Amicus

Council workers will be protesting against the new pay and grading system imposed by Birmingham council last week, affecting 40,000 staff.

UNISON has branded the structure discriminatory. Though it was designed to end wage inequalities, some workers will lose up to half their pay.

Rolls Royce announced a review of the site in August and an internal memo confirmed that they have suggested switching production from Netherton to a US plant in Mount Vernon, Ohio. They claim fluctuating work volumes, high costs and the US dollar’s poor exchange rate have put the Sefton site in jeopardy.

Hundreds of staff at the Airbus UK factory in north Wales (pictured) downed tools on Friday 23 March, while their union Amicus attempted to get strikers back to work.

The BBC reported:
It is thought many of the 7,000 workers in Broughton, Flintshire, which makes wings for Airbus' flagship A380 passenger jet, are involved.

A packed meeting of Amicus members this afternoon decided:

1. To elect Dean Burn as a new Rep.

2. That we should continue to be available for dispute talks at any time, but that unlike in November, we should not suspend the action unless there was tangible evidence of good prospects of success, to avoid further time-wasting.

Dispute Update
Amicus Reps Ian Allinson, Lynne Hodge and Sulayman Munir attended the talks with ACAS yesterday, where the company was represented by Richard Bull, Larry Upton and Howard Morgan.

Building workers met in London on Monday evening 27th Nov to discuss possibilities for union organising during the preparations for the 2012 Olympics.

Members of all four unions associated within the construction industry were present at the meeting called by the newly-formed Building Workers Rank and File Committee.

The action, organised by the Amicus union, is in response to several grievances - including unpaid overtime, pay rise delays and erosion of redunancy rights. The Fujitsu site at Central Park provides call centre and IT services to the public sector, workers at another site at West Gorton also participated in the action.

Wednesday’s action continued in a positive manner, at least in our eyes. Harrassment from British Energy on its own employees continued. Why they put up with it we are not entirely sure. We witnessed people noting fellow employees registration numbers, no doubt to gain favour with their own management. What kind of people do this?

Last week the SJIB had a board meeting and our dispute was top of the agenda, unfortunately there was no resolution proposed by the board. It seems the SJIB were more concerned that AMICUS had actually allowed us to go on strike even although we are legally entitled to do so. They did suggest that AMICUS should meet with Balfour Kilpatrick in an effort to resolve our dispute.

Our dispute continued today and we were shown a great deal of support from fellow Hunterston employees. Those employees had to endure long waits at the picket and still had the courtesy to stop and listen. We cannot stress enough how much we appreciate their support and understanding of our plight.

A worker's report of the first day of our sixth week in our dispute with BK.

Our dispute with BK continued today with no contact from our employers at all. It appears that under no circumstances are they prepared to reinstate our 50p/hr and ultimately resolve this dispute.

Our actions continued today, and we had a positive response from the Hunterston workforce. Many of whom are displeased with the interference of their own management in our dispute. British Energy have complained to police that we have been using our own vehicles in an attempt to hold up traffic, I think they’ll find that it is the support from their staff that is doing that.

1st day of the 5th week in our dispute with Balfour Kilpatrick.

Our dispute with BK has still not reached a resolution.

WE STAND UNITED AND STRONGER GOING INTO WEEK 5

2nd day of the 4th week in our dispute with Balfour Kilpatrick.

Again the resolve of the shop stood up to the rigours of standing all day on a picket line. We were in a jovial mood in not so jovial a situation, but we will remain strong and will see this through to the end.

WEEK 4 UPDATE FROM THE PICKET

The first day of the 4th week in our dispute with BK.

Picket line again at roundabout on A78 (British Energy are not getting involved with our dispute yet again).

The interviewee is an electrician who has worked for BK for over 20 years.

Why do you think Balfour Kilpatrick is withdrawing the 50p/hour at this point after thirty years?
Two Reasons:

1. In order to maintain their own commercial level of profitability.

The 1st day of our 2nd week of industrial action took place today.

Our picket line was moved to the roundabout on the busy A78. This was under protest from ourselves, AMICUS the union, and the local police force against British Energy, who had threatened legal action against us for protesting on their land.

British Energy and British Nuclear Group, who've stated that they won't get involved in the dispute between Amicus and Balfour Kilpatrick, have warned all employees and contractors not to stop and talk to the official Amicus picket at Hunterston Nuclear Power station

Other developments:

> British Nuclear Group ban overtime for contractors who refused to cross the picket
> British Energy seeks an injunction to stop the planned strike action from being held on the public access road to the 2 power stations