Category: Britain Needs a Pay Rise


Aug
2015

Pizza Express – Fair Tips Campaign Get Involved!

categories: Barnsley Community Center, Britain Needs a Pay Rise, Fast Food Workers, Pizza Express, Protests
Congratulations to the activists who staged the first ‘Meal of Justice’ at Pizza Express. As part of the campaign to get Pizza Express to stop deducting a 8% ‘admin’ charge from tips paid by card Unite will be holding mini occupations of Pizza Express restaurants.
How does it work? It’s simple:

  1. have a meal at Pizza Express
  2. Pay the tip in cash
  3. Stand on chair and explain to the other diners that pizza Express take 8% from card tips and ask them to tip in cash. (Most people assume the tip goes to the staff).

There will be many more Meals of Justice at Pizza Express and as they are not the only ones at it – Côte Brasserrie, who take all the tips (see Evening Standard http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/restaurant-chain-c-te-takes-entire-service-charge-instead-of-giving-it-to-staff-a2918366.html )

 

This campaign links with the call for workers to be paid the Living Wage.

 

Please share

 

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Nov
2014

NHS pay strike solid as public support swells

categories: Britain Needs a Pay Rise, NHS

Members of Britain’s largest union Unite working for the NHS were out in force today (Monday 24 November), joining tens of thousands of health workers who took part in a second four-hour strike over pay.Commenting Rachael Maskell, Unite head of health said: “Today’s second strike action for fair NHS pay has been strongly supported with Unite health members joined by colleagues from the country’s leading health unions at over 120 pickets across England and Northern Ireland, behind a swell of public support.”

Across picket lines protesters held up ‘fair pay now’ and ‘peanuts won’t pay the bills’ placard messages in the second four-hour strike over the government’s refusal to implement the Pay Review Body’s (PRB) recommended 1 per cent pay increase for all NHS staff.

Rachael Maskell added: “Our members have been especially grateful for all the messages of support they’ve received from the public. They see the unfairness of the government’s decision to deny NHS staff a decent cost of living pay increase after years of pay freezes.

“The nation’s 1.35 million strong NHS workforce has been forced, reluctantly to strike for a second time after suffering a 15 per cent cut in their wages since 2010. Today also heralds the start of eight weeks of working to rule by Unite members.

“Our members are working harder and getting poorer. It doesn’t have to be this way. We are urging the health secretary to value the vital work of NHS workers who would rather be caring for patients than fighting their own poverty.

“Health secretary Jeremy Hunt cannot keep turning his back on hardworking health workers. With the Welsh government reaching a pay settlement last week, there can now be no excuses for Hunt’s continued refusal to get around the negotiating table.”

 

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Oct
2014

”People’s protest” gives 91-year-old veteran hope we can fight for fairer wages for all

categories: Britain Needs a Pay Rise

This article by Harry Leslie Smith originally appeared in the Mirror.

_78067475_harry

More than 90,000 people marched this weekend to tell the Government: “Britain needs a pay rise”.

Everyone from young children to pensioners, public sector workers to celebrities took to the streets of London to protest at the TUC-organised demonstration.

Among the inspiring speakers was war veteran Harry Leslie Smith who spoke up movingly for the NHS at the Labour Party Conference.

Here the 91-year-old explains why the fight for a pay rise is one the country can’t afford to lose…

I am writing this as I prepare to leave the capital to return to the north. Outside of my hotel window I see London, like the rest of our country, can’t even rest on the 7th day.

Not one corner of our island is quiet because, after four long years of Cameron’s coalition government, we must work every waking hour to stretch pennies into pounds to meet the rising cost of living.

Austerity has ground the British economy into one that profits the elite at the expense of everyone else who toils on zero-hour contracts or tries to live off of stagnant wages.

For many, these are grim and pessimistic days that are made more dismal by the exorbitant cost of higher education, housing, fuel and food.

Life hasn’t been this difficult since the days of my youth in the 1930s and so, despite the fact that I am in my golden years, I can feel empathy and much concern for the future of today’s young.

But I am not too discouraged by the horrendous cost austerity has exacted on Britain.

I find that there is much reason to hope that soon our country will return to its standard of fair play for all.

