Strike Follow

LEEDS TEACHERS called off a strike at the last minute last week after education managers conceded to their demands. Paula Champion, who was set to strike, celebrates.

STRIKE ACTION by 150 domestics and porters at the Royal Bolton Hospital has forced the private contractor ISS Mediclean to increase their pay. Bosses offered the domestics and porters £5 an hour after a series of strikes. The domestics used to get £4.47 an hour and porters were on £4.61 an hour. The deal includes other improvements on sick pay and holidays. The deal was accepted by 105 votes to 18.

TEACHERS AT Oakdale Comprehensive School in Gwent held a one-day strike last week in protest at two teachers being sacked.

OUR STRIKE is showing people's determination and enthusiasm to win something over London weighting, the allowance for living and working in the capital. The selective action we began last week means that up to 1,500 Unison members across London councils are out, most for four weeks. That is a significant escalation on the selective action that has been running over recent months.

LEADERS OF the CWU union have postponed a decision on whether to call strike ballots over the national pay offer and London weighting. But the issue will not go away.

IN A great show of militancy, 500 British Airways (BA) customer service workers walked out on an unofficial 24-hour strike at Heathrow last weekend. The chaos this caused showed the enormous power workers have over the huge operation. They expressed a spirit of defiance that is growing in workplaces up and down the country. A Heathrow worker explains why these workers struck:

POSTAL workers were on the brink of strike ballots or even unofficial walkouts as Socialist Worker went to press. Nationally, final talks with Royal Mail bosses were taking place to see if management would offer a decent pay deal that was not linked to crushing productivity demands.

SOME 450 RMT union members working for ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne's Clyde and Western Isles divisions started balloting this week for strike action over pay and hours.

THE DRIVERS and support staff, all members of the RMT union, escalated action with a four-day strike beginning on Friday of last week. On the day the strike started over 400 Stagecoach workers staged a lively and very noisy march through the streets of Exeter to a mass rally addressed by Bob Crow, RMT general secretary.

STRIKE ACTION by different groups of workers in London councils continued this week. The battle is over a demand for £4,000 London weighting. Unison announced this week that it is extending future actions wider than the original boroughs targeted.

OVER 70 pickets were out on Monday morning at Royal Bolton Hospital as workers began their latest three-day strike over pay. The 150 workers are fighting for £5.60 an hour minimum for porters and £5 for domestics. They are employed by ISS Mediclean, one of the biggest NHS contractors.

MEMBERS OF Leeds NUT union were set to strike on Thursday of this week after an 81 percent ballot in favour of action over the threat of compulsory redundancies. Some schools will be closing as a result of the action and picket lines are being planned across the city.