A series of strikes or ballots for industrial action are being announced as workers across the country seek pay rises in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.
Criminal barristers in England and Wales voted in favour of indefinite and uninterrupted strike in a row with the Government over jobs and pay, which is due to start on September 5.
Friday is set to be the last working day for barristers before they walk out on August 30.
It comes as an eight-day strike at the UK’s biggest container port by members of Unite at Felixstowe, Suffolk, in a dispute over pay entered its second day.
Here are some of the upcoming strikes and potential disputes stretching into the autumn in what the unions have described it as a “summer of solidarity” amid worsening industrial relations:
– The National Education Union says it will ballot members this autumn over “the attacks on teacher pay”, adding that “teachers won’t accept the biggest real-terms pay cut in living memory”.
– August 18 to 30 August: Strike by Unite and GMB members over pay affecting waste, recycling and street cleaning services in Edinburgh.
– August 21: Unite members at the Port of Felixstowe start an eight-day strike over pay.
– August 26 and 31: Royal Mail workers in the Communication Workers Union strike over pay.
– September 5: Barristers in England and Wales set to start an indefinite strike after voting to step up their current bi-weekly walkouts over Government-set fees for legal aid work.
– September 8 and 9: Royal Mail workers in the Communication Workers Union to strike again over pay.
– September 11: A strike ballot of Unite’s NHS members in England closes.
– September 15: A strike ballot of Royal College of Nursing members opens.
– September 16: A strike ballot of Unite’s NHS members in Wales closes.
– September 26: A national strike ballot opens for Public and Commercial Services union members over pay, pensions, jobs and redundancy terms.
