Unite

The Unite union has confirmed that strike action which is expected to halt the services of First Capital East Buses and First Centrewest Buses in London will go ahead from 3.00am Friday 29th August. The action will affect bus routes across east, west and central London (see below).

Unite will hold a consultative ballot with its members at Swissport which will begin shortly. Therefore, the union will suspend industrial action at Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester airports pending the outcome of the ballot result.

At Gatwick, 318 Swissport workers will walk out for 24 hours, halting services at some airlines and a second strike is planned for Friday 29 August.

They overwhelmingly agreed on Thursday to take strike action on 20th August after the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) refused to improve a pay offer of 2.5 per cent a year for the next three years.

More than 500,000 workers were on strike on July 16 and 17, bringing disruption to schools, town halls, refuse collections and libraries throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"This has been a fantastic response from our members," said UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis. "Local government workers have shown their anger and resentment towards this pay offer.

Distribution workers voted overwhelmingly for strike action; close to 70% of those voting in the ballot voted for strike action with a turnout of over 75%.

This stoppage will be followed by a 24 hour stoppage on Thursday 24th July followed by 4 day total stoppages beginning on 30th July as workers take staggered strike action.

One of the biggest outbreaks of industrial unrest for years will see tens of thousands of job centre workers, coastguards, driving examiners and other Government employees join a strike next month by council employees.

More than half a million local authority workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are staging a two-day walkout on July 16 and 17 after rejecting a 2.45% pay offer.

The last minute offer was made to the drivers’ union, the ITF affiliated Unite, by Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport, who are contracted to distribute Shell supplies. It followed four days of peaceful industrial action in the UK, with more planned.

Not long after the rejection of a pay deal by NHS workers in the GMB, 94.8% of Unite's health sector workers - including health visitors, hospital pharmacists, health care chaplains and members in many other health care professions and support services voted to turn down the three year offer worth less than 8%.

John Hutton, business secretary, fears the strike could prompt much more widespread fuel shortages than those caused by the strike at the Grangemouth oil refinery in April, and has ordered officials to draw up contingency plans. Industry executives believe these fears are well founded.