UK London braced for wave of strikes
A wave of industrial action was being launched today with tens of thousands of postal and council workers staging strikes in disputes over pay which will hit mail deliveries and disrupt schools and refuse collection.
The industrial action in London will be followed by a building workers’ stoppage in Liverpool on Friday and could herald the start of a winter of unrest.
Leaders of the Association of University Teachers were meeting today to consider national industrial action over pay and BT workers were staging a separate protest over allowances.
The strikes were expected to involve 60,000 local government employees and up to 30,000 Royal Mail workers in the capital as part of campaigns for increases in London weighting allowances.
The postal strike, the second in recent weeks, will cost the Royal Mail up to £10 million and will cripple collections and deliveries for several days.
Customers were urged only to post essential items but the Royal Mail said it would do all it could to maintain services.
The Communication Workers Union was warned there was no more money to improve an offer of £300 a year, taking Inner London allowances to £3,784 and the outer London figure to £2,667.
Postal workers were staging a march through central London and planned to hand in a giant protest postcard to the Department of Trade and Industry.
Schools, social services, refuse collection and other council services in London were also being hit in a walkout by members of Unison.
The union is seeking a £4,000 London weighting allowance, the same demand as the CWU,
The Association of London Government said the capital had had enough of Unison’s “ruthless” strikes.
Councillor Ann John, chairwoman of the employers, said a “generous” offer of up to 11% had been made and councils could not afford another rise.
“Meeting Unison’s demands would mean raising council tax by £90, cutting services or axing 11,000 jobs.”
BT workers were staging a separate lunchtime protest today outside the company’s London headquarters as part of their demand for an increased London weighting allowance.
Members of the lecturers’ trade union, the Association of University Teachers, were meeting today to consider industrial action over a pay offer which it warned could lead to lower salaries and greater discrimination against women.
Building workers employed by a council contractor in Liverpool will stage a 24-hour strike on Friday in protest at job cuts, with the threat of further action to come.
