Mass public sector strike set to cripple services next week

[dutchman]

Schools will close, firefighters will walk out and bins will go unemptied during a mass strike by public sector workers next week.



Other public services including courts and job centres will only offer a skeleton service, while some carers are also set to strike on the co-ordinated day of action on Thursday.

The Fire Brigades Union became the latest to announce its members would join the national day of industrial action over pay and pensions.

It means public sector workers from six different unions in Coventry and Warwickshire will strike – the largest public sector strike since 2010.

They will picket work places and gather for a rally in Broadgate in Coventry city centre.

The six unions are Unison, GMB, Unite, the National Union of Teachers, the Fire Brigades Union and the Public and Commercial Services Union.

So far, 24 schools in Coventry have announced they will have to close completely, with another 27 announcing partial closures. In Warwickshire, 10 schools have already confirmed closures, with another 10 partial closures.

Several more are expected to make announcements over the next few days as headteachers decide if there are enough staff to stay open.

The action could also include vital support staff such as teaching assistants, dinner ladies and caretakers.

Joint divisional secretary of the National Union of Teachers in Coventry Jane Nellist said: “When you look across the six unions the issues are the same. They are pay, attacks on pensions and working conditions.”

Fire stations will stand empty from 10am to 7pm, with West Midlands Fire Service running a reduced service from Territorial Army Centres, staffed mainly by senior managers.

They will only deal with serious incidents and won’t go out to minor fires in bins or on waste ground.

In Coventry representatives from Unison said they expected very few bin collections and street cleaning services to be operating as workers at the city council walk out.

Most of the staff who deal with benefits claims such as housing benefits are expected to strike, along with some library staff.

Unison has asked those with essential or emergency caring roles not to strike so care homes are expected to stay open, but with reduced staff. Four day centres in Warwickshire for people with complex care needs will have to close.

The PCS union said it expected Coventry’s tax office and Coventry and Warwickshire’s courts, job centres and driving test centres to be operating only very limited services.

A spokesman for the Local Government Association, which bargains with unions over council workers’ pay, said: “The pay offer we have made would increase the pay of most employees by one per cent while the lowest paid would receive an increase of more than four per cent.

“This is the fairest possible deal for our employees given the limits of what we can afford.”

[dutchman]

Hundreds stage rally in Broadgate during mass public sector strike



Teachers are leaving the job over workloads, cleaners and council administration staff are struggling to pay their bills and firefighters face a battle to do the job in their late 50s, according to workers who joined a mass one-day strike today.

Members of six unions in Coventry and Warwickshire gave up a day’s pay to join a national strike over issues including pay, pensions, workloads, job insecurity and cuts.

It is the biggest public sector strike for over four years.

More than 100 schools in Coventry and Warwickshire were affected, with some schools completely closed and others just open to certain classes, as some teachers, teaching assistants, dinner ladies and caretakers took action.

Coventry City Council’s contact centre, dealing with complaints and queries, was operating with much reduced staff, as was the revenue and benefits services.

Bin collections were severely disrupted, while job centres and tax offices had reduced staffing.

All four of Coventry’s fire stations were empty with fire bosses providing reduced cover from Territorial Army Centres.

Reserve fire crews were called to Newey Road in Wyken at about 12pm when a tray caught fire after being left on a hob.

Non-striking firefighters were also called to bin fires in George Robertson Close in Binley, and Tile Hill Lane, near the Newlands pub, in Tile Hill, and a garden fire in Whitley, while reserve crews in Warwickshire were called to help with a car fire on the M69 in Leicestershire.

Library assistants also took action, affecting some of Coventry’s libraries.

About 300 of the strikers gathered mid morning in Broadgate, Coventry city centre, for a rally followed by a short march.

One of speakers was Ginger Jentzen, from Seattle in the USA, who talked about a successful campaign for a 15 dollar minimum wage in the city.

Another was GMB branch secretary Gavin McArthur, who highlighted a pay rise of 11 per cent for MPs, and called for the same for himself and fellow union members.

Unite representative Michael Byrne, who works for Coventry City Council, said: “I represent people on £14,000 and £15,000. Rent, mortgages, transport and food are all going up and they offer us a one per cent pay rise.

“We are cleaners, care workers and staff in schools and we all contribute to society and we should be rewarded. Instead the people getting rewarded are people who don’t do anything but have assets such as property and shares.”

Library assistant Neil Hunter, Unison convenor for libraries, said: “Most library assistants are on £8.16 an hour and the one per cent is only going to be an extra £10 a month.

“We are trying to get people to show a bit of respect for public services.”

Nick Harrison, a firefighter at Coventry Fire Station and Fire Brigades Union representative, said: “Physically over the age of 55 you can’t really work climbing ladders and running into buildings and it’s an issue that particularly affects female members. But they are expecting us to pay £400 to £500 a month for our pension and work until 60 instead of 55.”

NUT representative John Orchard, a maths teacher at Coventry’s Barrs Hill School, said: “It is partly pay, partly workload and partly pensions.

“I am doing this mainly for the younger members – there are a lot of enthusiastic and creative young teachers leaving because they are unable to cope with the demands.”

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “Further strike action will only disrupt parents’ lives, hold back children’s education and damage the reputation of the profession.”

The Local Government Association, which negotiates with unions over council worker pay, insisted the pay offer would give the lowest paid four per cent and everyone else one per cent, and is “the fairest affordable settlement”.

[rebbonk]

My bins were not emptied today, do you think those in CC Treasury dep't will offer me a refund as they didn't fulfil their obligations?

Somehow I think not, the contract only seems to work one way!