Victory to the Vue cinema workers (Pic: UniteHospitality on Facebook)
Workers at the Vue cinema in Glasgow’s St Enoch Centre walked out on 11 December at the start of a four-week strike.
The Unite union members’ action signals rising anger across hospitality and entertainment, where low pay and insecure work are normalised.
Dozens of workers formed a picket line outside the complex on the first day of strikes. They are demanding the real living wage for everyone over 18 years old, union recognition, secure contracts and subsidised transport for late shifts.
Workers say these issues have built up for years while management ignored repeated complaints. In the run-up to Christmas, the seasonal rush brings heavier workloads and chaotic rotas without proper compensation.
Vue has brought in temporary workers to keep screenings open, with blockbusters still on the schedule despite the walkout.
Cinema workers point out that late-night finishes are routine and that the area around Argyle Street can feel unsafe. The lack of supported transport is a real threat to workers’ safety rather than a minor inconvenience.
The dispute also raises questions about how wealth is distributed within the industry. Vue Entertainment reported profits of more than £25 million last year, yet frontline staff say their pay and conditions do not reflect that success.
The next month will test the workers’ ability to hold the line and build public support through the festive period.
A striker told Socialist Worker, “Vue is an international multi-million dollar company. It’s one of the biggest privately owned cinema chains in Europe.
“What we’re asking for is the bare minimum.
“Vue can support us in our demands, but they choose to overlook it and to silence us.”
A win here could encourage workers across hospitality and entertainment to push for decent pay and recognition in sectors where rights have been chipped away for years.
By Emma Edwards
Cleaners and concierges at the luxury West End Quay apartment complex in Paddington, west London are planning to strike over Christmas.
The UVW union members say they face a cruel, unjust and vindictive pay freeze.
The mostly migrant and black workers are on poverty pay while cleaning flats that sell for millions. And their bosses are believed to be taking home six-figure salaries.
The workers are set to strike from 19 December to 2 January. It will be the fifth strike in an escalating dispute.
This year, management has recruited agency workers to try to break the strikes and subjected workers to mandatory overtime and surveillance including secretly filming union members.
Let’s hope there can be a happy ending to this pantomime.
Around 350 bus workers employed by Stagecoach at Lea Interchange Bus Garage in Leyton walked out on Friday 12 December.
The Unite union members staged a solid picket line against union busting and bullying by management. The 98 percent ballot vote to strike reflected the anger and determination shown on the big and lively picket line.
Bosses admitted that there will be “little or no service” on 13 bus routes during the Friday and Saturday strike. To put on more pressure, workers are set to strike again on 8 and 9 January if management have not come to heel by then.
The Unite branch chair was suspended, dismissed and then reinstated by the bosses while another rep had been suspended on trumped up charges after arguing back against management. Three reps are on final written warnings—one of whom told us that this had happened to him without even a formal hearing taking place.
The Friday morning pickets were joined by to two local Your Party members—a health worker and a teacher—who addressed them bringing a message of solidarity and defiance.
One striker, Abdul, told us that he was really pleased that Your Party had been created to fight the rich and powerful. He asked to join the organising group for Hackney Your Party.
Friday morning demonstrated brilliantly how important it is for the new party to focus on struggle from below.
By Ken Muller
Over 350 workers employed by London Transit bus company in West London have begun strikes.
The Unite union members are raging at the company’s latest pay offer. Drivers, engineers and operations workers walked out of the Westbourne Park depot on Friday, and continued on Monday and 22-24 December.
It adds to previous strikes in the autumn. Bus workers’ mood to fight across Britain is rising. Unite should look to coordinate action.
Bus workers at Leicestershire Arriva have paused this strikes following an improved pay offer.
The Unite union members were set to strike on 11-13 and 15 December. If the offer is rejected, workers are determined to walk out on 20-21 December and 5-6 January.
Unison union members in health and social care are set to lobby parliament this week as part of a fight for migrant workers’ rights.
The union is pushing for three key changes to the Health and Social Care Visa.
First, it wants the government to replace employer-sponsored visas with a sector-wide scheme.
This would put an end to exploitative bosses using the loss of a visa as a threat against workers that speak out.
Second, it wants full recognition of the of the contribution of all health and social care workers.
The union insists there should be “no retrospective application of the five‑year qualifying period” for indefinite leave to remain.
Unison says that some of its branches have reported cases where over 100 workers could be told to leave Britain because their visas are not valid.
Third, Unison is demanding a fair pay agreement that would see unions bargaining to set wages across the whole sector. It would unify the sector, rather than employers paying different rates.
The union is right to fight for migrant workers. But with Labour determined to complete with the racists of Reform UK, winning this battle will likely require a more militant strategy than lobbying parliament.
Intensive care nurses in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, struck for five days from Monday 15 December over bosses’ plans to make them work on sites that are miles apart.
And, they say, the NHS Trust is using fire and rehire tactics to bully them into submission. The Unite union members say they will “intensify” action if their dispute is not resolved.
Theatre assistants working at four Leeds hospitals are set to strike on 18 and 19 December.
The Unison union members, who perform clinical functions, are demanding bosses regrade them as band 3.
Currently, most are in band 2, the lowest rung on the NHS payscale.
Workers also wants bosses to compensate workers for years in which they have performed duties above their pay grade.
But bosses are offering just one-year’s back pay, while other workers have received compensation back to 2021.
Universities are outsourcing workers to private companies to force them out of a public sector pension scheme.
There are nearly 80 higher education institutions in Britain that were officially made into universities in 1992. The post-92s were previously known as polytechnics or colleges.
Their workers are enrolled into the TPS or LGPS public sector pension schemes.
In Northumbria University, in north east England, the UCU union started balloting for strikes on Monday.
Bosses are threatening to cut workers’ pay if they refuse to move from TPS.
At Southampton Solent University, UCU members have voted for strikes. Bosses want all workers to be employed through a wholly owned subsidiary, Solent University Services Limited.
They will no longer have access to TPS or LGPS pensions. Bosses have said they will sack anyone who objects to being moved to the company.
UCU union members at King’s College London agreed last week to re-ballot for strikes over Palestine.
They’re fighting management’s failure to protect staff wellbeing and academic freedom.
Over the past two years, workers have been subjected to an organised attack from a small group of Zionists.
In a recent ballot, UCU members voted in favour of strikes but narrowly missed the 50 percent turnout threshold by one percentage point.
Over 100 people protested a outside Essex University last week.
Bosses want to push through the wholesale closure of the Southend campus in the New Year, axing 400 jobs and ending courses midpoint.
Beth is a mature social work student. She said, “We must stand up for ourselves and fight this closure.
“The impact on students is massive—we have overseas students, single mothers, younger students. We can’t just go to Colchester. The cost in travel is massive, £30 to £50 a day.”
Sheila said, “I found out about this closure through Facebook. I am struggling to know how I will finish my course. The £600 compensation they are offering is so insulting.”
By Claire Wormald
Health workers set to strike across four Manchester hospitals
Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
Deadline to accept new conditions approaches
