GMB
Liverpool airport workers vote for strike
Liverpool John Lennon Airport workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike after refusing a pay offer.
If they go ahead with the walk-out it will shut down the airport. More than 80% of staff, including firefighters, engineers, airside safety and air traffic control staff, have backed a ballot calling for industrial action.
Local government unions break ranks over latest offer
Trade unions GMB and Unite have split from Unison over their response to the increased offer from local government employers for English, Welsh and Northern Irish staff.
Both unions will hold a consultative ballot of members on whether they will accept the 2.475% offer, announced last month after six months of negotiation, an increase on employers’ initial bid of 2%.
They would only ballot for industrial action if GMB’s 250,000 local government members and Unite’s almost 100,000 council staff reject the offer.
Bin workers fight cuts with unofficial work to rule
Refuse collectors in Breckland began taking on-the-job action on Monday in a dispute over job cuts.
The Watton and Swaffham Times reported that rubbish is mounting up outside homes in Breckland because binmen are locked in an industrial dispute.
Waste went uncollected at a number of properties on Monday and there are fears the bin backlog could spread to other homes in the district after its rubbish collection teams began a “work to rule”.
Asda: part of the Wal-Mart spy ring
Following an admission from US supermarket giant Wal-Mart that the company has employed some of its estimated 400 investigators to spy on groups who stand against them, enquiries by Freedom have uncovered a similar story at UK subsidiary Asda.
During the most recent major conflict between Asda and an outside body, a dispute between the company and the GMB led to bug detectors being deployed by unionists during negotiations to avoid surveillance by managers.
JJB steward sacked
Only weeks after JJB workers scored a massive victory over anti-union boss Dave Whelan, their union (GMB) is under serious attack. One steward has been sacked and the convenor is facing disciplinary action as well.
JJB boss Whelan is notoriously anti-union and pro-poverty. His own personal fortune of £200 million is creamed from the low wages of his own staff. In 1997 workers forced JJB to increase wages. In 2006 the workers at the Wigan distribution depot took five days of strike action to secure improved and fair pay for all employees.
UK building workers to prepare for 2012 Olympics
The Olympics will bring much new construction work to London, and some union activists look to the opportunity for a greater say both in the unions they are members of and in the industry itself.
Building workers met in London on Monday evening 27th Nov to discuss possibilities for union organising during the preparations for the 2012 Olympics.
Members of all four unions associated within the construction industry were present at the meeting called by the newly-formed Building Workers Rank and File Committee.
Construction: Struggle at Laing O’Rourke, Britain, 2004
The following article provides a short summary about a strike of building workers in London in Autumn 2004. Apart from the more or less self-organised character of the struggle, with workers assemblies in parks and blockage of the site entrances, we think that there were two main interesting aspects of the dispute.
1) The fact that eastern European workers got involved. So far capital has more or less managed to use the eastern European countries as a large pool of labour force which could be mobilised for short term projects like large construction projects or the seasonal work in the harvest.
Recruitment agency accused of breaking JJB strike
The GMB Union has accused JJB of illegally breaking a strike by warehouse workers at its Wigan depot.
JJB, the sports retailer owned by former footballer and Wigan Athletic FC Chairman Dave Whelan, has been accused by the GMB union of breaking laws that prohibit employment agency staff from doing the jobs of strikers.
JJB staff stage first ever strike
Staff at the Greater Manchester-based JJB Sports have gone on strike in a row over pay and conditions.
The GMB union said 266 of its members were on the picket line outside the warehouse in Martland Park, Wigan, in the early hours of the morning.
There will also be a ban on overtime from Tuesday morning as workers protest against a 3% pay rise.
Union negotiators are seeking a higher basic rate for staff and are calling for equal access to a bonus scheme.
JJB workers to go out on strike
The BBC are reporting that unionised workers at Greater Manchester-based JJB Sports plan to go on strike next week calling for better wages and conditions, according to the GMB Union.
The GMB said 266 workers at the JJB distribution warehouse in Martland Park, Wigan, are taking action on Tuesday and Thursday.
There will also be a continuous ban on overtime from Tuesday morning as workers protest against a 3% pay rise.
Union negotiators are seeking a higher basic rate for warehouse staff.
They are also calling for equal access to a bonus scheme.
