‘Constant cycle of NHS strikes will continue for as long as it takes’

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/constant-cycle-of-strikes-will-continue-long-it-takes

Unions warn of further action as nurses and ambulance workers down tools in biggest-ever walkout

Workers on the picket line outside Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton during a strike by nurses and ambulance staff

A“CONSTANT cycle of national NHS pay strikes will continue for as long as it takes,” unions warned today, as tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance workers downed tools in the biggest-ever health service walkout.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which began a 48-hour strike, said members at 73 health trusts across England withdrew their labour — a massive increase on the 44 that saw action in December’s first walkout.

Unite and GMB paramedics, call handlers and other staff at ambulance trusts also joined the massive industrial action, which NHS leaders said caused “huge disruption.”

Ahead of further strikes by physiotherapists on Thursday and ambulance staff — including Unison members — on Friday, union leaders urged Tory ministers to act on years of falling take-home wages, saying the situation is driving a worker exodus and endangering patient safety.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/constant-cycle-of-strikes-will-continue-long-it-takes

Continue Reading‘Constant cycle of NHS strikes will continue for as long as it takes’

Britain faces biggest day of strike action in over a decade

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/britain-faces-its-biggest-day-strike-action-more-decade

Half a million workers down tools over pay, jobs and working conditions

Protesters outside Downing Street, London, demonstrating against the new law on strikes

BRITAIN faces its biggest day of strike action in more than a decade today as up to half a million workers down tools over pay, jobs and working conditions.

Teachers, lecturers, civil servants and train and bus drivers are set to withdraw their labour simultaneously, as the fightback against more than a decade of Tory austerity gathers pace.

The TUC is holding events nationwide as part of its “protect the right to strike day” after ministers rushed “authoritarian and draconian” anti-worker legislation through the Commons on Monday night.

The union body demanded the government drop the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which is likely to face stiff opposition in the House of Lords, and instead “get round the table to negotiate in good faith on public-sector pay.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/britain-faces-its-biggest-day-strike-action-more-decade

Continue ReadingBritain faces biggest day of strike action in over a decade

Tory government’s ‘authoritarian’ anti-strike legislation slammed by human rights and civil liberties groups

Spread the love
Members of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) on the picket line outside London’s St Thomas’ Hospital as they go on strike for the first time over pay

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/tory-government-authoritarian-anti-strike-legislation-slammed-by-human-rights-and-civil-liberties-groups

MORE than 50 human rights and civil liberties groups slammed the Tory government’s new anti-strike legislation today as an attack on the fundamental right to take industrial action.

An open letter, penned by groups including Liberty, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam, said the proposals would allow “a further significant and unjustified intrusion by the state into the freedom of association and assembly.”

Ministers prepared to rush the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill through its final stages in the Commons last night, claiming public services need safeguarding amid the biggest strike wave in decades.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/tory-government-authoritarian-anti-strike-legislation-slammed-by-human-rights-and-civil-liberties-groups

Continue ReadingTory government’s ‘authoritarian’ anti-strike legislation slammed by human rights and civil liberties groups