Northern Ireland
Nurses strikes across unions in Northern Ireland and Britain are to continue as the British government fails to address pay and conditions across the health service. According to Unite, “Health unions won’t be submitting evidence to the NHS pay review body (NHSPRB) for the next wage round while the current industrial disputes remain unresolved,” with Sharon Graham calling the pay review body “a total farce.”
In NI specifically, “Unite the union has confirmed that its members working across the health and social care sector in Northern Ireland will be participating in an industrial campaign involving all health trade unions after they voted overwhelmingly for strike action in pursuit of a cost of living pay increase.” The ballot passed with 87% of the vote.
In reference to talks on monday between government and unions, RCN leader Pat Cullen floated the idea of meeting “halfway” on the RCN’s demand for a 19% pay rise which would be just a hair more than inflation for the North. The government has mentioned a one-off “hardship” payment and wants workers who are are stretched beyond their contractual hours to meet demand to agree to productivity efficiencies to put the current disupte behind them, which sounds like a cruel joke.
There may be some breakdown between Number 10 and health secretary Steve Barclay as Unison’s Sara Gorton says his “tone” is different from that of Rishi Sunak’s and “he privately told unions he wanted to secure a better pay offer from Number 10.” We’ll see if that materializes.
Actions are planned for this week and even larger strikes planned for February.
This and other strikes are happening with the threat of anti-strike laws looming in Britain. In Tribune, Karl Hansen has written about “10 Reasons to Oppose the Anti-Strike laws:”
“After the biggest fall in living standards on record, 2022 saw workers strike in numbers not seen for decades. From nurses to binmen, from posties to rail workers, working people found inflation eating away at their wages, leaving them unable to pay energy bills or put food on the table. And in response, they walked out.
“Rather than address the cause of this strike action—low pay and the cost of living crisis—the government has instead launched the greatest attack on trade unions in a generation.
If the Minimum Service Levels Bill, introduced to parliament this week, becomes law, it would force workers across six sectors of the economy—health, education, fire and rescue services, transport, nuclear decommissioning, and border security—to provide a ‘minimum service level’ during strikes. In practice, trade unions would be forced to send their own members to cross picket lines to avoid legal action or the sack, potentially rendering strike action ineffective entirely.
Éire
Water service workers revolt against Irish Water and trade union bureaucracy. This story hasn’t been covered in the press but is an example of workers standing up to their employers and the union bosses to. At the end of last year, workers succesfully fought against a deal to transfer council workers to Irish Water in an attempt to move toward even more privatisation in this essential public utility. Water Service Workers Ireland released the follwoing statment on their Facebook page at the end of 2022:
Water Service Workers Ireland have won the battle.
Following a meeting yesterday between the government, Irish water, unions and local authority representatives. Unions were told that workers red circiled [sic] allowances and terms and conditions would not be given in writing, there was no mention of our promised REFERENDUM as the government doesn't want one.
Following the meeting the chairman of SIPTU negotiating committee Frank Lee said that there is now NO DEAL and it will have to go back to the drawing board. We are calling on the sector committee to meet in early January and put this dirty deal to bed once and for all.
It's a sad reflection on Siptu that workers had to fight this battle without support from their union but fight we did and we have been totally vindicated.
We must not rest on our laurels now we must now fight to bring control of our unions back to the workers.
To my colleagues in water services a massive thank you, we couldn't have achieved this victory without your help and support.
Joan Collins TD , Bríd Smith TD Mick Barry TD Cllr Adrienne Wallace - People Before Profit John Whipple thank you all for your help support and advice throughout this year, ye will be remembered at election time by water services workers.
So from the water services workers of Ireland thank you for your support and have a very happy Christmas and a very happy new year free from water charges.
