With the spiralling cost of living in recent months, unhappy workers have increasingly been turning to industrial action as they fight for pay rises or improved conditions. It's been described by unions as a "summer of solidarity".
Relationships between union officials and companies and the Government are under strain as the latter is accused of not doing enough to help workers struggling to keep up with soaring bills. Workers have staged unofficial strikes at a number of industrial sites over pay.
Sources told the PA news agency that the action has affected construction and maintenance work. The walkouts are the latest in a series of stoppages hitting sectors including the railways, courts and postal services amid growing unrest in the face of the worsening cost-of-living crisis, reports the M.E.N.
An Ineos spokesperson at the Grangemouth site in central Scotland said: “We can confirm that a number of contractors employed by third parties are taking unofficial industrial action at the Ineos Grangemouth site as part of a nationwide protest event. Our manufacturing and fuel distribution operations are unaffected.
“The site has a very good working relationship with the contracting companies and their employees at Grangemouth, including those operating under the NAECI agreement. We are disappointed that the protesters have chosen to use the Ineos Grangemouth site as one of their backdrops for their unofficial action today.”
A union source told PA: “During Covid, these workers were incredibly flexible in keeping essential sites going. Now they are being offered a pay rise massively below inflation as the cost-of-living crisis becomes a catastrophe. There is an explosion of anger and fear from workers across the country who are rapidly reaching the end of the road.”
Here are some of the upcoming strikes and potential disputes stretching into the autumn.
- August 10 : Workers at a number of industrial sites including Grangemouth in Scotland walked out on unofficial strike over pay.
- August 13 : Members of the train drivers’ union Aslef at nine operators will strike for 24 hours.
- August 17 to 21 : Staff at exam board AQA who are members of Unison are planning to strike over pay.
- August 18 : Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) and Unite will strike in the long-running row over pay, jobs and conditions, affecting Network Rail and 14 train companies.
- August 19 : RMT members on London Underground will walk out for 24 hours in a dispute over issues including jobs and pensions.
- August 19 : Members of Unite on London United buses will also strike for 24 hours in a separate row over pay.
- August 20 : Rail strike by the RMT, TSSA and Unite.
- August 21 : Unite members at the Port of Felixstowe due to 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 could start an indefinite strike if they vote 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 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 of Public and Commercial Service union members over pay, pensions, jobs and redundancy terms.
