nationally across England.
This “aggregated” ballot meant the legal threshold applied just once to the entire voting membership as opposed to each NHS employer. The RCN said it did this as it would have allowed for an even larger walkout than RCN members have staged previously. Of those who did vote, 84% – more than 100,000 nurses – voted in favour of strike action.
Three months after the RCN’s first-ever day of strike action in England, members rejected the government offer of a one-off payment for 2022-23 worth between £1,655 and £3,789 and a 5% consolidated pay increase for 2023-24. That pay award has now been imposed regardless.
Members of Unison and the GMB accepted the offer, but Unite members also rejected it by 52% in a consultative ballot on a turnout of 55%.
Scotland
Members of the RCN in Scotland accepted the pay offer from the Scottish government. The RCN and GMB unions’ members accepted a deal for a 6.5% pay rise from April 2023 as well as a 7.5% increase for 2022-23.
Wales
RCN Wales members narrowly voted in favour (52%) of the Welsh government’s pay offer, which includes various non-pay elements regarding the use of agency staff, flexible working, advanced rostering, on-call standby, recruitment and retention bonuses, and additional hours. The vote closed on 31 August. This acceptance means that the RCN is no longer in dispute with the Welsh government regarding the pay awards for 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Unite and GMB members in Wales also narrowly accepted the Welsh pay offer.
Northern Ireland
Unite has warned against pay inequality in Northern Ireland after pay settlements were reached elsewhere in the UK. The union said a statement from the permanent secretary regarding a lack of ability to pay any increase to health staff was “unnecessarily provocative” to health and social care workers.
Radiographers
Members of the Society of Radiographers (SoR) walked out at 37 trusts for 24 hours on 3-4 October after pay talks with the government broke down. The strike coincided with the Conservative party conference and walkouts by both junior and senior doctors.
SoR members at the NHS trusts previously walked out for 48 hours on 25-27 July.
The SoR has written to the health secretary calling for urgent discussions to end the radiography workforce crisis. In an open letter SoR CEO Richard Evans said he hopes to avoid further industrial action, setting out measures to end the current dispute.
In Wales, the SoR is running a consultative ballot on a fresh pay offer from the Welsh government, which it is recommending members accept.
SoR members in Northern Ireland went on strike for 48 hours from 21-23 September after 90% voted in favour of industrial action.
A large majority of SoR members in Scotland decided to accept their latest pay offer, with 88% voting yes in the consultative survey.
Midwives
While midwives and maternity support workers have accepted pay offers in England, Wales and Scotland, members of the Royal College of Midwives in Northern Ireland remain in dispute. Eighty-nine per cent of members voted to strike on a turnout of 55%. Midwives and MSWs went on strike on 22 September.
They are also taking action short of a strike by claiming payment for any overtime worked in the week commencing 25 September. The action is across all five health trusts in Northern Ireland.
Physiotherapists
Physios in England, Scotland and Wales have accepted pay offers but Chartered Society of Physiotherapy members in Northern Ireland remain in dispute. They went on strike on 21 September. The CSP said that health and social care staff in Northern Ireland remain the lowest paid across the UK, are yet to be offered an increase for 2023-24 and have received no additional pay award for 2022-23.
EDUCATION
Teachers and schools
England
Teachers in England will not go on strike in the autumn term after all four teaching unions accepted the government’s pay deal for 2023-24.
On 13 July, Rishi Sunak announced that the government would accept the pay recommendations made by the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) and the four teaching unions – the National Education Union (NEU), the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the NASUWT – began consultative ballots of the members.
All four main unions accepted the deal. For 2022-23, the government offered teachers a £1,000 lump sum payment and a 4.3% rise for most teachers for 2023-24. This is on top of a 5% rise received in September 2022.
In England, NASUWT members were instructed to work to rule from 18 September, with members refusing to undertake extracurricular activities, midday supervision, working during lunch breaks, refusing to work on weekends or bank holidays, not doing other tasks during planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time and refusing to take part in mock inspections.