I take heart in demonstrations like the TUC’s “Britain needs a pay rise” that was held in Hyde Park on Saturday.

Despite the fact that I am in my 90s and have been retired from the working world for close to 30 years I walked with thousands of others because I know what it is like to be paid an unfair wage.

But I was encouraged by what I heard and saw throughout the day.

People who turned up weren’t radicals, agitators or malcontents but ­ordinary folk from all walks of life and ­professions who wanted to raise their collective voice to fight the ­injustice.

The young, middle aged and soon-to-be retired were all equally represented and they all believed they were not only marching for themselves but for every worker who is struggling to live from pay cheque to pay cheque.

As I broke bread with these strangers – who all shared one noble ambition to receive just compensation for their labours – I was struck by their ­optimism and resilience.

All knew this battle for fair wages begins and ends with the workers who must mobilise either through their unions or through collective action.

It must be done as one young man said to me, like the great civil rights movements of days gone by, through peaceful protests against corporations who dole out profits to their shareholders but refuse to invest their wealth back into Britain by paying proper taxes and wages.

Protesters are rightfully confident their actions on Saturday and in the ensuing months will bring change for the better to British workers’ wages.

For me I don’t doubt their perseverance and optimism will prevail and soon we will see changes for the better to the lives of British workers.

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Oct
2014

Fair pay for the NHS

categories: Britain Needs a Pay Rise, NHS, Unite Community

Across England and Northern Ireland today, NHS workers took to the picket lines for the first time in 30 years to demand fair NHS pay

KendrayPicket_01_LoUnite Community members showing solidarity on the picket line at Kendray Hospital in Barnsley.

 Given the feedback from our members, we are confident that this was a very well-supported action with over 100 picket line protests outside NHS hospitals up and down the country. NHS workers were especially thankful for all the messages of support they’ve been receiving from the public.

We urge Jeremy Hunt to heed his responsibility to the NHS workforce and patients and to start talking with the unions to discuss fair pay for this vital staff who would rather be caring for patients than having to fight their own poverty.

Health professionals are especially concerned that the health secretary implies that fair wages for them mean job losses, but he does nothing to curb pay excess by corporate chief executives or the horrific £3 billion cost of this government’s useless reorganisation of the NHS.

The health unions are calling for the government not to impose limits on what can be achieved for this essential workforce, but to come to the table prepared to negotiate in a meaningful way.

Today general secretary Len McCluskey visited Unite members on strike picket at St Thomas’ Hospital. He said that we should send a message to this government and the political elite that NHS workers should no longer be treated as second class citizens.

Here are a few photos from today’s action (below).

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Oct
2014

Unite suspends local government strike action to consult on ‘improved’ pay offer

categories: Britain Needs a Pay Rise, October14 Strike Action, Unite the Union
header
Britain’s largest union, Unite announced today (Thursday 9 October) that strike action planned for next Tuesday (14 October) by local government workers was being suspended to allow for a new improved proposal to be put to members.

The offer, which sees thousands of the lowest paid getting pay rise of up to £1,065 a year from 1 January 2015, will be put to members in a consultative ballot.

It follows a one day stoppage earlier in the year on 10 July which saw hundreds and thousands of local government workers walk out across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Unite has about 80,000 members in local government carrying out such jobs as refuse collection, maintenance of council property, traffic enforcement, school support and care services, and grave digging.

Commenting, Unite national officer Fiona Farmer said: “This new improved offer would not have been achieved without the resolve of our members who stood together to force the employers back around the negotiating table.

“We believe the offer is the best achievable by negotiation, but local government employers and the government should be under no illusions that we will continue to campaign against poverty pay in local government.

“Industrial action is now suspended while members are consulted on whether to accept the new offer.”

 

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Oct
2014

Strike Action: Britain Needs a Pay Rise

categories: Britain Needs a Pay Rise, October14 Strike Action, Unite the Union

flags
Here is a round-up of strike action in our area. We would like to encourage all Unite Community members to please go and support your local picket lines, marches and rallies. Unite flags can be obtained from your local branch office. Please also send your photos and reviews of any strike action that you attend to Joe or Andy, so that we can include them on the blog.

