Greens support London Underground strike

London Underground bosses could have prevented today’s strike over night tube safety, staffing and pay concerns, says the Green Party. The Green Party say they want tube management to listen to workers’ worries about the upcoming service in order to prevent future strike action and stands with the striking workers.

Caroline Russell, the party’s Local Transport spokesperson says that the party is urging both sides to continue talking to minimise future disruption.

Cllr Russell said: "Tube management could have prevented this strike had it taken on board staff concerns. These strikes are a last resort for workers seriously worried about issues of safety, staffing and pay and the union has been quite clear that is willing to continue talking. Let’s hope that management engages with them to prevent further closure of the tube."

"We appreciate that many people will be inconvenienced this week, but we know that workers have been backed into an impossible situation. They have our full support and we hope they are able to reach a resolution soon." Caroline Russell added.

Transport for London staff join July 10th strike action

RMT members at Transport for London will be taking a further 24 hours of joint strike action from this Thursday morning, coinciding with widespread national industrial action in the public sector, in a dispute over what the Unions are calling an all-out attack on pay and pensions that would condemn to staff to a life of poverty in retirement. Members have been instructed not to book on for any shifts that commence between:-

• 05.59 hours Thursday 10th July 2014 and 05.58 hours Friday 11th July 2014.

The action is in protest at TFL’s plans to impose their “Pay for Performance” proposals
Over the last six months TFL have point-blank refused to engage in serious negotiations over their plans for what amount to a performance-related pay freeze and savage cuts to pension rights.  The 'savage attacks'  that TFL are looking to bulldoze through would mean:

• Pay rises will be one off lump sums and would not count towards pensionable pay with final salary pensions reduced. 
• An immediate pay freeze over the next five years for at least 50% of staff
• The annual pay award would be placed at the discretion of managers and no longer fully negotiated with the recognised trade unions
• Any pay rises would be determined by punitive and discriminatory “individual performance” processes which we believe will leave staff at the risk of bullying and harassment.

The impetus behind management’s proposals is purely and simply cash-led cuts, a situation that will become worse over the forthcoming years as there are further reductions in TFL’s grant and the expectation that further assaults on jobs, pay and pensions are being lined up for the future.

RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash said: “The current TFL pension proposals are nothing less than a concerted attack on terms and conditions and would have a major effect on the future of the entire TfL Pension Fund. TfL have refused to budge on this important issue despite the staffs clear rejection of their proposals. The unions have demanded that TFL immediately withdraw the toxic “Pay For Performance” plans and get back round the table but our concerns have been ignored and that is why further strike action is back on.”

“This attack on TFL pay and pensions has to be seen in the wider context of Government austerity cuts to TFL’s funding and once again it is the staff who are being lined up to take a hit that would not only whack them in the pocket now but would condemn them to lives of poverty in retirement. That message will be rammed home across the public sector in the widespread action on Thursday."

“TFL should be in no doubt of about our members determination to defend pay and pensions after the rock solid support for the last waves of joint action with our sister TFL unions and they should listening to our case, withdrawing the current plans and talking seriously about pay and pensions plans that protect and enhance the living standards of TFL staff members."

Met Police staff to join Tube unions on strike

Thousands of Metropolitan Police civilian staff plan to strike for two days next week over the imposition of pay cuts, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) announces. The 48-hour stoppage on 12 and 13 February will coincide with the next planned Tube strikes by RMT and TSSA members and follows well-supported action by Met Police staff on new year's eve.

The PCS say that the the Met is not bound by the government's pay cap policy and the imposition of a below inflation 1% increase is in breach of an existing agreement. This is the first time the Met has done this instead of negotiating with the union that represents around 7,500 staff including 999 call handlers, support officers and those who work in custody suites and support victims of crime.

The union's members have reported an increase in police staff turning to payday lenders to get by – even though this could lead to disciplinary action being taken against them. The union says the MPS can afford to pay staff more after saving millions of pounds on police staff salaries in recent years due to job cuts.

As well as being "angry" about their pay, staff fear for their futures as the Met is considering privatising the work of about 4,000 civilian workers. The union is committed to trying to resolve the dispute and was in talks this morning with Met bosses.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "It ought to bring shame on the Met Police that staff who help to keep London safe are being driven into the arms of loan sharks because of low pay. The Met Police is not short of money and does not have to ape the government's politically motivated pay policies that have fuelled the longest decline in wages on record."