VICTORY TO THE Water Services Workers Ireland
See John Whipple’s article from pbp.ie detailing this campaign, where he explains that:
These workers have set an example of how worker power – through worker-to-worker workplace organising- can be developed. They have sought to unite workers across different locations and service areas and used militant tactics to get their message across. Despite difficulties their campaign is persisting and growing.
He can add “succesful” to that, now.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik refuses to support industrial action by nurses in Ireland. When asked on RTE Radio’s This Week if she would support nurse strikes in Ireland, she talked about “legislation” and “consultation” but refused to support nurses if they take industrial action, despite calling herself a “green-red” working for environmentalist-socialist policies.
Unions and Dublin Bus to stop serving areas of Tallaght due to “anti-social behaviour.” According to The Irish Examiner, “The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and Siptu have instructed their members not to serve most routes heading south of the Square shopping centre from 6pm [Thursday] and for every evening until a solution [to anti-social behaviour is found.” Representatives for the NBRU say recent incidents of attacks against bus drivers — including at least one horrific incident where a woman was “terrorised by a huge mob” — inaction by government, transport authorities, and employers to address worker safety forced their hand. The union took the decision to cut services after poor turnout at the Tallaght Transport Forum. Only “one ex-TD and two young community activists showed up, and no other politicians.”
No one should suffer harassment or violence in the workplace and drivers should take actions to defend themselves, including by removing their labour. We can see how unions were forced to take this decision by the kinds of social problems that arise in areas where there is chronic disinvestment and under-served populations and complete disregard from officials with responsibility over the sector. However, cutting transport services can exacerbate issues that exist as a result of capitalist crisis. Incidents like this will also be used to argue against free public transportation. Far right commentators have already taken the opportunity to demand violent police and private security crackdowns as the answer, which is their answer to just about every problem.
We need to protect essential workers and also demand free and frequent public transportation. We can’t let capitalist political handmaids or reactionary elements use examples of anti-social behaviour in social spaces as an excuse for further privatisation and heavy-handed security. Contrary to their option for violence heaped upon violence and placing even greater restrictions on everyone because of the actions of a few, more people riding public transportation should lead to less incidents of anti-social behaviour, not more. We make our public spaces safer by socializing them, not by criminalizing them.
Other links
Retained firefighters overwhelmingly vote for strike action in dispute over crisis in service, via The Journal.
Security Officers United protest. Security Officers United, an independently organised group of security workers, who have been protesting a court order to reverse a sectoral pay increase for them, will hold a demonstration outside the Natioanl Aquatice Centre in Dublin on Saturyday, 28 January at 1pm. According to their Facebook event post:
“Top Security LTD have lost FBD Insurance contract (to Synergy Group LTD) but they're still blocking 16000 Security Officers from getting their next ERO incremental pay increases.
“In the context of Cost of Living Crisis with house/rent price's/utilities and food prices going up. Plus from the beginning of January we are just €0.35c above the minimum wage which is a further slap to the face of men and women working in the Security Industry.
”For this, SOU is making a return protest to the National Aquatic Center Campus Ireland to hand in another letter to the Manager Director to state why we are coming back: Top Security LTD and their stubborn refusal to drop their High Court injunction.”
Some trade unions in Ireland have come out against recent protests against asylum seekers being housed in temporary accommodations around Dublin and Ireland.
In Scotland, Glasgow council is getting behind a Unite initiative called Get me Home Safely to get employers to pay for people to get home safely when leaving work during unsociable hours when public transport is unpredictable and taxi’s are prohibitively expensive.
Revealed: cabinet split over NHS pay disputes piles pressure on Sunak, via The Observer.
UK rail strikes: unions agree to work with operators towards revised pay offer, via The Guardian.
International
Workers Struggles: Asia and Australia, via WSWS.
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africahttps://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/01/12/pyne-j12.html, via WSWS.
Strike Map is tracking strikes across the Britain. I think they said they’d start including Ireland but I’m not sure if that’s happening.
Jonah Furman over at Who Gets the Bird? is documenting union news in the United States.