March with us in London on Saturday 18th October, to call for an end to the longest squeeze on living standards for nearly a century. March for a better Britain, full of hope for ordinary people and the next generation, jobs that pay and affordable homes. Book your seat – Contact Caroline on 0113 322 3385 to book a seat on Unite’s free transport for members and family.

Please note that all of the details below are correct at the time of publication. As more details become available, we will update the list, so check back regularly. Please also check with you local branch office if in doubt.


Monday 13th October 2014

BARNSLEY: NHS solidarity BREAKFAST
Hospital workers in UNITE, UNISON and RCM (Royal College of Midwives – striking for the first time in their history) will be on strike from 7am-11am.
Pickets at Barnsley Hospital, Keresforth Centre, Kendray and Mount Vernon hospitals/day care centres.

SHEFFIELD: Strike Action
NHS workers in UNISON, GMB, UNITE and Royal Society of Midwives are taking limited strike action against George Osborne’s refusal to pay even the 1% pay rise recommended by the Government’s own Pay Review Body.

SHEFFIELD: Rally
Northern General Hospital
Herries Road Entrance at 10am
Speakers:
Tony Pearson, UNISON
Bill Adams, Reg TUC Sec
John Dunn, Orgreave Campaigner
Doncaster Care UK striker
All staff welcome to join the rally
0114 2714408 john.campbell@sth.nhs.uk

YORK: March
Assemble at 12noon by the West End of York Minster.
We don’t just want strike day to be a stay-at-home day. We want to show that this is an active campaign with demands that people are passionate about. Better pay in the public sector means more pressure for better pay in the private sector – and more taxes to provide support for those unable to find or undertake work. Its a win-win-win.


Picket Lines: 7am to 11am

Scarborough Hospital
Woodlands Drive
Scarborough
YO12 6QL

Bridlington Hospital
Bessingby Road
Bridlington
YO16 4QP

York Hospital
Wigginton Road
York
YO31 8HE

Keresforth Centre
Keresforth Close
Barnsley
S70 6RS

Fieldhead Hospital
Ouchthorpe Lane
Wakefield
WF1 3SP

Northway Clinic
Northway
Scarborough
YO12 7AF

Leeds Blood Transfusion Service
Bridle Path
Seacroft
LS15 7TW

Reginald Centre
263 Chapeltown Road
Leeds
LS7 3EX

Leeds General Infirmary
Great George Street
Leeds
LS1 3EX

St James Hospital
Beckett Street
Leeds
LS9 7TF

Durham Health
UHND – Darlington Memorial
07880 196359

Gateshead Health
Queen Elizabeth and Bensham Hospitals
0191 4452371

Newcastle Hospitals
RVI and Maternity Services
Freeman Hospital
0191 2231373

North Tees & Hartlepool
Outside main gates at University Hospital of Hartlepool and University Hospital of North Tees.
01642 383804

Northern Blood
Blood Centre – Holland Drive, Newcastle.
0191 219 4518

Northumbria Health
Main Hospitals – Wansbeck, North Tyneside, Hexham.
01670 529347 / 825

South Tees Health
Three main sites – JCUH Middlesbrough, Redcar Hospital, Friarage (Northallerton).
01642 246 434

South Tyneside Health
General Hospital and other sites.
0191 2024066

TEWV
Four main sites – Middlesbrough, Darlington, Durham and Northallerton.
01642 837 364

Wearside Health
Sunderland Royal Hospital
0191 569 9909


Tuesday 14th October 2014

HUDDERSFIELD: March and Rally
Assemble from 11.00 am St George’s Square HD1 1JS
Move off 11.30 am for town centre march
Rally back at St George’s Square
Speakers will include: Paul Holmes UNISON, Lyall Singleton UNITE, speaker from GMB, chair Nick Ruff Huddersfield TUC.
For more information: Bob Stoker 0730633708
www.huddersfield-tuc.org 
Facebook/ Huddersfield TUC

BARNSLEY: March and Rally
Assemble at 10.30am outside Gateway Plaza for an 11am set-off, followed by a rally in the precinct. Local trade union speakers. Local MPs invited. Contact: Dave Gibson.

SHEFFIELD: March and Rally
Local Authority workers in UNISON, GMB and UNITE are taking a day’s strike action over pay restraint which has seen their pay fall in real terms faster than any other group of workers.
Assemble 11am Devonshire Green. Speakers at 11.15am. March sets off 11.30am. 12.30pm arrive at City Hall steps Barkers Pool for final rally and speeches. Close 13.30pm.