Met Police statement on strike action by PCS Union

Metropolitan Police statement:

"The PCS Union has informed the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) that they intend to take strike action on New Year’s Eve. We want to reassure Londoners that the MPS has taken the necessary steps to ensure that in the event of strike action, our essential services to London will continue.

The MPS’s took the decision in November to give a 1% pay rise to all police staff. This is at the ceiling of the Government’s public sector pay policy and the pay increase was given without any strings attached to it. The PCS demands include a pay increase of up to 6%. The MPS is simply unable to meet this demand.

The PCS Union which represents a number of our police staff has been balloting its members in the past weeks on potential strike action over the pay dispute. There are just over 14,000 members of police staff in the MPS. Only around 20% of PCS members took part in the vote and 1,150 people voted for strike action. That accounts for just 1 in 12 police staff members in the MPS actively voting for strike action.

The PCS has now informed the MPS that they intend to take strike action on New Year’s Eve - one of the days when demand for our services is highest. We have tried and tested business continuity plans for all eventualities, including industrial action. These ensure that critical functions performed by police staff are performed by police officers who are fully trained in those roles.

To ensure we are able to implement these plans, we stopped granting any further requests for annual leave or days off for officers and staff in a number of key areas for New Year's Eve in mid-December. In some cases we've also had to take the very difficult decision to cancel planned days off for officers with certain critical skills or in critical operational areas.

These are clearly all steps we'd rather not take, but we have to be prepared to maintain critical operational areas in the event of a strike action by police staff, and we are confident that we have appropriate plans in place."

Michael Gove slams teaching unions over strike action and criticises Labour's silence on the issue

Earlier today the NUT and the NASUWT announced further strike action following, they claim, the continued refusal of the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to genuinely engage with them to seek to resolve our trade disputes with him Answering questions after his speech to Policy Exchange today the importance of teaching, Education Secretary Michael Gove responded to the teaching unions announcing strike action:

"I fear the reason for this strike is there are people in the leadership of the teaching unions who are on, for ideological reasons or whatever, some sort of kick. The problem with industrial action is that parents suffer as their routines are disrupted, they have to get childcare – the poorest lose out most. Children suffer because they lose valuable time with teachers, learning and achieving more.

“And I think that the only thing I can discern as a theme running through what unions are doing is opposition to performance related pay. I recommend that anyone looks at the article by Amanda Phillips, Head teacher of Old Ford Primary, in the east end of London. She outlines how performance related pay, combined with the pupil premium will help the poorest children in one of the poorest boroughs of this country. And it seems to me crazy that trades unions are taking action, ostensibly in the interests of their members, actively holding back disadvantaged children from succeeding.

“So I unhesitatingly condemn this action. I’m happy to talk any time, any place, anywhere to the trades unions to try and get them to see the errors of their ways. But one thing we need to have is political unity on this and we need to have uncompromising condemnation for the damage it does to children from the Labour Party and so far when it comes to the unions the Labour Party has either been acquiescent or silent."

NUT and NASUWT confirm further strike action

The two largest teacher unions, the NASUWT and the NUT, representing nine out of ten teachers, are today confirming the next phase of what they call "their jointly coordinated campaign to Protect Teachers and Defend Education". Following the continued refusal of the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to genuinely engage with the NUT and the NASUWT to seek to resolve our trade disputes with him, plans are in place for the next stage of industrial action which will include

• 1st October - strike action in the Eastern, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside regions
• 17th October - strike action in North East, London, South East and South West regions

On the strike days teachers will be attending a series of regional rallies to demonstrate their anger, frustration and concern This action follows the successful strike action taken in the North West of England on the 27 June in which thousands of teachers took part. In contrast to Michael Gove, the Welsh Government has been prepared to engage in constructive talks to seek to avoid the escalation of the rolling programme of strike action in Wales. A further announcement will be made on the situation in Wales in due course. Plans are also in place for a one-day, all-out national strike before the end of the Autumn term.

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "At the start of the new academic year, the last thing teachers wish to be doing is preparing for further industrial action. It is a great shame that the Education Secretary has let things get to this stage. With pay pensions and working conditions being systematically attacked and an Education Secretary who refuses to listen or negotiate teachers now however have no other choice. Michael Gove has demoralised an entire profession, it is time that he started to listen for the sake of teachers, pupils and education."

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: "The attacks on teachers are relentless. The reward for their hard work, dedication and commitment has been a vicious assault on their pay, conditions and professionalism. Teachers will be angered by the recklessness of the Secretary of State's continuing failure to take seriously their concerns and engage in genuine discussions to address them."