Wales
Seventy-three per cent of NEU teacher members in Wales who responded to the union’s consultation voted to accept a pay offer from the Welsh Government, ending their dispute.
Members of NAHT Cymru have accepted a new workload agreement alongside an improved pay offer and additional funding. NAHT members in Wales have been in dispute with the 22 local authority employers since February, commencing action short of strike on 1 February this year. ASOS will now come to an end on 17 November. Following a ballot of members in October, 74% agreed to accept the improved offer.
Scotland
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the nation’s main teachers’ union, voted to accept a pay offer to end its long-running series of strikes. They have accepted a 7% rise backdated to April 2022, a further 5% this April and 2% in January 2024.
On 22 September, the GMB and Unite suspended a further strike for school support staff after local authority body Cosla significantly improved its offer but Unison went ahead and its members walked out on 26-28 September across 24 council areas.
On 17 October, members of the GMB and Unite voted to accept the latest pay offer and lifted their threat of industrial action.
Unison has suspended scheduled strike action while it consults with members on a new pay offer from Cosla.
It had served notice of further strikes at Glasgow City, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde councils. Staff working in schools, and early years establishments linked to schools, in the four local authorities walked out on 1 November, part of a rolling programme of action planned over the coming weeks, with further strike dates and other councils being announced in due course.
The move comes after workers represented by the union voted overwhelmingly to reject Cosla’s previous pay offer. More than 21,000 people took part in the three days of strike action in September.
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, coordinated action short of strike is ongoing, but five unions – the NEU, NASUWT, NAHT, Ulster Teachers Union (UTU) and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) – have announced a half-day strike on the morning of 29 November, with four additional full-day strikes to take place in the Spring term on dates still to be agreed.
The five unions, under the Northern Ireland Teachers Council, are also continuing their action short of strike. The NITC has submitted a claim for 2023-24 of 12% or inflation plus 2%, whichever is greater, in addition to its pay claims for 2021-22 and 2022-23.
INTO has said that teachers in Northern Ireland are now the lowest-paid teachers across the British Isles. A teacher in Scotland’s pay is on average one third more than that of a teacher in Northern Ireland.
The NASUWT has called on Chris Heaton Harris, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, to deliver a teachers’ pay settlement that at least matches the 6.5% pay rise offered in England. Teachers in Northern Ireland have not had a pay increase for three years.
Almost 2,500 education workers, members of the GMB, across Northern Ireland went on strike in November over pay. Cooks, cleaners, drivers, classroom assistants and other staff across 1,800 schools walked out on 16 November in a dispute over pay dating back to 2018. Meanwhile, school support staff who are members of Unite walked out on 15-16 November.
Industrial action
Higher education
On 6 November, the University and College Union (UCU) failed to secure a new strike mandate following a re-ballot of its members across the UK. While 68% of members at 140 universities voted in favour of strike action, the turnout was 43%, short of the required participation threshold.
The UCU and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) held three sets of talks in July but failed to come to any agreement in the 2023-24 pay round.
The UCU had announced that staff at 140 universities were to go on strike during freshers’ week on 25-29 September, but most branches did not take part. UCU announced in September that only 42 universities would face industrial action.
UCU withdrew its marking and assessment boycott in September. The UCU was asking for RPI plus 2%. The UCEA has said this “is far beyond the sector’s affordability”. It argues that this year’s pay uplift of 5-8% was already “at the very edge of its mandate” and that the award was delivered six months early.
In a joint statement on 5 October, Universities UK and UCU agreed to full benefit restoration for the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) – the largest private pension scheme in the country – to pre-April 2022 levels by April 2024. Worth around £16bn, the deal was subject to the deal being agreed by both organisations’ members. On 20 October, UCU announced that 99% of its members backed the deal.
