This year has been the worst for real wage growth for nearly half a century, a new study has suggested, as the UK braces for a wave of strikes.
The TUC said after the cost of living had been taken into account, wages have fallen by 3 per cent, the biggest drop since 1977 and the second worst on record since 1945.
Meanwhile, the government was expected to hold an emergency Cobra meeting today over walkouts planned over the coming weeks.
Royal Mail staff, nurses, paramedics, rail employees and Border Force officials are all planning strikes before Christmas over jobs, pay and conditions.
Military personnel and civil servants are being trained in case they are required to be drafted in at ports and airports, as border staff prepare to strike for eight days from 23 December to New Year’s Eve.
Royal Mail workers stage fresh walkout in run-up to Christmas
Royal Mail workers staged a fresh strike today in the long running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are embroiled in an increasingly bitter row which has sparked a serious of walkouts.
More strikes are due to be held in the run-up to Christmas, which the union said will cause a huge backlog of mail.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “Royal Mail bosses are risking a Christmas meltdown because of their stubborn refusal to treat their employees with respect.
“Postal workers want to get on with serving the communities they belong to, delivering Christmas gifts and tackling the backlog from recent weeks.
“But they know their value, and they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs, the destruction of their conditions and the impoverishment of their families.
“This can be resolved if Royal Mail begin treating their workers with respect, and meet with the union to resolve this dispute.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The CWU know full well that in a business losing more than £1 million a day, we need to agree changes to the way we work so that we can fund the pay offer of up to 9% we have already made.
“While the CWU refuses to accept the need for change, it’s our customers and our people who suffer.”
Health Secretary won’t hold pay talks with nurses despite their offer to pause strike, cabinet minister says
The government has rejected an offer by nursing unions to suspend an unprecedented planned strike this week in return for pay talks with the health secretary.
Foreign secretary James Cleverly said Steve Barclay would be happy to discuss issues like working conditions with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) but not wages, arguing that ministers’ stance kept “politics” out of the health service.
But shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the government’s attitude was “dangerous” and “irresponsible” and that ministers were turning down an offer “too good to refuse”.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports.
It is ‘despicable’ nurses are ‘lowest paid in Europe, says RCN general secretary
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has said it was “despicable” that UK nurses were the “lowest paid in Europe”.
She told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “The one day of action that nurses are going to take hasn’t created the 7.2 million people in our waiting lists, the NHS has been in crisis for many, many years, and what state would it be in if those nurses were not working those additional unpaid hours they do?
“Nurses aren’t greedy people. They are not asking for an incredible pay rise, they are asking just to be able to make ends meet.”
Timeline of strike action next week
December 13
Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members on Network Rail and 14 train operators to begin a 48-hour strike, Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) members at Avanti West Coast will also begin 48-hour strike.
Civil servants in the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union to start a month-long strike, with workers in different agencies and departments walking out on different days.
The first day includes DVSA driving examiners, whose strike will start in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and staff in the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) customer service centre.
December 14
RMT and TSSA train strikes to continue, affecting services across the UK, Royal Mail workers will walk out on another national strike, the DVSA strike continues for staff in Scotland and Northern Ireland, RPA staff continue their walkout.
December 15
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will go on strike, Bus workers with Abellio in London will stage another walkout, Royal Mail workers to strike again, the DVSA strike continues for staff in Scotland and Northern Ireland, RPA staff continue their walkout.
December 16
RMT rail workers to stage another 48-hour national strike, The union will also see members working as security guards on Eurostar staging a 24-hour strike, TSSA members who work for Avanti West Coast to stage another 48-hour walkout.
Ground handlers employed by private contractor Menzies at Heathrow Airport, who are members of Unite, will walk out from 4am for 72 hours. Bus workers for Abellio in London to go on strike for 48 hours. The DVSA strike continues for staff in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
PCS road strikes to begin with National Highways employees walking out in the North West, North East and Yorkshire. RPA staff continue their walkout.
December 17
TSSA members who work for c2c to walk out, Rail workers with the same union at Avanti West Coast will continue their strike, the DVSA strike continues for staff in Scotland and Northern Ireland, National Highways workers continue their walkout in the North West, North East and Yorkshire.
The RMT rail workers’ walkout continues. Unite ground handlers at Heathrow continue their strike.
December 18
RMT members working as security guards on Eurostar to stage another walkout, Unite ground handlers at Heathrow continue their strike, the DVSA strike continues for staff in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Police refuse to drive ambulances during strikes, saying: ‘We need to catch criminals first’
National Police Chiefs’ Council turns down request for help because of existing demands, writes Lizzie Dearden.
Cleverly says government must protect ‘the public purse’ amid nurses strike over pay
Train strikes: Every date in December 2022 and January 2023
Rail passengers face severe travel disruption over Christmas and the New Year as workers stage a series of 48-hour strikes in December and January in the long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
The RMT union has revealed that more than 40,000 workers across Network Rail and 14 train operating companies will stage a series of 48-hour walk-outs.
Industrial action will take place on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December and on 3, 4, 6 and 7 January.
On Monday it announced further strike dates to take place over the key Christmas period, with members walking out from 6pm on 24 December until 7am on 27 December. Most trains do not run on 25 and 26 December anyway, but those aiming to travel by rail to see loved ones either side of Christmas Day will be affected.
IYCMI: CWU hold protest rally outside parliament as strikes over pay and conditions continue
Voices: If you care about your postie, you’ll support the Royal Mail strike
This week towns and cities across the country have seen postal workers standing on picket lines with their supporters in the wider community. For three months now, 115,000 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) – the union I am proud to lead – have been on strike, having voted by nearly 100 per cent in two separate ballots this summer to take action, writes CWU general secretary Dave Ward.
Thurday was the ninth day of 2022 where these workers have lost a day’s pay for striking. But spirits are far from dampened. Thursday saw some of the biggest turnouts of the dispute, with what thousands of workers see as the dictatorial, bullying style of Royal Mail’s leadership only hardening their resolve to win.
The reason for the strike is simple: it’s about stopping the Uberisation of Royal Mail. The management agenda is about Royal Mail being transformed into a gig economy-style parcel courier, with a business model reliant on bogus self-employment and casual labour.
