Scotland
Scotland Tesco drivers suspend strike after talks
The second strike of Tesco truck drivers has been suspended pending negotiations.
A second strike in the dispute at the Tesco distribution depot at Livingston near Edinburgh over changes to job contracts and union representation has been suspended after management offered to open talks with the T&G section of Unite - the union.
Second strike called in Tesco truckers' dispute
A second strike has been called in the row over changes to working conditions for drivers based at Tesco's Livingston distribution depot.
The Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G) say 150 drivers are to join the 24-hour strike next Tuesday. Tesco have strongly denied claims that drivers based in Livingston had been threatened with job losses if they did not sign a new contract. A Tesco spokesman has accused the union of "following their own agenda".
Scotland: Ten week strike to come to an end
Workers at a South Lanarkshire factory are expected to return to work after spending 10 weeks on strike.
The 40 female employees at Sunvic Controls in Uddingston walked out after 14 months of talks on pay and new employment conditions collapsed. Union officials said the company wanted to implement periodic lay-offs and short-time working when demand was low. The T&G Scotland section of Unite welcomed the resolution brokered with the help of conciliation service Acas.
Tesco truckers' strike: 25% of normal loads going out
Only 25 per cent of normal truckloads of groceries and supplies are getting out of the Tesco distribution depot at Livingston near Edinburgh as the strike by drivers takes effect (reported previously on libcom), according to reliable inside information given to the T&G section of Unite - the union.
Tony Trench, T&G section of Unite regional industrial organiser, said in spite of the 'Fort Wapping' style security clampdown it was clear all was not well.
Scots truckers strike against Tesco
Eddie Stobart drivers have refused to scab on their Tesco counterparts and deliver supplies to Scottish supermarkets this bank holiday weekend.
The 150 Tesco drivers - who supply nearly 100 stores in Scotland - are on strike against the company's seeking to derecognise the drivers' union (UNITE), a move the union says would have cost many drivers £3,000 or more per year. The drivers voted 126 to 6 for strike action from Thursday 24th to Saturday 26th May.
Glasgow and the Wobblies
The Industrial Workers of the World's influence in Glasgow is not so well known, but it had considerable influence on the shop stewards movement in the period around the First World War:
"It was perhaps a natural development that one of the strongest branches of the Advocates of Industrial Unionism should be in the Singer Sewing Machine Works at Kilbowie, Clydebank, which employed some 12,000 workers. Singers was primarily an American firm, but it had established itself in Europe, and exerted an effective monopoly in the manufacture of sewing machines.
Glasgow: Demolition plans for former council housing
Two-thirds of Maryhill’s former council houses are to be torn down.
Glasgow Housing Association is set to demolish most of its flats in Maryhill over the next nine years.
The demolition decision was rubber stamped at an 11th February meeting of the GHA’s Local Housing Organisation committee in Maryhill – a group of selected local tenants.
Most of the cleared land will be sold to developers to build private houses for sale.
To be demolished:
Glasgow: Botany betrayed
The new Maryhill plan – new back and front door houses for half of the current tenants – is exactly what Botany tenants were told in 2001.
Fears are that the same story will be repeated again.
Six years on, after being moved out of their homes to temporary decants, there is still no sign of any social rented housing in the Botany. And the Botany tenants have now been told that even if they ever are let back in, it will only be to 4 storey closes, rather than the back and front doors they were promised.
Weekend wildcat strikes hit Royal Mail in Edinburgh
Hundreds of postal workers in Scotland staged wildcat strikes over the weekend creating a backlog of mail.
The Daily Record today reported that staff at the processing centre launched the unofficial action on Friday night over working conditions.
Yesterday, Royal Mail bosses were meeting workers and union officials in a bid to resolve the dispute.
Around 1000 staff work at the automated processing centre at the Gyle.
Royal Mail bosses slammed the action as "unnecessary".
1931: The Invergordon mutiny
A short account of a strike by a thousand sailors of the Royal Navy that occurred in Northern Scotland in 1931 against proposed wage cuts.
The government attempted to supress all memory of the strike, and although the strikers won partial concessions, the cuts were still imposed and many sailors were punished for taking part.
