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Who Is British Singer Dating?
Strikes across the country continue today as everyone from ambulance workers to DVLA staff walk out in protest of stagnating pay and poor working conditions.
In Northern Ireland, 4000 social care workers and health professionals in Northern Ireland under union Unite are participating in their final day of strike action due to the effects of inflation against wages.
Health staff have been off work for a whole week, but answering critical calls, as part of what Union boss Kevin McAdam called a ‘determination to defend living standards.’
Elsewhere, DWP staff in Liverpool and DVLA staff in Swansea and Birmingham are also walking out over pay.
The demonstrations are just the latest in a series of protests that have dogged Britain in recent months since the ’12 strikes of Christmas’ – which saw rail workers, staff, nurses, ambulance staff, teachers, security guards handling cash, cleaners, porters, driving examiners, airport workers, rural payments officers and civil servants all strike off.
DVLA staff in Swansea and Birmingham are striking
This action was followed in the new year by mass protest on February 1, dubbed Walkout Wednesday, which saw 500,000 workers including teachers, lecturers, civil servants, train workers, bus drivers, Border Force agents and security guards all down their tools in the biggest day of industrial action in a decade.
Here’s who’s striking today across the UK and why.
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Health workers and ambulance staff – Northern Ireland
Ambulance workers in Northern Ireland are striking today over pay grievances and fears the service they provide is being affected.
It is the final day of the strikes the service has undertaken however paramedics taking part in the stoppage will be on standby to answer critical calls.
Unite’s lead regional officer for health in Northern Ireland, Kevin McAdam, said: ‘Nobody should be in any doubt regarding our members’ determination to defend their living standards amid an unprecedented cost of living crisis.’
Health workers are also walking out over concerns of low pay and poor working conditions, something Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said was making work ‘impossible’
She said: ‘With chronic low pay making it impossible to recruit and retain essential health workers, the health service in Northern Ireland is facing an existential crisis.’
Civil service – UK
A host of civil servants who are part of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will continue their walk out today which will continue into the weekend.
Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) employees at various job centres are taking their 14th day of job action over pay, pensions, job security and redundant terms.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) staff in Swansea and Birmingham are also staging a stoppage.
After taking five days of job action last month they are striking for six days until Saturday.
February and March will see a host of strike action across the public and private sector
What’s to come?
Rail workers will stage another series of nationwide strikes next month in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said their industrial action will start on March 16 after ’employers refused to put any new offers on the table’.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Rail employers are not being given a fresh mandate by the government to offer our members a new deal on pay, conditions and job security.
‘Therefore, our members will now take sustained and targeted industrial action over the next few months.’
Junior doctors have also announced they will stage a 72-hour walk out in March over pay and working conditions. The date of this picket has not yet been decided.
In a statement, the BMA said: ‘While workload and waiting lists are at record highs, junior doctors’ pay has been cut by more than a quarter since 2008,’ the BMA said.
‘A crippling cost-of-living crisis, burnout and well below inflation pay rises risk driving hard working doctors out of their profession at a time when we need them more than ever.’
Ambulance staff will also take strike action next month on March 6 and March 20.
GMB and Unite union members from the West Midlands, North West, North East and East Midlands will all picket on those dates.