Further education
Ninety per cent of staff who voted in a UCU strike ballot in further education college ballot in England said they would back strike action. Ballots were held locally, and UCU beat the 50% turnout threshold at 32 colleges. UCU members at a further 13 colleges have voted to settle their disputes after receiving pay offers of up to 8.5%. Staff at 43 colleges are not able to strike.
UCU announced that its members at 30 colleges would strike for three days on 14-16 November, but local pay offers reduced that number to just eight institutions.
The dispute is over the employer’s 2022-23 pay award of 3%, which was rejected by UCU members. The college then offered to add an additional 1% from May and to remove the lowest level of the lecturer pay spine, which UCU members again voted to reject.
In Scotland, college lecturers voted in favour of industrial action across 26 further education colleges in a dispute over pay. Beginning on 7 September, when all members of the Educational Institute of Scotland’s Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA) took strike action across Scotland, a rolling programme of strikes will take place with two colleges taking strike action each day for 12 days.
EIS-FELA has announced that its members at City of Glasgow College are walking out again having renewed their strike mandate in an ongoing dispute over redundancies and working conditions. Members went on strike for 15 days in September and for five weeks before the summer holidays.
Picket lines will be in place at the college’s City and Riverside campuses on 14-17, 20, 22-24, 27-28 and 30 November, and 1, 4-6, 8, 11-14 December.
Rail workers
On 30 November, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) announced that its members have voted to accept a pay deal in the long-running dispute with train operating companies across the UK. Across 15 rail companies, represented by the Rail Delivery Group, an average of 89.6% of RMT members voted in favour, on an aggregated turnout of 79%.
The news comes after Aslef announced fresh strikes in the first week of December as its dispute with the train operating companies continues. The rolling action affects the following companies:
- 2 December: East Midlands Railway and LNER
- 3 December: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern, Thameslink and West Midlands Trains
- 5 December: C2C and Greater Anglia
- 6 December: Southeastern, Southern, Gatwick Express, South Western Railway (main line and depot) and Island Line
- 7 December: CrossCountry and GWR
- 8 December: Northern and TPT.
Drivers will also refuse to work overtime from 1-9 December across all the above train operators.
Aslef drivers took two days of strike action across 16 train operating companies on 30 September and 4 October, and imposed an overtime ban on 29 September and 2-6 October.
In June, train drivers who are members of Aslef voted in favour of continuing their strike mandate in the ongoing national dispute over pay, with 91% in favour. Train drivers at more than a dozen companies went on strike on 1 September and refused to work overtime on 2 September. Members of the RMT also took strike action at 14 train operating companies on 26 August, 2 September, 20, 22 and 29 July, 2 June and 13 May.
In October, the RMT announced that it had successfully renewed its strike mandate in its dispute over jobs, pay and condition with 14 rail companies by another six months. Around 20,000 members were balloted with all of them individually achieving over a 50% turnout. Overall 89.9% of members voted ‘yes’ for more strike action on a 63.6% turnout, extending its option to call strikes until April 2024.
On 21 November, the RMT opened a strike ballot over pay for London Underground workers. The union is unhappy at the latest pay offer from London Underground when Transport for London(TfL) has created a bonus pot of £13m for senior managers and the commissioner took an 11% pay rise in 2023, and it wants to see full staff travel facilities for all tube workers restored and has criticised bosses for freezing pay bands, saying it will create a two-tier workforce. The ballot closes on 19 December.
The RMT had already secured a further six-month mandate for strike action on London Underground in a long-running dispute over jobs, conditions and pensions, with 95% of members having voted ‘yes’ on a 54% turnout and 52% of all those who were balloted voted ‘yes.’
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) accepted a revised offer from the Rail Delivery Group, representing 14 train operating companies, and cancelled its industrial action.
In Northern Ireland, three unions (Unite, GMB and SIPTU) are balloting their members after bus and rail workforces unsurprisingly rejected a 0% pay offer.
