On the picket line in Welwyn and Hatfield
Over 90 refuse collectors and street cleaners in Welwyn and Hatfield have won a big pay rise after launching an indefinite strike on 19 June.
They are members of the Unite union and employed by the outsourcer Urbaser.
They had rightly rejected a 6.8 percent pay rise as a real-terms pay cut.
Urbaser paid very low rates with most of the loaders and street cleaning staff only on the national minimum rate of £10.42 an hour. Even drivers, required to have an HGV licence, are on £15 an hour.
One worker commented, “They treat us like slaves. We worked all through the pandemic with no bonuses or extra pay.”
The solid, noisy and confident strike rattled the employers. By Thursday of last week the workers accepted a hugely improved pay offer of 13.5 percent and the promise of a review of sick pay and overtime.
Outsourcing waste services has been a race to the bottom. Firms compete to drive down pay and conditions to line the pockets of their shareholders.
One worker said, “We need to get these services brought back in-house”.
The confidence to go on indefinite strike was boosted by a previous win when workers walked out unofficially demanding the sacking of a bullying manager. He was removed
This doubled union membership.
Jane Hardy
The Unite union workers rejected an 8 percent pay offer.
The strikes will hit bin collection, street cleaning and road sweeping on Tuesday and Friday of this week. As well as Tuesday and Thursday of next week, and 11, 14, 18, 21, 25 and 28 July.
Around 200 bus workers employed by Xplore in Dundee are set to continue a 12-week strike after they rejected the bosses’ poor offer that their Unite union recommended.
When balloted 70 workers voted for the deal and 110 voted to reject it. Workers were right to reject the deal and continue strikes to fight for more.
Buses stayed in the depots over the weekend.
Leeds bus strikes at First West Yorkshire, will be suspended until Tuesday of next week as workers vote on a new deal.
The 800 workers had begun an indefinite strike as bosses refused to return the date on which new pay rises came into operation back to the pre-pandemic arrangements.
But Unite paused the action last week for a lengthy ballot. Strikes will resume if the workers reject the new deal.
Around 360 Manchester First Bus drivers plan to strike for six days from Monday of next week over pay.
They earn less than other bus companies in the area—just £13.50 an hour.
Arriva bus workers in north London are set for strikes on Wednesday and Thursday next week and then 11 and 12 July. They threw out a 7.5 percent increase that has been enough for their Unite union leaders to suspend action.
It’s good that strikes are now scheduled. But there must be no more pauses for below-inflation offers.
And indefinite action would have a far better chance of winning.
Metroline bus workers in north and west London have recently overwhelmingly rejected a 7 percent pay offer. Workers voted 93 percent to reject.
One Unite member told Socialist Worker the vote is so high because “We have had years of ‘pay rises’ that don’t meet inflation, so our pay has fallen massively since when we first started”.
He added, “We are serious about this, we have been since working through Covid.”
A staffing crisis in the NHS
Health workers set to strike across four Manchester hospitals
Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
