On the bus strike picket line at First West Yorkshire
Around 800 bus drivers employed by First West Yorkshire began an indefinite strike on Sunday in their fight over pay cuts.
The specific issue is the company’s refusal to return the date on which new pay rises come into operation back to the pre-pandemic calendar.
Unite union members picketed in large numbers on the Hunslet and Bramley picket lines.
Bosses then came up with a new offer on Monday. Unite then said that action “will be suspended for two weeks from 20 June to allow workers to be balloted on an improved deal.”
Why couldn’t there have been a strikers’ mass meeting on the deal?
Workers should have stayed out unless the pay date was fully restored and they got an increase that at least matches inflation.
Also tackling the greed of First bosses are 360 drivers in Manchester who have finished balloting for strikes over pay. They are paid as low as £13.50 an hour and have rejected a 7.4 percent pay offer backdated to April with a further 3.4 percent in October.
Bus workers employed by Xplore/McGills in Dundee, east Scotland began an indefinite strike on 12 June over pay. But Unite union officials suspended it because of a new offer.
The original 7 percent increase for this year—that triggered the strike—will stay in place but backdated, with a new 5.5 percent offer for next year. Nothing was discussed regarding holidays, sick pay, rotas or overtime.
Local Unite officials argued in favour of calling off the strike, much to the huge discontent of many union members. Some drivers are optimistic that a ballot this week would see the deal rejected and strikes renewed.
Bus drivers employed by Arriva in north London suspended strikes planned for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and next as bosses made an improved offer. But it has been thrown out.
One driver told Socialist Worker the deal amounted to a “7.5 percent increase from the end of September with 8 percent backdated from April.” They added, “If inflation increases by December, the 7.5 percent will be increased to 8 percent.”
Some 651 workers voted to reject the deal and continue the fight, 480 voted to accept.
The workers were right to reject the offer. It falls way below inflation which currently is at over 11 percent. As Socialist Worker went to press, no new strike dates had been announced.
Unite must stop suspending action for offers below inflation that mean pay cuts in real terms.
Thanks to Jim Barlow
Workers at the BHX4 Amazon fufilment centre in Coventry have voted to strike for another six months.
An impressive 99 percent of workers voted to continue the strike on a 54 percent turnout.
Picket lines were strong on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week. On Wednesday the strike was bigger than ever, with 800 workers walking out and almost 500 on the picket lines.
Strikers in the GMB union at Coventry have been an inspiration to other Amazon workers.
Now it’s time to escalate. Spreading the action to other Amazon fulfilment centres is essential.
In the fulfilment centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire, some 98 percent of workers said they wanted to escalate. In Mansfield, 100 percent of workers voted to back the strike.
As both were indicative ballots, the GMB members will begin a formal strike vote soon.
Workers at fulfilment centres in Coalville and Kegworth in Leicestershire and Rugby in Warwickshire are also planning strike votes.
If workers strike together, they can really hit Amazon.
Along with spreading the strike, workers in Coventry must escalate their action.
The long-running wage and condition dispute in the North Sea is seeing a small amount of movement.
Some 80 members working for the Wood Group began a 48-hour strike on Monday in the first of a series of stoppages throughout June and July.
The workers, posted on Cormorant Alpha, North Cormorant, and Tern Alpha, scheduled three more 48-hour strikes beginning on 28 June, 3 July, and 12 July.
In a separate dispute based on working rotas, around 50 workers in Unite working for Petrofac Facilities Management Limited scheduled a series of 24-hour stoppages—eight in total—on the FPF1 platform that were set to begin on Wednesday this week.
Meanwhile, around 450 Stork offshore workers have rejected a revised pay offer from the company.
The Unite union said that 76 percent of its members rejected a 6 percent pay offer.
But some 700 offshore members at Bilfinger UK accepted a further 6 percent increase in basic pay in addition to the 4 percent rise in January 2023. With other earlier uplifts, basic pay has risen by up to 19 percent according to Unite in less than a year.
Over 900 Norwegian workers in the North Sea warned they would strike on 29 June unless a pay fight is settled.
Strikers are demanding an unallocated €1.6 billion go towards workers' pay rise
London march on 27 October
Another day of mass resistance
Plus: 500 on Leeds unity march
