Imagine how we could rebuild our nation if we brought even half that amount home. Let‘s take care of those left behind. Let‘s fix our infrastructure. Let‘s clean up our environment. Let‘s make our nation strong and prosperous again! #Kennedy24
Archiv: (minimum) wages
Passport Office strike: How will five-week walkout affect your travel plans?
(Friday 17 March 2023)
In a “significant escalation” of a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union says more than 1,000 members will walk out at all seven offices in England, Wales and Scotland from 3 April to 5 May. Staff at the Passport Office in Belfast may join the strike later.
The union says the walkout will have a “significant impact” on the delivery of passports as the summer approaches.
Bid to end teacher strikes as government and education unions agree to hold ‚intensive talks‘ on pay and workload
(Friday 17 March 2023)
The news follows the breakthrough in the NHS dispute on Thursday, with union leaders representing thousands of nurses, ambulance crews and other health workers agreeing to suspend further strikes while ballots are held on a new pay offer.
Junior doctors in England agree to pay talks after three-day strike
(17 Mar 2023)
On Friday night the Department of Health and Social Care said the British Medical Association had agreed to enter negotiations on the same terms as unions representing nurses, ambulance staff and other NHS workers in talks that concluded this week.
Government FINALLY reaches pay deal with NHS unions after months of strikes
(16 Mar 2023)
After three months of strikes, the Government has offered a one off bonus this year of 2.5% for the best paid and 8.2% for the worst paid.
The offer, recommended by most of the main NHS unions, comes on top of the 4% increase already implemented for 2022/23.
This award had come with inflation at over 10% and had sparked the strikes.
Amazon‘s labor exploitation is a return to the 1920s — and unions are our best hope out
(14.06.2021)
Amazon claims to be innovative, but its strategies of market dominance and labor exploitation are as old as capitalism itself, and were perfected by predecessors like Standard Oil, General Motors, US Steel, AT&T, Walmart and Microsoft. My union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, views this as history repeating itself.
The Roaring ‘20s were great for those at the top, but meant massive exploitation of workers. As we embark further into the 2020s, the Teamsters will make sure that Amazon cannot repeat a history where workers suffered acutely to make ends meet and were frequently injured or even killed on the job while company executives stuffed their pockets with the profits.
Today is the biggest day of strike action in the history of the NHS. My question to those in positions of leadership: what side of history do you want to be on?
(06.02.2023)
Donate to support striking workers
As UNISON members continue to take strike action, the union is asking for donations to its strike fund
NHS Strikes: Nottingham NHS staff say ‘enough is enough after 10 years of below-inflation pay’
Nottingham NHS staff taking part in the biggest strike in the history of the service say they are suffering a ‘huge’ impact on their mental health because of their jobs.
Hundreds of nurses, healthcare assistants and clinicians took to picket lines across Nottinghamshire alongside paramedics, technicians, call handlers and other staff working for East Midlands Ambulance Service.
Upcoming strikes in Edinburgh as firefighters and teaching staff take industrial action
Here are the main public service strikes planned for the coming months, and the dates that these unions will be staging industrial action across Edinburgh.
Workers stage largest strike in history of Britain‘s health service
Nurses and ambulance workers have been striking separately since late last year but Monday‘s walkout involving both, largely in England, is the biggest in the 75-year history of the NHS.
Nurses will also walk out on Tuesday, ambulance staff on Friday, and physiotherapists Thursday, making the week probably the most disruptive in NHS history, its Medical Director Stephen Powis said.
Ambulance workers announce four more national strike dates
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said:
“GMB’s ambulance workers are angry. In their own words ‘they are done’.
„Our message to the Government is clear – talk pay now.
“Ministers have made things worse by demonising the ambulance workers who provided life and limb cover on strike days – playing political games with their scaremongering.
“The only way to solve this dispute is a proper pay offer.
Tearful nurse due to leave job today for £8,000 pay rise U-turned to join strike
Jade McCauley was due to start a completely new job tomorrow which would have bumped her yearly salary up by £8,000.
However, the community nurse at Northern General Hospital in Sheffield had a change of due to her passion for helping patients.
The 34-year-old spoke to the Mirror on the picket line outside the hospital today.
She also raised concerns about patient safety and called on Rishi Sunak to „spend a day in our shoes“.
The workforce crisis in the NHS means ambulances are being used as mini hospitals. The public deserve a better service than that, and our members want to deliver it. Time for the government to get serious and make these workers an offer.
