Half a million workers struck on Wednesday 1 February: the National Education Union (NEU) in schools and sixth forms, the University and College Union (UCU) in universities, civil servants in the PCS, and train drivers in RMT and Aslef.
Then Monday 6 February saw the biggest strike in the NHS yet, involving the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and ambulance workers in the GMB and Unite. In fact, the whole week has seen NHS strikes, with the RCN again on Tuesday 7 February, the CSP physiotherapists on 9 February, and ambulance workers in Unison on 10 February.
As we go to press, the Fire Brigades Union is preparing to announce dates if there is no movement from their bosses. RMT rail workers and CWU Royal Mail workers continue their disputes, which have already seen substantial strike action.
While all the unions must prosecute their disputes, there is both time to prepare, and clearly a huge desire among all these workers, to all strike together. Coordinated action of all unions with a live ballot on Budget Day, 15 March, would pile the pressure on the crisis-ridden Tories and give confidence to millions of workers.
1 February strikes: ‘There’s nothing more powerful than organised workers’
Wednesday 1 February was the biggest day of action yet in the growing strike wave over pay, terms and conditions, with five unions taking national action in England and Wales: Education unions NEU and UCU, rail unions Aslef and RMT, and civil servants’ union PCS. In Scotland, teachers in the EIS were on strike.
There were rallies around the country against the Tories’ new anti-union legislation – protests to defend the right to strike and show solidarity with the strikes. Over 50,000 marched in London. Socialist Party members across the country were on the picket lines and taking part in the demos – often as strikers, organisers and speakers.
(All reps write in a personal capacity)
What it was like to strike on 1 February: ‘A huge spectacle that made us feel proud to be in a union’
The teacher
The strike day started early, leaving home at 6am to start the picket line. We quickly established a happy and purposeful atmosphere, derived from a mutual pursuit of some kind of justice and, not to be underestimated, the chance to chat and enjoy the company of people you don’t get to talk to very often (nowadays).
A student kindly brought some doughnuts and sausage rolls (from his mum) and some lovely ladies from a neighbouring primary school appeared with an urn, tea, coffee, sugar and paper cups! A strike certainly brings out a bonhomie that tends to be supressed by the pressures of day-to-day teaching.
We met up with our fellow Redbridge teachers in Ilford to travel to the rally in central London. Little prepared us for the huge spectacle that awaited us. We felt very proud to be in a union.
As you know, teachers hate noise, we seem to spend half our lives telling people to be quiet, but when it comes from a massive group of kindred spirits as we march towards Westminster, then it’s ok!
Roy Wills, NEU rep East London
The civil servant
1 February saw 100,000 civil servants strike on a national level for the first time in over a decade. In our branch in Manchester, young workers were on strike for the first time. Young workplace reps were charged with organising picket lines for the first time. The experiences many went through on the 1 February will prepare them to escalate the struggle.
Dozens of new members joined in the days leading up to the strike. In one case in our branch, a young worker arrived at work to cross the picket line, only to be persuaded to join the union, and they ended up attending the massive rally of trade unionists in Manchester later in the day!
The rally attracted thousands of workers and included a range of speeches and a huge march around the city. Our rally was young, with hundreds of young workers holding union banners and flags and enthused by collective action.
Prior to the strike, PCS had reported the recruitment of 10,000 new members. However the central question upon our return to work was what is now needed to escalate the dispute, and we need trade union leaders to take on the task of leading the working class to victory!
Craig Worswick, PCS Secretary Greater Manchester DWP
The university worker
This week has seen the first day of an escalating strike strategy from the UCU, planned to coincide with the TUC rally in Leeds. The pickets were a bit smaller than before, with many of the university staff taking the day to look after their children as a result of the schools strike.
As usual, many students came to attend the pickets and give their solidarity, and together we made our way to join the TUC march and rally.
Some 2,500 of us marched through Leeds city centre, bringing many passers-by with us back to the town hall for the rally. The crowd was large enough that we filled the square. Overall the feeling in the city was of excitement and solidarity, with open support from the people of Leeds. A heartening start to this year’s labour disputes!
Anthony, Leeds UCU member
The train driver
Among the members of Aslef, from my local picket line to our city-wide rally in Birmingham, confidence in our dispute has only gone up!
Seeing that we were part of a 500,000-strong ‘mega-strike’, many members commented that they could see a shift in society was taking place. The Tories’ divide-and-rule tactics are obviously failing.
But this is just the first step. We’ve seen the boost of morale a coordinated day of action can achieve. Now we need more! Drivers, guards, nurses, civil servants, teachers… this battle against the rising cost of living and attacks on jobs involves all of us, so it must involve all of our collective strength.
KO, Birmingham ASLEF committee member
‘Picket lines are everywhere’
Bea Gardner reports from a school picket in Waltham Abbey: “When I arrived, someone shouted: ‘A socialist paper, excellent!’ Union membership has grown from 25 to 36 since the strike ballot result was announced and I saw someone join on the picket. The majority of people I spoke to have never been on strike before”.