GMB and SIPTU’s ballot of members working on Northern Ireland Rail closes on 17 November. The escalating pay dispute was precipitated by management informing trade unions that they could not offer any pay increase due to inadequate funding at the Department for Infrastructure.
Military
While the armed forces do not have a right to strike, civilian workers working alongside them can take industrial action. The RMT union has announced that seafarers at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) could take strike action later this year and has opened a nine-week strike ballot for around 500 workers.
The RFA is the uniformed civilian branch of the Naval Service, staffed by UK merchant sailors operating worldwide. RMT members rejected a below-inflation pay offer of 4.5% from RFA management.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members are extremely angry about the pitiful pay rise they were offered and frustrated at management’s refusal to even contemplate a revised offer. RFA seafarers do an incredibly important job and they deserve to be rewarded with decent pay rises that reflect the cost of living crisis that all workers are facing.”
The ballot closes on 13 December.
Civil servants
Unions are considering their position after a fresh pay offer announced by the Cabinet Office in June, which comprises a non-consolidated lump sum of £1500 in recognition of cost-of-living pressures in 2022-23 and an increase in the headline pay remit figure from 2% to 4.5%, with an extra 0.5% for the lowest paid, for 2023-24.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) launched a consultative ballot on the union’s strategy for our campaign on pay, pensions and job security, which closed on 31 August.
Members endorsed the union’s industrial strategy by 90.3% to 9.7% on a 47% turnout. The PCS said the result will send a strong message to the government and employers that while the concessions it has won are significant, they are not enough and its campaign continues.
The PCS national executive committee is meeting to discuss the ballot result, analyse the outcomes of pay talks with every employer, consider the national talks on pay with the Cabinet Office, and decide on the next steps in the campaign.
PCS members will take 12 more days of strike action at The Pensions Regulator (TPR) having taken 24 days of strike action since 5 September, finishing their most recent action on 3 November. The dispute is on the imposition of a 3% pay settlement and TPR’s refusal to engage further with the union.
The new strike dates will be 22-24, 28-30 November and 6-8, 12-14 December 2023.
On 1 November PCS announced that 95.7% of its members working for TPR in Brighton had voted in favour of further industrial action. Turnout was 75%.
PCS members employed by private contractor OCS have been re-balloted for industrial action. Following a vote in favour of strike action, PCS union members took strike action for 22, 25, 27 and 29 September, closing some courts across England and Wales.
PCS said that OCS boasts accreditation as a Living Wage Employer, yet its latest pay offer is only 38p above the national minimum wage and moves staff further from the Real Living Wage than last year.
PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “Members are outraged by the disgraceful actions of OCS in tabling a derisory and insulting pay offer. Our members will not pay for a cost-of-living crisis, not of their making.
“Shamefully, OCS have not responded to PCS since the result of the ballot was notified on 31 August. This strike action is avoidable and OCS must now act to table an improved offer or face action that will severely disrupt their operations.”
Security staff at the House of Parliament have suspended their upcoming strikes, according to the PCS, after management withdrew their proposal to introduce an imposed roster on 1 November, which would have seen staff work extra night shifts. PCS and management will now enter negotiations to seek to create a revised roster that its members can accept.
In the ballot that closed on 9 October, 94.6% of members voted for strike action and 97.1% for action short of a strike, on a 79.2% turnout. The dispute centres on workers having to work night shifts which the union says is negatively affecting their work-life balance and is caused by understaffing.
More than 250 PCS members, who work across the Palace of Westminster, were scheduled to strike twice for 24 hours from 31 October to 1 November and 6-7 November. There were also to be frequent overtime bans from 28 October.
PCS members voted in favour of strike action at National Highways but failed to reach the 50% threshold required.
Cleaners, security guards and support staff working for the outsourced contractor ISS at the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, the Department for Business & Trade and Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (all formerly part of BEIS) are escalating their action, with the PCS union announcing 36 days of strike action from 1-17 November and from 27 November to 15 December.
