While the FBU’s own strike action has been put on hold pending the outcome of a ballot on the revised pay offer, disputes in other sectors have been escalating.
(photo credit Paul Box/Report Digital)
National disputes are currently live in rail, mail, health, schools, higher education and the civil service.
There is also a proliferation of local and private sector disputes, including among precarious and previously un-unionised workforces such as Amazon employees.
The RMT transport union has had the longest running national dispute, and successfully reballoted in October 2022.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) resolved its dispute with BT last year, but strike action by CWU postal workers continues after the union achieved a record mandate in a reballot in February.
The Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) successful strike ballots in November fired the starting pistol on the biggest NHS strike action in decades.
Unison, Unite, GMB and the RCN have called strikes by paramedics. Now, following a British Medical Association (BMA) ballot, junior doctors are set to join the dispute.
In education, the University and College Union (UCU) won its ballot in autumn and called multiple consecutive days of action before pausing for negotiations in mid-February.
The National Education Union (NEU) and the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) have called a number of strikes since January, shutting more than half of schools on each occasion.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has multiple sets of strike dates involving members in the civil service, museums, Border Force and the DVLA.
We are living through the biggest wave of strikes for more than a decade.
These disputes are largely over pay – in the context of high inflation, long-term decline in wages and the legacy of austerity.
They are also the product of government belligerence, and structural issues with how pay is negotiated (or rather imposed) in many sectors.
In the fire and rescue service, we get to negotiate directly with our employers; in many sectors, pay is recommended by so-called “independent” pay review bodies. This system of pay review bodies has not worked as a mechanism for avoiding disputes.
On 1 February, the TUC called a coordinated day of strike action which saw hundreds of thousands of workers take action at the same time.
The mobilisation was also a political intervention against the government’s new anti-union laws.
More action is planned around the budget in mid-March.
The FBU stands in solidarity with all workers fighting for decent pay. Our members have shown their solidarity on picket lines all over the country, and will continue to do so.