A school striker in Birmingham told Nick Hart: “Thanks to the staffing crisis, we’ve got no specialist science teachers left here. We’re not just striking for ourselves but to get the funding schools need”.
Labour
James Ivens spoke with two Labour councillors who were visiting a school picket line in Hackney, east London, and he invited them to join him to also visit the library strike picket line. Unison members were striking against the Labour council’s cuts to the library service. James reports there was a “robust exchange of views”.
A Plymouth NEU striker told Ryan Aldred: “Unfunded pay rises have meant they cut a third of my department to maintain pay. They’re going to have to cut back on school trips and all sorts of things which ultimately means the kids suffer”.
A London PCS member spoke to Ben Goldstone. “We are striking because of the awful working conditions. We’re here to defend members’ interests, to ask for better pay, and to implement the court ruling against the government for their illegal action in increasing pension contributions back in 2017. We need to move to more strike action, I don’t think this government is interested in negotiating or goodwill. The only thing that will help us is concerted and organised strikes.”
Alec Thraves reports that there was big support for the PCS picket at Swansea DVLA, with just a trickle of cars going in and literally a handful on buses.
New members
Helen Pattison reports a really good mood on the PCS picket at Heathrow Airport. New workplace reps, who had stepped up in just the last year, discussed how they had managed to galvanise the mood. Lots of people mentioned how far back working conditions had been pushed in both the public and private sectors.
A striker at the St Mark and St John University picket in Plymouth commented: “There needs to be a change in the funding formula. Our staff need a pay rise but we also need to maintain educational resources. It can’t be right that every year someone studies with us they get thrust into £9,000 more debt”.
On the Southampton University picket line, Nick Chaffey spoke with a UCU member who explained the cynical outlook of management: “The latest offer includes an 8% increase for the lowest grades. It sounds good for their PR but the truth is that no one is employed on these grades anymore. It’s an offer to nobody!”
Tories disconnected
“There’s no way we can accept attacks on the terms and conditions we’ve fought for 140 years to win, in order to revive a pay cut,” was the clear message from Aslef members in Leeds, according to Iain Dalton. There was anger at how disconnected the Tories are from the reality faced by ordinary people. As one picket joked: “Not paying your taxes and having to pay a £5 million fine – who hasn’t had to do that!” With another replying: “I think the last time I did that, I was in the back of a car without a seatbelt on”.
Steve Score reports from the Aslef picket line in Leicester: “When you are in a fight you find out who your friends and enemies really are. Leicester’s Labour City Mayor walked past the Aslef picket line without even stopping to say hello. When Starmer bans frontbenchers from speaking out on picket lines, and local Labour leaders shun workers in struggle, it underlines why we need a new workers’ party!”
Rallies in the hundreds and thousands
Mike Whale reports that rural East Riding, a Tory ‘heartland’, saw more than 20 NEU picket lines followed by the biggest demonstration in Beverley since the anti-poll tax demonstrations in the early 1990s.
The rally in Hull city centre was rammed. The local secretary of the NASUWT told the rally that she was gutted that members of her union were not out, having voted overwhelmingly to take strike action but missed the restrictive Tory turnout threshold.
Speakers included Socialist Party member and Hull NEU secretary Ken McCall. One feature of the march that followed was the response from school students. Many of them were shouting anti-Tory slogans – some of which it would not be polite to print!
FBU members join the rallies
The Sheffield demo, Alistair Tice reports, had thousands on it – some said 3,000, some said 5,000, some said 6,000! An experienced trade unionist said: “I can’t believe it. It’s fantastic!” Teachers in their hundreds, UCU lecturers, PCS civil servants and Aslef train drivers were joined by 70 firefighters who aren’t even on strike yet.
Marion Lloyd, the left candidate for PCS president (see page 13) came from a 40-strong picket outside the Department for Education, and called for coordinated strike action and a one-day general strike.
Stuart Davies and Pete McNally report that well over 200 people squeezed into a local church hall in Worcester. Sean McCauley, a Socialist Party member and NEU executive member, got the event under way, highlighting the weakness of the Tory government and the need to defend education from Tory attacks.
A speaker from the local FBU branch said: “If you live in Worcester and you need the fire service during the night, you can be sure they will be there for you. All four of them. If someone else needs them around the same time, they will have to wait.” The fact that there were no Labour Party representatives at the event was also highlighted by one of the crowd.
24-hour general strike
Several hundred trade unionists marched in Gloucester, says James Collett, chair of Gloucester and District Trades Council. The Socialist Party’s call for a 24-hour general strike got a great response on the picket lines, as workers got a taste of how powerful coordinated action could be.
“That’s what we need,” said one Aslef striker. “A massive show of strength by the unions so the government knows they can’t win.” Another striker said: “The politicians think their money makes them powerful, but there’s nothing more powerful than organised workers.”