YORK: March
We’re going to be marching with UNISON, UCU and members of other unions. We want this to be a representation of our whole city. Many staff, both public and private sector, are being told year after year that they won’t get a raise, whilst money is pumped into the hands of the few. York may be doing better than many places for ‘job creation’ but so many of those jobs are paying below the Living Wage.

DONCASTER: Picket and March
Picket North Bridge, Doncaster. March Civic Building Doncaster (no other details yet available).

ROTHERHAM: Picket and March
(no details yet available).


Picket Lines: 7am to 11am

City of Sunderland
Youth Offending, Lombard Street, Sandhill View, Civic Centre
0191 5532730

Darlington
Town Hall
01325 388 270

Durham
County Hall
03000 263300/ 301/ 302/ 303

Gateshead
Civic Centre.
Still establishing position re Schools.
0191 4776638

Hartlepool
Main Admin Buildings, Departments and Schools.
01429 523027

Newcastle
Same as July. Civic Centre and other Offices and Depots.
0191 211 6980/6981

North East Ambulance
Bernicia HQ, Newburn, Riverside
0191 232 0348

North Tyneside
Bernicia HQ, Newburn, Riverside
0191 232 0348

North Tyneside
Main HQ buildings – Cobalt
0191 643 8953

Northumberland
Branch Committee meets Monday, 6 October. Will picket County Hall.
01670 624406/01670 624409/01670 624410

Northumberland, Tyne & Wear Health
St Nicholas Hospital, St George’s, Hopewood Park, Monkwearmouth.
01670 394161

Redcar and Cleveland
Civic Heart, R&C House, Belmont House.
01642 444 468

South Tyneside LG
Three main buildings – South Shields Town Hall, Middlefields Depot and Gordon House, South Shields.
0191 454 4167

Stockton
Kingsway House, Queensway House, Municipal Buildings (Church Road).
01642 528685 / 528684


Wednesday 15th October 2014

BARNSLEY: Solidarity Walk
3 PCS picketlines in Barnsley. Assemble at 7.30 am at John Rideal House, Shambles Street.

SHEFFIELD: Strike Action
PCS civil servants on strike over attacks to their pay and conditions
BRING YOUR BANNERS!

The PCS will have a picket line at every Job Centre, please visit their website for more details.


Saturday 18th October 2014

LONDON: Britain Needs a Pay Rise
Support the TUC’s Britain Needs A Pay Rise demonstration in London. The Trades Council has organised a coach which is filling fast. To book your seat on Unite’s free transport for members and family, contact Caroline on 0113 322 3385.

10 July industrial action – your story. Hundreds of thousands of people took industrial action on 10 July to call for fair pay for local government workers. Here, a few of our members tell us why they felt they had to take their demonstration right to the heart of London. Click here to view.

A message from Mark Serwotka of the PCS Union.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vwRjgsL9PFo

 

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Sep
2014

Less than 4 weeks to go!

categories: Britain Needs a Pay Rise

18oct

Working people in the North East Yorkshire & Humberside need a pay rise!

Real wages for workers in the North East Yorkshire & Humberside have shrunk by more than 7% since 2009. But more worrying still the north east now has the highest number of low paid workers in the country.

Enough is enough. We’re taking a stand to demand a pay rise for Britain. Join us in London on Saturday 18 October. Be part of the last mass demo before next year’s general election. Let’s make it big!

In Sunderland and Hull, over a third of all jobs are now low paid, with workers earning below two thirds of the national mid-point for wages. In Grimsby and Doncaster a quarter of workers are low paid. The lack of good jobs and secure employment is sucking even more money out of local economies. Trapping workers on poverty pay is no way to build a recovery.

March with us to call for an end to the longest squeeze on living standards for nearly a century. March for a better Britain, full of hope for ordinary people and the next generation, jobs that pay and affordable homes.

1.4 million strong – Unite members work to make Britain great in every industry across the economy.  Let’s come together now to demand a recovery for all – not just the top per cent.

See you in London!

Best regards,

Karen Reay, Unite regional secretary North East, Yorkshire & Humberside

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