Aslef, the train drivers’ union, is also demanding a pay increase in line with the rising cost of living and has announced strike action over pay by drivers at Greater Anglia, Hull Trains, and on trams in Croydon, south London.
A second rail union, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) is also planning to ballot 6,000 National Rail staff to demand a pay increase reflecting the rising cost of living. If members vote to strike, industrial action could take place from Monday July 25, during the Commonwealth games in Birmingham.
Bus drivers
Bus drivers in Yorkshire belonging to Unite voted in favour of strike action this month following bus operator Arriva’s offer of a 4.1 per cent pay increase.
Bus staff at Arriva in Merseyside and Greater Manchester have now also balloted for strike action in the row over pay.
Teachers
The National Education Union (NEU) has said it will ballot members on industrial action during the autumn term if they are not given a pay rise that matched inflation.
A second education union, the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), has also said it will ballot members on industrial action if staff are not given a 12 per cent pay rise. The two unions represent the vast majority of staff in schools.
In March, the Government submitted its evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) which proposed an 8.9 per cent increase to teachers’ starting salaries but just a three per cent increase for their more experienced colleagues.
The STRB is expected to make its recommendations to the ministers in the coming weeks, and Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, will make a final decision after that.
Health workers
A number of the biggest health service unions have now threatened to consider strike action unless their requests are met, with the largest increase a 22 per cent rise demanded by junior doctors.
The doctors’ union the British Medical Association (BMA) said earlier this month that they will consider a strike ballot unless junior doctors receive this increase by the end of the year, after saying that pay for junior doctors had fallen by 22 per cent in real terms since 2009.
The Royal College of Nursing has also said that they will consider action if they do not agree with the Government’s announcement of a pay increase, which is expected in the coming weeks following the recommendations by the NHS Pay Review Body.
Barristers
Members of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) have voted by 81.5 per cent to refuse to take on new cases from June 27.
Their strike action will escalate from then, starting with two days of walkouts on Monday and Tuesday, followed by three days the following week until they go on strike for the full week from Monday July 18. The action will then become indefinite.
The CBA’s strike is in protest at the 15 per cent increase in the legal aid budget, which it claims is inadequate. It is demanding a minimum of 25 per cent.
It has already taken industrial action by refusing to cover for cases where, for example, a barrister may have to hand it over to a colleague because of a clash.
Local government
The three unions for local government workers, Unison, GMB and Unite, have demanded a pay rise at the rate of the retail prices index rate of inflation, currently at 11.1 per cent, or at least £2,000 for those on lower salaries.
Unison is also balloting 25,000 local government workers in Scotland on industrial action after rejecting an offer of a 2 per cent increase.
Civil servants
The Public and Commercial Services Union will ballot its members on industrial action later this year over 2022-23 pay proposals, calling for a national pay rise of 10 per cent.
However, government guidance proposes average departmental pay increases for civil servants of around 2 per cent.
Source: Telegraph
