As inflation continues to rise, fuelling a cost of living crisis which shows no signs of abating, many workers across the economy are opting for industrial action in a bid to win real-terms pay increases.
With the latest figures showing CP inflation hitting 9.4% in June and RPI at around 11%, many people are set to receive a real-terms pay cut this year.
Trade unions, charities and a number of think tanks have all called for workers to receive pay rises which at least keep pace with inflation, although figures from the Bank of England and in government have warned against this as they say this could fuel further inflation.
The current cost of living crisis comes at a time when many workers have already seen their real-terms pay stagnate or decline in recent years, particularly in the public sector.
In the face of this, many trade unions have already announced some form of industrial action, or have announced ballots of workers to see if they support taking strike action.
These are all the main national strike, strike ballots and potential disputes to have been announced.
Trade unions, charities and a number of think tanks have all called for workers to receive pay rises which at least keep pace with inflation, although figures from the Bank of England and in government have warned against this as they say this could fuel further inflation.
5. Royal Mail
After balloting more than 110,000 Royal Mail workers throughout June to get a mandate for strike action over an ‘insulting’ 2% pay rise, more than 97% of those who voted backed industrial action. Heralded by the union as a historic result, the ballot is the largest mandate for strike action recorded by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) since the most recent piece of restrictive trade union legislation was introduced in 2016. The CWU has stressed that strike days will not be set immediately and that Royal Mail will be given an opportunity to renegotiate in a bid to avoid a walk-out. Royal Mail has said it cannot afford to increase the pay offer, although union figures point to record profits in the last accounting period and a massive shareholder payout. During lockdown, the company’s revenue skyrocketed to £12.6 billion, up more than 12% on the previous year. Royal Mail Group also paid out a special dividend of £400 million in 2021, while the group’s profits rose to £726 million in the year to 28 March, compared with a profit of £180 million a year earlier. There are also ongoing disputes across other parts of Royal Mail’s business, with Unite managerial staff staging a number of walkouts at Post Offices in recent months. However, this dispute has been suspended while negotiations get back underway.
6. Colleges
Following a pay offer recommendation of 2.5% by the Association of Colleges, workers at 39 colleges in England have now voted in favour of strike action, according to the UCU. The union says staff that since 2009 pay has dropped behind inflation by 35%, with starting salaries as low as £21,000, while college bosses earn as much as 10x that. UCU is calling for colleges to provide pay rises that meet the rising cost of living, following research carried out by the union which found that a majority of college staff are financially insecure, which is having a drastic effect on staff retention in the industry. Unions have had some success in achieving significantly improved pay offers at individual colleges, with strike action averted after pay deals worth between 6% and 9% were put forward. Dates for strike action are yet to be announced.
7. Exam boards
Workers at national exam board AQA, which handles the marking and invigilation of GCSE and A-level exams, will walkout for 72 hours later this week, in a dispute over pay. Around 180 staff are set to go on strike, from 29 to 31 July, after being offered a 3% pay increase, despite inflation hitting 9.4% in June. This below-inflation pay offer comes after workers received an increase of less than 1% last year. UNISON North West regional organiser Lizanne Devonport said: “Workers at AQA have been left with no other option. Pay has been falling behind prices for years and 3% isn’t a wage rise – it’s a pay cut with costs spiralling. Things are so bad that staff are fearful they’ll no longer be able to make ends meet. “Workers only strike as a last resort. They’d rather be doing the job they’re proud of. They don’t want to disrupt students and know how important exam results are to them.” This comes as Unite, which represents workers at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), has announced a strike ballot, after an indicative ballot finding that 95% rejected a pay offer worth between 1.7% and 4%, with 84% indicating support for strike action.
8. Refuse workers
Refuse workers in Coventry have been on all-out strike since January, in one of the longest-running active disputes in the UK. The HGV refuse drivers launched strike action on 31 January, following a dispute over pay with Labour-run Coventry City Council. Unite, which represents the drivers, has accused the council of wasting millions in taxpayer money on the dispute so far, when it could have been resolved for £250,000 according to Unite boss Sharon Graham. Coventry council has said that the authority is “one of the highest-paying in the West Midlands when comparing pay for bin lorry drivers”. The workers’ basic rate of pay begins at just £22,183 per annum, which Unite says is below the pay rates of neighbouring councils and that of the hired agency drivers the council is using to break the strike. The dispute has sparked a wider row between the Labour Party and Unite, one of the party’s largest trade union affiliates, at a time of fractured relations between the wider trade union movement and the party. Refuse workers in other parts of the UK have also launched or threatened to launch strike action over pay disputes, including in Elmbridge and Surrey Heath, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and Mid Ulster. Following industrial action, refuse workers in many parts of the country, most recently in Sandwell and Bristol, have won significantly increased pay offers.