ICR strikers held a march and rally on Friday
Striking workers at the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) rallied at South Kensington Station, in west London, on Friday, before taking to the streets.
The Unite union members have been on strike for seven weeks—and are calling for solidarity from other workers and campaigners.
They walked out in a dispute with bosses over pay.
In 2019, ICR bosses did away with incremental pay scales. As a result, workers’ pay has been eroded, while the cost of living crisis deepens.
Aiden, a Unite rep at the ICR, told Socialist Worker about the difficulties workers are facing.
“I work 50, 60 hours some weeks. If I do the maths, there are weeks where I’m barely making minimum wage.”
At the same time, the CEO of the ICR, Kristian Helin, is taking home a £457,000 salary.
But the workers are fighting back. After six weeks of strikes, they voted on Monday to escalate their action.
The move brought the bosses back to the table almost immediately.
On Wednesday, a 20-strong delegation of striking workers met with the bosses at the Acas conciliation service.
It was a step forward. But the bosses conceded little in the way of improvements on previous offers.
They’ve said increment scales backdated to 2025 are on the table. But they’ve not made more money available for pay restoration. So they’re simply pushing the same pot of money around.
Still, it shows that the bosses can be shifted. And that’s down to the strength of the strike.
The strikers received solidarity from other workers on Friday.
Lucy, a teacher and joint branch secretary of the Brent branch of the NEU union, addressed the rally, saying, “Like you, we’re doing some of the most important work in our society.
“But, also like you, we’re facing the erosion of our pay. That’s why I’m standing here in solidarity with you today.
“And that’s also why we, in the NEU, are building for a national ballot in the autumn.
“I’ll be speaking to members of my union about getting more of them here to support you.
“And I hope that you’ll support us on our pickets, when we’re out on strike,” she said.
Miça, an NHS mental health nurse and an activist with Women Against The Far Right, called on the workers to stay strong in their strike.
“As an activist with Women Against The Far Right, I want to say solidarity to all of you out on strike today, especially to all the women.
“Because it’s not easy to walk out on strike. For those of us who work in caring roles especially, there are so many pressures—pressures to provide for our families.
“But they’re put on us in the workplace as well. Bosses used to say to me, ‘You can’t strike, you need to be thinking about your patients.’
“But that’s what the bosses tell us, to try to break us. We have to say no to these ideas,” she said.
When asked if they were willing to accept the “new” offer, the workers answered as one with a resounding “No!”
And they’re winning more and more people to their side. As they marched from the underground station to the ICR, they were met with support from passers by.
Bin workers and bus drivers honked in support as they chanted, “We fight cancer every day, we can’t do it on low pay!”
Mahmood, a striking worker at the ICR, told Socialist Worker that they need to build the strike as big as possible.
“What we’ve shown this week is that we can shift the bosses.
“But, if I’m honest, it’s disappointing how little they’ve come back with.
“And they’re still failing to address the issue of pay restoration. They’ve done nothing to address that.
“So we need to press our advantage. And the way to do that is to win more and more people to the strike,” he said.
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