They previously walked out on 9-13 October and 4-8 September after being offered a below-inflation pay rise of 2.2%
PCS members at the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) went on strike on 20-22 and 25-26 September after management refused to negotiate pay, pensions, job security and redundancy terms. MOPAC staff are responsible for the London equivalent of a regional Police and Crime Commission. They oversee the financial scrutiny of the London Metropolitan Police and are directly accountable to the mayor, Sadiq Khan.
Following PCS’s campaign including targeted and all-out action by PCS members, the government made an improved offer of a 4.5-5% pay rise for 2023-4 and a non-consolidated cost-of-living payment of £1,500. Without consultation, according to PCS, MOPAC has offered £500 on top of a previously paid £500 non-consolidated payment for 2022-23.
More than 1900 PCS members working for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) across England, Wales and Scotland are being balloted for industrial action in response to the “driver services recovery programme”. This is an attempt by the DVSA, whose staff carry out driving tests and approve people to be driving instructors, to recover backlogs to a national average of 7 weeks by March 2024.
As part of this recovery programme, the DVSA has imposed changes to members’ terms and conditions. The postal ballot closeson 13 December, with PCS asking members if they are prepared to take strike action over the employer’s imposition of changes to their terms and conditions, working practices and job roles.
The FDA union has welcomed the recommendations made by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB), and the government’s decision to accept those recommendations in full.
Assistant general secretary Amy Leversidge described the recommendations as “both fair and reasonable” and “in line with the rest of the civil service and public sector”. The main recommendations comprise a 5.5% consolidated pay uplift for all senior civil servants, and an additional pot of 1% to address anomalies in SCS pay.
The Prospect union, which suspended strike action scheduled for 7 June, has now ended its coordinated nationwide industrial action, having consulted members and branches on the improved pay offer for civil servants from the UK government.
Representatives of affected branches chose to accept the new offer, having secured wins on the three main causes of the dispute: a £1,500 lump sum payment for 2022-23, changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, and threatened job cuts.
The Prospect union balloted its members on industrial action in a dispute over pay at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), headquartered in Aldermaston, Berkshire. Sixty-seven per cent of Prospect members at AWE, who support and maintains the UK nuclear deterrent, voted in favour of strike action, while 82% voted in favour of action short of a strike. Turnout was 61%. The exact nature and timing of industrial action will be determined after consultation with members, said Prospect.
The FDA has also reached an agreement with the Cabinet Office on a significant new pay offer for the Civil Service Fast Stream. The deal will see 68% of FDA Fast Stream members receive close to or over 10% in the first year, and 75% see close to or over 10% in the second year of the deal. It is currently balloting members on the offer, with a recommendation to accept.
Unite and GMB members employed in the industrial civil service, including the Roads Service, the Forestry Service, the Rivers Agency and the Strangford to Portaferry ferry service went on strike on 20-26 April.
In Wales, Prospect members paused planned strike action on 7 June, after the Welsh government offered meaningful talks. Daniel Maney, Prospect union negotiations officer, said: “We have agreed to pause our planned strike action by Welsh civil servants because the Welsh Government have communicated their willingness to engage in meaningful talks.
“Throughout this dispute, we have made clear that our members should not be treated worse than other workers in the public sector and that they deserve a pay deal that recognises the cost-of-living crisis that began last year.
“We are entering these talks in good faith hence our calling off the strike action due for 7 June, but we will maintain our action short of a strike and review that position in light of the talks that are promised.”
PCS members in Scotland have voted to accept an improved offer on 2022-23 pay, as well as on jobs and working hours. Three-quarters (75%) of members voted in favour of the enhanced pay award, delivering a total increase of at least £2,200 for all staff earning £36,000 or less, with the additional payment over members’ initial 2022-23 increase being fully consolidated and pensionable.
A four-day strike due to take place from 3 November involving hundreds of Environment Agency workers represented by Unison has been suspended after the agency confirmed that ministers had given it permission to negotiate a new pay offer.
