THOUSANDS OF nursery nurses across Scotland were taking strike action this week. They began a strike, set to last five days, on Monday of this week. The action, called by the Unison public sector workers' union, was part of the Scottish nursery nurses' ongoing fight against low pay, which has so far lasted for six months.
Fresh strikes at the Royal Mint WORKERS AT the Royal Mint in South Wales are staging a series of one-day strikes over pay and have started an overtime ban. Last year workers at the Llantrisant plant endured a pay freeze and mass redundancies. They are angry that bosses have only offered a 3 percent rise this year or 9 percent over a three year-period.
A SOLID STRIKE was held by council house repair workers in the TGWU union over the axing of 63 jobs at their Liverpool depot on Friday of last week. Their employer, private firm Interserve, which made £49.1 million profits last year, wants to scrap the jobs through a mixture of compulsory and voluntary redundancies, despite a repairs backlog in the city.
Ballots SECTIONS OF postal workers across Britain could soon be balloted for strikes. Royal Mail bosses have refused to negotiate over proposed major changes in the processing (sorting) and logistics (driving) divisions. They think they can railroad through whatever they want in the wake of the vote against national strikes over pay-although recent events in Oxford, London and Wolverhampton may now be making them pause for thought!
FIREFIGHTERS IN Wales are threatening to walk out if Rob Rayner is sacked for supporting a demonstration against the closure of a night-time casualty unit. Rob was on "duty stand down period" when he and other firefighters visited the Prince Philip hospital, Llanelli, to show support for demonstrators.
JACK DROMEY has been elected as deputy leader of the TGWU, one of Britain's most powerful unions. He was elected overwhelmingly, polling 62,422 votes compared with his nearest rival, Graham Stevenson who took 29,363 votes. A third candidate, Barry Camfield, took 24,145 votes. Only around 15 percent of TGWU members voted. The election campaign didn't catch anyone's imagination.
CIVIL SERVANTS in the PCS union are gearing up for a pay battle with the government. A number of government departments have given unacceptable pay offers to their workers. Union members in the Home Office are set to ballot soon on rejecting their pay offer and taking strike action to win a better deal.
The Anti-Sats Alliance has produced a pamphlet to help build the campaign against damaging national tests for children at seven, 12 and 14. The alliance's steering committee met last week and heard encouraging reports from many areas about the depth of feeling against the Sats tests. The largest teachers union, the NUT, is nearing the end of a survey of its members on whether to boycott Sats.
BANKING giant HSBC has become the latest multinational to announce plans to move jobs overseas. Some 4,000 jobs will be axed from its call centres in Swansea, Birmingham, Brentwood and Sheffield, and transferred to call centres in India, China and Malaysia.
WORKERS AT insurer Direct Line are on the verge of striking just weeks after many of them joined the union for the first time. If they go ahead this will be the first strike in the history of Direct Line, which is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
THE NAZI BNP suffered two setbacks in by-elections on Thursday of last week. They failed to hold a council seat in Burnley or to capture a seat in the Mixenden ward, Calderdale, where they already hold one of the two council seats. In the Great Horton ward, Bradford, they were disqualified due to irregularities in their nomination papers.
A PRIVATISATION threat hanging over Nottingham City Council housing has sparked protests from council workers and tenants. A 90-strong meeting was held at Nottingham's YMCA building to discuss how to fight off Nottingham City Council's housing plans. It started with the presentation of a 60-page report from Nottingham City Unison. "Nottingham is not for sale," was how the Unison officer summed up the report.