GMB union to consider up to six more ambulance strike dates after failed talks with health secretary
A meeting held this morning with Health Secretary Stephen Barclay was described as „constructive“ by one doctors‘ union leader. But Professor Philip Banfield, chair of council at the British Medical Association (BMA), said there was no mention of one-off payments for NHS staff.
NHS facing more walkouts as ambulance staff strike
„People can‘t get appointments anymore so they put off going to the doctor and when it gets worse they come to us,“ he says.
He and colleagues are also struggling with the cost of living, Mr Mistry say.
„I‘m now having to think about how much heating I have on in the house – I have it on for two hours a day now.“
UK could be moving towards de facto general strike as unions promise co-ordinated action
Union leaders have previously argued that walkouts by staff across multiple sectors would constitute a de facto general strike, the like of which has not been seen in the UK since 1926.
Only the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has the power to call a general strike, though its legality remains unclear after laws were tightened in the 80s.
The umbrella organisation which represents the majority of trade unions in the UK has a total of around 5.5million members.
Railroads made $21 billion in profits in the first 9 months of 2022. Guaranteeing 7 paid sick days to rail workers would cost the industry $321 million/year. That‘s just 1.5% of those profits. Congress just rejected sick leave for these workers. It‘s profits over everything.
‚Political pawns‘: Livid railway workers warn Biden‘s union agreement will ‚definitely‘ impact next election
„I work for a Class 1 railroad that implemented one of the most egregious attendance policies (Hi-Viz) that requires us to be available to work 92% of the time per month,“ he said. „If we take off one day for a sickness, we are required to [work] 14 days straight to gain points back. That is why we are fighting tooth and nail for sick days.“
President Biden signs bill that averts rail strike despite opposition from unions
Dec 2, 2022
President Joe Biden signed a bill on Friday that prevents 12 rail unions from going on strike next week. The president signed the bill to head off a potentially crippling supply chain disruption in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Protest Strikebreaker-In-Chief Biden in Boston!
Join Railroad Workers United (RWU), the Independent Socialist Group (ISG), and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) at a protest outside of Biden’s upcoming appearance in Boston. If you are in an organization that would like to endorse this event and is interested in speaking in support of railroad workers, contact:
Nick Wurst, RWU & ISG: 508-335-8633
Paul Bamberger, DSA: 518-860-9378
Day & Time: Friday 12/2 Picket starting 11:30am, Rally starting 12pm. Estimated end time 1:30pm.
Location: Biden will be visiting JFK Library at University Dr N, Boston, MA 02125 for an event. The picket and rally will be held at the corner of University Drive North and Colombia Point, on the parking lot side.
This railroad worker clearly & powerfully explains why workers need to have each other‘s backs, ahead of a potential strike: „We‘re all part of the working people that make society run…. Without us, nothing could happen. When one of us in under attack, we‘re all under attack.“
Railroad Strike Ahead? Rail Workers Just Want Sick Leave
Devin Mantz: I voted no on the contract because we deserve more.
Adam Smithey: It does not meet the requirements for quality of life that we need. We need time to sleep, we need time to rest, we need to enjoy our lives. We don’t have any of that now.
Matt Weaver: We’re considered essential employees, and we don’t have a single paid sick day to use when we’re off. We worked through the pandemic, we were considered essential, and now it seems like we’re expendable.
Dave Manning: If a person is sick, they shouldn’t have to use all of their paid days that they had to earn the previous year before to take a day off.
Matt Morty Mortenson: We’re constantly coming to work sick and exhausted.
Reece Murtagh: We routinely work 14 hours and longer every day.
Matt Morty Mortenson: We’ve currently lost 2 BMWED members in the past two weeks and they might have been here today with us if they would have just been able to rest and reset.
People need to understand that we’ve reached this point in rail bargaining because of a failed union strategy to rely entirely on Democratic Party leadership to get a deal, and to avoid anything that could threaten that strategy, from progressive legislation to going on strike
Schumer pledges to keep senators in Washington until rail deal is done
“The Senate cannot leave until we get the job done, and Democrats will keep working with Republicans to find a path forward that everyone can support,” he announced on the Senate floor.
The Democratic leader began the so-called Rule 14 process on Wednesday evening to put a House-passed bill to avert the rail strike on the Senate calendar.
This is a legacy defining moment for Joe Biden. He is going down as one of the biggest disappointments in labor history.