The workers who respond to floods and pollution and maintain sea and river defences refused to attend incidents outside of their contracted hours in August and September.
In September, Unison submitted a pay claim for 2023-24 seeking an increase of at least 13.2% The union says workers have had their pay cut by 20% since 2010. Despite a pay freeze between 2020 and 2022, workers at the agency have previously rejected a pay offer of around 2% plus £345.
Up to 1,000 GMB members in Northern Ireland working within the Road Service, Rivers Agency, Forest Service, Environment Agency and Driver Vehicle Agency went on strike until 27 September.
Firefighters
The Fire Brigades Union is to begin consulting firefighters across Scotland about potential strike action over cuts.
John McKenzie, Fire Brigades Union regional secretary, said: “The cuts we are seeing imposed by the Scottish government are a threat to the lives, homes and livelihoods not just of firefighters but of everyone in Scotland. They will rob Scotland of the firefighters and equipment we need to keep our communities safe.
“Speaking to firefighters across Scotland, it is clear to us that there is a determined mood among members. After ten years of cuts, our service cannot take any more.”
The Fire Brigades Union announced in March that firefighters and control room staff have accepted a new pay offer of a 7% pay rise backdated to July and a 5% increase from July 2023, bringing an end to months of dispute over pay.
The firefighters’ pay deal is one of only a few disputes in the public sector where pay has been settled without strike action.
Local government
Unison, GMB and Unite have decided to accept the 2023 pay offer for council and school workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The decision does not affect the ongoing local government pay dispute in Scotland.
It means an increase of £1,925 on all National Joint Council pay points, pro rated for part-time and term-time staff. This will be backdated to 1 April 2023.
Following the results of its ballots in the summer, Unison’s NJC committee made the decision not to pursue industrial action.
Unison’s head of local government Mike Short said today: “Our first priority is to get this money into members’ pay packets as soon as possible. But pay in local government remains a major concern for Unison, and we’re planning a strong, positive campaign for a fair pay rise in 2024.”
Unite members at both Cardiff and Wrexham councils walked out from 4-17 September and 25 September to 15 October. Unite had said strikes will continue uninterrupted for a further six-week period, prolonging the action until the “end of November”.
However, in Wrexham on 27 October, Unite announced that its members had accepted a new pay offer and strikes were called off. In Cardiff, the union is calling for an immediate investigation by Cardiff Council after it found evidence that employment agencies were allegedly supplying labour to cover work that would normally be undertaken by workers currently on strike.
They were joined by workers at Gwynedd council who were scheduled to strike from 11-17 September. Unite members at Cynon Valley Waste have also voted for strike action, with dates for their action still to be finalised.
In Scotland, Unison has suspended scheduled strike action while it consults with members on a new pay offer from Cosla.
It had served notice of further strikes at Glasgow City, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde councils. Staff working in schools, and early years establishments linked to schools, in the four local authorities walked out on 1 November, part of a rolling programme of action planned over the coming weeks, with further strike dates and other councils being announced in due course.
Coordinated action involving joint trade unions scheduled for 26-28 September took place by Unison members, but the GMB and Unite suspended their action.
Retail and distribution
GMB has announced strikes at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse on 7, 8, 9 and 24 November, the latter of which is Black Friday, traditionally one of its busiest days of the year. The walkouts, which will involve around 1,000 workers, bring the total number of strike days to 28.
Ninety-nine per cent of the distribution workers who took part in the ballot voted in favour of extending the strike mandate earlier this year, on a turnout of 54%.
The union submitted a bid for formal recognition at Amazon Coventry to the Central Arbitration Committee, however, it later withdrew the bid because it was unable to meet the threshold for statutory union recognition, accusing Amazon of “dirty tricks”.
On 23 October, the GMB announced strikes at luxury fashion brand Yoox Net-a-Porter in a dispute over pay, but these were averted after workers at the company’s depot in Charlton were allocated the new London Living Wage of £13.15 per hour, meaning a pay rise of 10% for some workers.
