Strikes took place at Dundee airport
Strikes by 120 Unite union members across the Highlands and Islands Airport Limited (HIAL) have begun. Workers walked out on Friday of last week and continued on Monday at Dundee airport for 24 hours.
It meant the entire airport was closed to flights for the second time. Strikes were also set to take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week at Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick airports. An overtime ban across all 11 airports begins on Friday of this week until 2 March.
The workers, including security staff, baggage handlers and ground crew, have rejected a 5 percent pay offer. HIAL is a private company wholly-owned by the Scottish government. Workers voted in December by 74 percent in favour of strikes, and escalation can win.
A party celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bookmarks, the socialist bookshop, saw a big turnout last Saturday. A night of celebration, reading and recommitment to the shop and publisher, heard from a range of speakers from across the labour movement. They included Jeremy Corbyn, poet Hannah Lowe and author Michael Rosen. And there were solidarity messages from Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, Mark Serwotka of the PCS union and others
Hoping to beatty rubbish pay offer
Engineering workers at Balfour Beatty are set to hold three 36-hour strikes next month over pay. Over 100 workers will walk out after rejecting the company’s offer of a 5.5 percent uplift from April 2022.
The RMT union members have overwhelmingly rejected this. The union has set out a programme of strikes from 10pm on Friday 3 March to 10am on 5 March, 10pm on 10 March to 10am on 12 March and 10pm on 17 March to 10am on 19 March.
Balfour Beatty was the third most profitable British construction company last year.
Devro workers are on a sausage roll
Over 200 Unite union members from food manufacturer Devro are being balloted over pay. Devro Ltd manufactures sausage skins and casings for brands including Richmond.
The production and maintenance workers based in Moodiesburn, north Lanarkshire, rejected a pay offer of 3 percent for 2023. The ballot opened last Thursday and closes on 9 March.
Cleaning up the bosses’ pay mess
Around 300 cleaning workers at the Sellafield nuclear power station in Cumbria have voted to strike. Workers, who are outsourced to Mitie, are angry that the bosses’ promise to up their pay last November was broken.
The bosses now say that workers will not get a pay rise until April of this year. The GMB union said it will release strike dates soon.
Workers battle council outsourcing
Over 300 Unite union members who work for Harlow council in Essex cleaning and maintaining council grounds and buildings are set to strike.
The workers voted by 87 percent to strike and are employed by HTS—a company which is wholly-owned by Harlow district council.
They are paid less than workers doing the same job at other councils. The workers are demanding a cost of living payment and for their pay bands to be re-graded to be brought up to industry standards.
The strikes were set for Tuesday and Thursday of this week and Thursday of next week. Housing repair and maintenance, street cleaning, grounds maintenance, cleaning and caretaking of council property are among the services which will be disrupted.
Petrofac workers fight back
Offshore workers employed by Petrofac on the FPF1 platform just off Aberdeen are being balloted for strikes.
The 1,300 Unite union members can be asked to work at any time for no additional pay. Bosses Ithaca Energy have a “clawback” policy of 14 days—seven days above the industry norm.
The workers, including electrical, production and mechanical technicians, as well as deck crew, scaffolders and crane operators are being balloted until 17 March.
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