Factbox: UK faces winter of strikes as workers demand higher pay

Avanti Helium

30/11/2022 17:15

(Adds ambulance workers and TSSA strikes)
       LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Britain faces widespread
industrial unrest in the run up to the Christmas holiday and
into January as workers struggling with double-digit inflation
resort to strike action to demand better pay and working
conditions.
    Below are some of the industries in which labour unions have
undertaken or threatened strikes, echoing actions across Europe:
    RAILWAYS
    Large sections of Britain's rail network have been
repeatedly brought to a standstill over recent months.
    Tens of thousands of railway workers will stage further
strikes before and after Christmas in a dispute over pay and
conditions. Commuters are bracing for severe travel disruption
over the festive period.
    The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
(RMT) has said more than 40,000 rail workers will walkout on
Dec. 13-14, 16-17, Jan. 3-4 and 6-7 after failing to reach
agreement with train operators.
    Train drivers working for London Overground suspended strike
action planned for Nov. 26 following a pay offer made to members
of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen
(ASLEF) union which will now be voted on.
    Another union, The Transport Salaried Staffs Association
(TSSA) said further industrial action had been scheduled for
December in a dispute over pay, job security and conditions,
with strikes at Avanti West Coast on Dec. 13, 14, 16 and 17.
    RMT members working as cleaners throughout the transport
network have also voted to strike.
    HOSPITALS
    Britain's state-run National Health Service (NHS) faces
unprecedented industrial action from staff still dealing with
the aftermath of the hit to services from the COVID-19 pandemic,
with a record 7 million patients on waiting lists for hospital
treatment.
    Thousands of British nurses will go on strike on Dec. 15 and
Dec. 20 after the government refused to meet their pay demands,
the Royal College of Nursing union said.
    The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents
doctors, said its junior doctor members would ballot for
industrial action in early January after the government failed
to meet their pay demands.
    It has also said other groups of doctors it represents will
consider their next steps, warning it is "on a collision course
with the government".
    EMERGENCY SERVICES
    More than 10,000 ambulance workers across England and Wales
have voted to strike in a dispute over pay and working
conditions, the GMB union said. 
    Paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and
other staff at trusts in Yorkshire, Wales, the North East, the
West and East Midlands, the North West, the South West, the
South East Coast and South Central are set to walk out. 
    The Fire Brigades Union has also rejected a proposed 2% pay
increase and said it is preparing for industrial action.
    TEACHERS
    Teachers across Scotland have carried out strike action for
the first time in almost 40 years after talks on a pay deal
broke down.
    Members of Scotland’s largest teaching union, the
Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), walked out of
classrooms on Nov. 24 and the Scottish Secondary Teachers’
Association (SSTA) has also announced two days of strike action
on Dec. 7 and 8 over an ongoing pay dispute. 
    Hundred of thousands of teachers and education staff in
England and Wales began voting in October on whether to carry
out strike action in a dispute over pay and funding. The ballot
closes in January.
    The NASUWT union said it was balloting its roughly 162,000
members working in schools and colleges on industrial action in
England and Wales for the first time since 2011.
    POSTAL SERVICES
    British postal workers at the century's-old post and parcel
company Royal Mail  IDSI.L  have held several rounds of strikes
this year in a dispute over pay and working conditions. 
    The latest round of walk outs by members of the
Communications and Workers Union (CWU) on ten days in late
November and throughout December is expected to disrupt Black
Friday and pre-Christmas deliveries.
    TELECOMS 
    Some 40,000 BT Group  BT.L  workers, including telecoms
engineers and 999 emergency call handlers, carried out a series
of national strikes in October in a dispute over pay.
    The CWU, which represents workers at the BT Group and its
networking arm Openreach, previously held similar walkouts in
July and August.
 (Compiled by Farouq Suleiman
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((farouq.suleiman@thomsonreuters.com))