Food and drink
Unite has said its membership at Chivas Brothers across Scotland have voted in favour of strike action. Unite represents more than 800 members at the company’s Kilmalid, Dalmuir, Beith, Strathclyde Grain and Strathisla distilleries, and Dumbuck warehouse facility.
Chivas employs around 1,500 workers in Scotland and produces Scotch whisky brands including Chivas Regal, Aberlour, Ballantine’s, Royal Salute and The Glenlivet. The action comes after the company refused to revise a pay offer of 6.4%.
Members of Unite have voted in favour of strikes at AG Barr, the producer of soft drinks including Irn-Bru, after the workers rejected a 5% pay offer.
Unite has confirmed that its members will now strike in a series of 24-hour stoppages on 11, 18, 25 August, 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 September and 6 October. A continuous ban on overtime began on 8 August.
Acas-conciliated talks took place on 5 October but without a breakthrough, further stoppages were scheduled for 13, 16 and 20-30 October.
Charities
Oxfam workers across the UK have voted in favour of strike action for the first time after they rejected a pay offer from the charity. Unite said this was despite Oxfam’s public stance condemning real-terms wage cuts.
Oxfam GB office and retail workers, members of Unite, rejected a pay offer of £1,750 or 6% (whichever is higher) plus a one-off payment of £1,000 for all staff below the top two pay grades.
Unite said average wages at Oxfam have fallen 21% in real terms since 2018, but Oxfam has said that, when adjustments to our pay ranges are taken into account, the average salary increase as a result of its pay offer is 7.7%.
Unite said the charity is now seeking to impose the offer and is refusing to engage in further negotiations, even though 79% of the union’s members rejected it.
However, enquiries from Personnel Today have revealed that Oxfam has also committed to adhere to the 2023-24 Living Wage rates from the date they are announced. The Living Wage rate outside London rose to £12 per hour and inside London to £13.15 per hour on 24 October. This means that the lowest-paid Oxfam workers receiving the Living Wage should receive a 10% pay rise.
Unite responded to Personnel Today regarding this Living Wage commitment, but a spokesperson stated that Unite’s current offer means that some workers will not receive the new, real Living Wage.
Unite’s members will take strike action at Oxfam offices and more than 200 shops on 8-9, 14-17, 20-24 and 26-31 December. The union said industrial action will intensify if the dispute is not resolved.
The Independent Oxfam Union took part in this year’s pay negotiations with Oxfam, in parallel with Unite. The final pay offer made by management was accepted by the majority of its members after they rejected the initial offer.
Utilities
Unite, GMB and Unison have agreed with Scottish Water to put a new pay offer to the workforce following a further round of talks held at the conciliation service Acas, suspending all strikes.
As part of the negotiations, it was jointly agreed that the proposed new grading structure at Scottish Water would be decoupled from the 2023 pay offer. All parties agreed to enter into discussions on a new grading structure on the basis that it directly and fully involves the unions as part of long-standing collective bargaining processes.
The new pay offer will be put to Unite’s membership in a consultative ballot which closes on 4 December. Rolling strikes had been called on 10-13, 17-20 and 24-27 November, 1-4, 8-11, 12-18 and 22-25 December, 29 December to 1 January, 5-8, 12-15, 19-22 and 26-29 January.
Unite regional coordinator Stevie Deans said: “Following the latest round of talks with Scottish Water we jointly agreed a new pay offer that will now be put to our membership.
“As part of these intense talks, the unions managed to decouple the pay offer from any new grading structure. This was a key objective for us. Unite has taken the decision together with the joint trade unions to suspend all forthcoming industrial action until our membership has had the opportunity to fully consider and vote on the merits of this new offer.”
Every effort is made to keep this article up to date with the latest developments.
Last updated: 30 November 2023, 12:20pm
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