On 26 June a battle will begin that will decide the future of every postal worker for years to come. It will be the start of the national strike ballot process.
Asda suspended Hugh Bennett, a truck driver and GMB union shop steward in Wigan, last week for writing "vote yes" on an England flag attached to his cab. The words refer to a strike ballot currently under way.
Preparations were continuing this week for a national strike ballot in Royal Mail over the imposed pay deal, threats to pensions, attacks on the union and other matters.
Some 800,000 school students struck in Chile on Wednesday of last week. Over 100 schools have been occupied and demonstrators have clashed with the police. Universities are on strike in solidarity and news programmes interview the school students’ leaders every day.
Firefighters in the FBU union in Hertfordshire staged their third eight hour strike on Wednesday of last week against plans by the county fire authority to slash the fire service by closing down two stations and axing 50 frontline jobs.
Thousands of members of the PCS and Prospect civil service workers’ union in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are balloting for strike action over job cuts and relocations.
Workers in the Land Registry are discussing taking strike action to defend their jobs after management last week announced plans to merge or close a number of offices.
Workers at Peugeot’s Ryton plant have voted not to take strike action to defend the plant. In April Peugeot announced plans to close the Coventry plant, with the direct loss of 2,300 jobs and the threat of up to 6,000 jobs in the area.
A strike ballot in supermarket chain Asda’s 20 distribution depots across Britain is underway. Ballot papers were issued this week and the union expects to announce the result in the week beginning 19 June.
