Strike Follow

RIVER PILOTS on one of Britain's busiest waterways are continuing their all-out strike. The strike by the 130 pilots, all members of the TGWU union, centres around a dispute with the giant ABP firm which runs ports along the Humber.

BANK WORKERS at the Royal Bank of Scotland went on strike for the day on 2 January after bosses refused to pay them more for working on a traditional Scottish holiday. A lively picket took place of the bank's Glasgow headquarters.

PRINTERS AT a key national newspaper plant have won an important victory after voting to strike. The victory represents a turning point in an industry where workers have lived for 15 years under the shadow of the catastrophic Wapping defeat. Management at West Ferry Printers on east London's Isle of Dogs wanted between 90 and 100 job cuts and a pay freeze.

THOUSANDS OF bank workers at Scottish- based branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland were due to strike on Wednesday over having to work on a public holiday and not being paid premium rates.

THE NATIONAL strike by tens of thousands of Benefits Agency and job centre workers in the PCS civil servants' union has taken a major blow. This dispute saw 40,000 people strike for two days in mid-December against government plans to remove safety screens from the newly merged Jobcentre Plus offices.

PRESSURE IS growing among Scottish Power workers to make their strike all out. An important shop stewards' meeting was scheduled for this Saturday in Penrith, where the progress of the dispute will be discussed and tactics debated. A series of three two-day strikes have seen very solid support from around 1,500 workers in North Wales, Merseyside and Scotland. There have been some localised power cuts.

The government and bosses are terrified by the prospect of a national postal workers' strike. But union leaders are not pressing home workers' strength. That is the message from the events of last week.

Workers on ferries running from the Clyde in Scotland were due to start all-out strike action from Monday night. Some 40 pierhands working for the Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) company are striking.

Station staff employed by Virgin Trains could be set to strike over the Christmas break.

Tens of thousands of job centre and benefits office workers across Britain in the civil servants' PCS union struck on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. The union estimated that 40,000 people took strike action over the two days, while management claimed 32,000 struck. This is out of around 65,000 union members in the workplaces affected.

Many strikers in the Pathfinder offices are angry and disappointed about their national leaders sending the majority of them back to work on Friday of this week. Because every striker received 85 percent strike pay the PCS's strike fund was drained.

Around 150,000 postal workers were waiting this week to find out whether they would start ballots for a national strike for better pay and against job losses linked to privatisation.