Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) workers presented a petition backing their pay claim in December (Pic: @UniteLondonEast on X)
Workers at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London do world-leading research. But they are struggling to live on their wages.
The Unite union members are set to begin nine days of strikes this week.
Unite rep Teige told Socialist Worker that pay has been eroded since 2019. That is when bosses removed the existing salary increment scales, meaning there was no longer any pay progression for workers.
He said, “Everyone’s pay has fallen really rapidly. Workers are furious that they are not valued and respected.
“People are choosing between heating or eating. Some told us they are working a second job.”
Yet with hundreds of millions in cash reserves, ICR can afford to pay its workers better.
Pay has fallen by 16 percent compared to the RPI measure of inflation in just six years.
So the workers started a campaign for pay restoration.
Teige said the demand was “popular and has grown the union branch”.
He explained that, as well as cutting pay, bosses had proposed to refuse the USS pension to some new workers.
They also made changes to the canteen facilities. “There are hundreds of workers there who don’t have access to proper, healthy hot meals they used to get,” said Teige.
The Unite members at ICR are set to strike on Wednesday and Thursday, Tuesday to Thursday the following week and then Monday to Thursday the week after.
They are planning picket lines at all three sites. These are on Fulham Road and Old Brompton Road in west London and at the Royal Marsden Hospital at Sutton in south London.
Trade unionists in London should join the picket lines.
NEU union members at the Woodfield School in Brent, west London, were set to strike Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, as their employer threatens fire and rehire.
But the workers are fighting back. This action is the latest escalation in a long running dispute.
The teachers and support workers first walked out in December 2025 over Compass Learning Partnership’s plan to cut the hours of Lead Learning Assistants.
And they have already announced a further 20 dates. Strikes are set to continue on 8, 11-12, 16‑18, 22, 25-26 and 29 June. And 2-3, 6-9, 13-14 and 16‑17 July.
Woodfield School is a secondary school that teaches children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).
But the trust wanted to cut these workers’ hours, from 36 to 32.5 hours meaning a pay cut of up to £4,000.
So workers walked out on strike. And not just the support workers, but the teachers as well. They shut the school down with 13 days of action.
The workers also had to fight back against the trust’s attempt to break the strike and re-open the school by bringing in scab labour. This was stopped after lobbying from the NEU.
The trust has almost £4 million in the bank. It could easily afford to pay the workers what they’re asking for.
Yet they’ve pressed ahead with plans to stuff their pockets at the workers’ expense. The trust is already advertising positions.
Lucy Cox, joint branch secretary of Brent NEU, said, “We know that if this trust get away with this, others will try this everywhere.”
Members of the NEU education union at Aylesford School, Warwick, were set to start six days of strikes against mass redundancies on Thursday.
NEU union members are determined to fight against the bosses’ planned restructure.
Simon O’Hara, assistant branch secretary of Warwickshire NEU said, “Our members are striking to save the future of Aylesford. This situation is a direct result of the employer’s actions.
“We cannot accept the managed decline of Aylesford and mass redundancies,” he said.
“Our members remain united that these cuts will damage Aylesford’s ability to provide a broad, balanced rich curriculum for students.”
The workers are set to strike on 9-11 and 16-19 June.
Paradise Park Children’s Centre, in Islington has been providing services for children in the north London borough for 50 years.
But a Labour-run council wants to shut it.
Bosses at the Islington Play Association, which runs the nursery on behalf of the council, issued workers with redundancy notices last week.
Just a few days later, Islington council confirmed that the closure date would be 22 July. The parents and workers immediately set up a campaign.
Parents, carers, workers and others rallied together for a picnic protest outside Islington Town Hall on Wednesday of last week.
By Jan Nielsen
Around 900 workers at the GKN airplane manufacturer in Filton, near Bristol, struck last week against a paltry 3.3 percent pay offer.
Unite union members are demanding a pay rise of more than 5 percent.
Picket lines around the various entrances to the site were large with up to 200 joining at times.
Workers on the picket line explained that the pay deals are negotiated site by site—and that the other sites should join the fight.
The vote to strike was 90 percent on a 75 percent turnout.
Further rounds of strikes are planned.
This dispute is important in the city and across the industry. It offers a chance to land a blow on one of the big corporations.
Workers make wing parts for civilian and military aircraft, such as the F-35 jet.
Unite union leader Sharon Graham, who visited the picket line, has previously called for higher arms spending.
But more arms spending makes us all less safe.
Defence industry workers have skills that could be used to meet socially useful production.
Support the strikes—and demand the defence industry is repurposed.
Huw Williams
School workers in Glasgow are demanding the Scottish government provides more staff and training.
Some 120 workers, members of Glasgow City Unison union branch, protested at the City Chambers. Supporters from other Unison branches and the EIS teachers’ union joined the rally.
The rally ended with a call to take the workers’ demands to the Scottish government.
Workers at Britain’s largest exam board, AQA, are striking to win pay restoration.
Members of the Unison union AQA branch are set to strike again this Friday and next Monday.
These dates will mark their third round of strikes since they first walked out.
The workers are battling against a new pay structure that has led to mass inequality and wage suppression.
Workers have taken indefinite action short of a strike since 12 May. They have not undertaken weekend work or overtime or been on call.
A rally is set to take place in Manchester on Monday.
AQA workers ask for solidarity.
Cuts are part of an assault on higher education
Protest at London museum ahead of strikes
The first hospitality strike in the north west
Sign the UCU union's motion