(29.11.2022)
Statement from President Joe Biden on House Action to Avert Rail Shutdown
(30.11.2022)
This overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives makes clear that Democrats and Republicans agree that a rail shutdown would be devastating to our economy and families across the country. The Senate must now act urgently. Without the certainty of a final vote to avoid a shutdown this week, railroads will begin to halt the movement of critical materials like chemicals to clean our drinking water as soon as this weekend.
Rail workers: A single day of sick leave please CNN‘s coverage today:
(29.11.2022)
House Passes Bill to Block Rail Strike at Urging of President Biden
The House has passed legislation to block a nationwide rail strike by imposing a contract that has been rejected by unions representing the majority of freight rail workers.
Putin has pulled off a shock win that could destroy the free world
We risk ending up with calamitous poverty, civil disobedience, a new socialist government by next year, a break-up of the UK, nationalisations, price and incomes policies, punitive wealth taxes and eventually a complete economic and financial meltdown and IMF bailout. The situation in the EU is, if anything, worse.
This is not a plea for pacifism, for looking away when Ukraine is being illegally invaded by a savage regime. Britain was – and remains – morally right to back Ukraine in a carefully calibrated way. Instead, this is a plea for an economic counter-offensive, for Liz Truss, the next PM, to tackle Putin’s economic and energy war head-on.
‚Everything has gone up!‘ Britons struggle to make ends meet as wages stagnate
Rising food prices, soaring petrol prices and sky high energy bills are pushing households into poverty as wages fail to keep up with demand.
Bristol residents have been telling express.co.uk how they are struggling to find the extra money to pay for increasing rents and bills.
Hadash Elects First Candidates for Its List for the Knesset Elections
Hadash’s electoral platform calls for: an end to Israel’s occupation of all Palestinian territories conquered in the June 1967 war as well as the Golan Heights taken from Syria, and for achieving a just, comprehensive, and stable peace between Israel and an independent Palestinian state to be created in those same occupied Palestinian territories; the protection of workers’ rights; the development of advanced and egalitarian social services (health, education, housing, welfare, culture, and sports), and for full equality for the Arab-Palestinian national minority in Israel.
Among Hadash’s additional goals are: the eradication of ethnic discrimination in all fields; the defense of the interests of residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods and development towns; the protection of democratic freedoms in Israeli society; full equality between the sexes in all fields; the protection of the environment and environmental justice; and the eradication of all nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons in Israel and throughout the Middle East.
If you‘re gonna spend a trillion dollars on the military, pursue GOP‘s wet dreams in China, hand 10s of billions to cops and corps, keep Trump‘s tax cuts, while also not delivering on debt relief, higher wages, HC, or protecting any of our rights, why does voting for you matter?
RMT General Secretary on rail dispute
“RMT members are leading the way for all workers in this country who are sick and tired of having their pay and conditions slashed by a mixture of big business profits and government policy
“Now is the time to stand up and fight for every single railway worker in this dispute that we will win.”
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch on today‘s rail strike: „@RMTunion members are leading the way for all workers in this country who are sick and tired of having their pay and conditions slashed by a mixture of big business profits and government policy.“
Network Rail and Transport for London workers to strike due to job loss and pay concerns
The week of planned strikes across the country will impact London Underground (Tube), Overground, Elizabeth line and national rail services across the UK between 21 and 26 June 2022. Only around half of Britain’s rail network will be open on strike days, with a very limited service running on lines that will only be open from around 07:30 until 18:30.
This strike action comes as part of separate disputes with both the RMT over pensions, jobs and conditions, and with Unite over pay.
Rail workers to bring British network to halt with three days of strikes
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has told members to prepare to “shut down the rail system” with strikes on 21, 23 and 25 June, after a ballot of 40,000 members last month resulted in staff at Network Rail and 13 train operating companies voting overwhelmingly for full-scale industrial action.
About 10,000 more RMT members in London will also hold a further tube strike on 21 June, in a coordinated move designed to head off possible job cuts at Transport for London and in the national rail network.
The ‚zombification‘ of married life
Married couples are “zombifying,” is the magazine’s melancholy conclusion. Instead of divorcing, as they once might have, they grimly endure each other. It’s better, or seems so, than the foreseeable alternatives – prominent among them financial insecurity amid declining wages and emotional insecurity as the lingering COVID-19 crisis corrodes the strength to face the world alone.
There are no doubt many reasons why marriage, so hopefully embarked upon, so quickly turns sour for so many. Spa! zeroes in on one – the double-income household.
Krystal Ball: How Biden LOST The Left In A Single Day
Krystal Ball outlines how President Joe Biden is slowly losing the support of the left.