Government plans to use private bailiffs triggers a strike from court staff

Courts staff who collect fines and fixed penalties will walk out on strike tomorrow over government plans to privatise their work, the Public and Commercial Services union announces. The union says the move will put the collection of courts fines in the hands of private bailiffs. Following the revelation earlier this month that G4S and Serco had been overcharging on their electronic tagging contracts, the union called on the government to halt the privatisation plan.

In a letter to Peter Handcock, chief executive of HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the union's MoJ group president Jacqueline Green wrote: "Given the latest examples of misuse of public funding, the proposal to privatise criminal enforcement needs to be thought through and the timetable for implementation needs to be halted with immediate effect." The two-hour walkout across England and Wales coincides with protests in London and Manchester over cuts to legal aid, organised by the new Justice Alliance campaign group that includes the union.

The courts staff who work in fines collection and enforcement met their targets and improved collection rates by 15% last year. Citizens Advice Bureaux received 25,000 complaints about private bailiffs last year but, while existing public sector staff are rightly subject to strict regulation, there are currently no such rules governing private debt collectors.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "The recent tagging scandal ought to have been enough for the government to hold back on privatising what is another sensitive area of our justice system. As part of a growing campaign against cuts across the justice sector we will continue to oppose this sell-off that risks exposing people to rogue bailiffs whose sole aim is to make profits."

NASUWT & the NUT announce further strike action

The two largest teacher unions, the NASUWT and the NUT, representing nine out of ten teachers, are today confirming the next phase of their jointly coordinated campaign is to, as they claim, Protect Teachers and Defend Education. Following the continued refusal of the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to genuinely engage with the NUT and the NASUWT to seek to resolve our trade disputes with him, plans are in place for the next stage of industrial action which will include:

• Continuation of the current action short of strike action instructions; 
• Further national rallies in September; 
• A second phase of rolling national strike action in the week beginning 30 September; 
• A third phase of rolling national strike action in the week beginning 14 October; and 
• A one-day, all-out national strike before the end of the Autumn term.

This follows on from the day of strike action taken on 27 June in the North West of England which resulted in the overwhelming majority of schools being closed or partially closed. The huge support for the strike is a clear indication that the teaching profession has had enough. Faced with an Education Secretary who refuses to listen, teachers have no option but to continue with their action to defend their profession. 

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: "The Secretary of State needs to take seriously the very deep concerns and anger of teachers and school leaders. The relentless attack on the teaching profession is damaging the morale of teachers and undermining the education of pupils. The Secretary of State has the opportunity to avoid further national strike action by demonstrating that he is willing to engage seriously on the issues that we have put to him."

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, said: "Michael Gove is well aware that under his time as Education Secretary, teacher morale has plummeted. Teachers are angry at the Government's continual undermining of their pay, pensions and working conditions. Strike action is always a last resort for teachers and they are very well aware of the difficulties that this causes for parents and pupils. Teachers, however, have been left with no option. If we do not take a stand now to defend the profession, then the consequences for teacher recruitment and education will be disastrous for all."

RMT to ballot staff running the Boris Bikes scheme

The Transport Union the RMT has today confirmed that it is to ballot staff running the London “Boris Bike’s” for both strike action and action short of a strike over a range of grievances:

• The imposition of a 2% pay increase for 2013
• The imposition of shift change patterns
• The continuous bullying and harassment of members
• The company’s refusal to reach a formal agreement on travelling time or on travel allowances

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: "“Despite warnings that the so-called “Boris Bikes” are facing severe docking and capacity problems, the staff running the London cycle hire scheme are facing a bullying management who are imposing outrageous changes to conditions of service while denying our members a fair pay increase for a massively increasing workload. “RMT will not stand aside and watch this group of key transport staff get kicked from pillar to post."

Continuing Mr Crow said: "The London Cycle Hire Scheme is much more than a vanity project and a publicity stunt for the London Mayor, it is now a valuable part of our transport system and the staff should be valued as such. The scheme has attracted global publicity but now risks collapsing into chaos through a massive under-investment in staff, bikes and docking stations. Just over a week ago there were warnings that the scheme was degenerating into a laughing stock because docking stations in key locations have no bikes and that the operators were facing a barrage of complaints from visitors to the City – RMT members will not be left to take the rap from a bullying management that refuses to take responsibility for its actions."

Concluding Bob Crow said: "“We are sending out the clearest message to Serco Barclays, the scheme operators, by calling this ballot that we are serious about this fight for justice on pay and working conditions on the London cycle scheme and we remain available for talks."