Sacrifice
Socialist Party member Lluis Bertolin, a PhD student and striking UCU member, spoke at the Birmingham rally. “There comes a moment where all the passion, sacrifice, and enthusiasm for teaching, however immense, is not sufficient to mitigate the effects of appalling work conditions. Management is more worried about opening and maintaining campuses in countries with dubious human rights standards than giving students a proper education.”
Rich reports that workers came out in force in Wolverhampton to show support for the right to strike. Educators, railway workers, firefighters and more marched and gave speeches in opposition to the new laws.
Tom Baldwin says of the Bristol rally: “There were over 70 picket lines across Bristol; on every line we visited workers told us they’d be going to the rally, but I was still blown away by how big it was. Streams of people coming onto College Green became a flood, and still they kept coming. Many of them were young workers with little or no experience of striking before. Everyone we spoke to wanted the strikes to continue coordinating and building.”
Struggle
Socialist Party member Sheila Caffrey chaired the rally, as president of the Trades Council and NEU executive member. She compared the obscene profits made by big business and the struggle for people to afford to eat and heat their homes. She said: “If this society can’t afford to pay, house and feed us, then we can’t afford this society.”
Laurence Dunn reports from Guildford that around 200 striking workers packed a meeting space and its hallways, with two Socialist Party members speaking. As a first-time striker and education worker put it, the turnout to the rally was inspiring, and made her feel reassured, encouraged and confident.
NEU executive member Louise Cuffaro reports that about 500 strikers and picketers came to Stratford Old Town Hall for the Newham NEU rally, between picketing their schools and then marching in central London. So many of them Early Career Teachers and support staff, and many from scary anti-union academy trusts.
Around 500 trade unionists attended Swansea Trades Council rally. Mark Evans reports that the Labour leader of Swansea City Council, Rob Steward, got a less than enthusiastic response, particularly as some of the strikers present, in the NEU, were taking action against the Welsh Labour government.
Four Socialist Party members spoke at the rally, with Ginny from Socialist Students calling for a one-day general strike as the next big step in the fight to win the pay claims, to defeat the anti-trade union bill, and kick out the Tories.
According to Richard Worth, the Exeter march was led by Aslef train drivers, with PCS civil servants, NEU teachers, UCU university lecturers, students and children in support. Getting big public support, the march ended with a meeting of over 500, where Rob Kitley of the Exeter branch of Aslef called for rail, Royal Mail, energy and water to be nationalised.
NHS staff support
Lancaster’s streets were filled with striking trade unionists and their supporters as up to 500 marched to a rally, reports Martin Powell-Davies. As they passed the hospital, they were applauded by NHS staff.
The day had started with lively NEU pickets at a dozen or more local schools, boosted by some NASUWT members refusing to cross the picket lines. Lancashire Socialist Party gave out hundreds of strike bulletins and our message that we all needed to be out together on Budget Day was well received.
Jean Thorpe spoke to over 2,000 people marching in Nottingham.
Sue Atkins, speaking in Southampton, made the case for coordinated action on 15 March, Budget Day, to prepare for a 24-hour general strike to drive out the Tories. She raised the need for a trade union-led socialist alternative to Starmer’s ‘no blank cheque’.
Socialist Party members spoke at many more rallies around the country.
6 February NHS strikes: ‘We want to save the NHS for everyone’
On 6 February, members of the Royal College of Nursing in 73 trusts in England were joined by GMB ambulance workers in England, and Unite ambulance workers across England and Wales, in the biggest NHS strike yet. The RCN also struck on 7 February.
Socialist Party members visited the big picket lines all around the country. Members supporting strikers at the university hospitals in Bristol report that even with the numbers “a bit down” on the last strike day, there were still 60 on the picket line!
NHS on its knees
Strikers at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth told the Socialist: “Grant Shapps is lying through his teeth when he says that heart attack and stroke sufferers are being left without care during the strikes. I’ve attended one this morning.
“Ambulance response times have been really bad even before strike action began.
“We could do with a pay rise yes, but the main issue that we want to draw attention to is the fact that the NHS is on its knees. We’ve got great support from the public but it’s not them we need to hear our message. The Tories aren’t listening and I doubt Labour would either.”
Better pay at Aldi
Amanda at West Bromwich ambulance picket was told by strikers: “A lot of people think we are on £28,000 a year. I’m on £10.30 an hour, just shy of £20,000 a year. We’re losing a lot of people to illness and retirement; it’s hard physical work which takes its toll on your body. Some people have left to go and work in Aldi, as they pay £13 an hour.”
Elaine Brunskill reports from the RCN and GMB picket lines at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead: “I’m old! I’m militant! I’m out on strike!” was how one of the striking nurses greeted us.
Staffing below safe levels every day
A group of RCN members angrily told us how hospital bosses had insisted on larger numbers of strikers being pulled off the picket line to go into work because of supposed safety concerns. But this has led to more nurses being on the ward than on a normal working day! One commented: “They’re saying eleven are needed on the ward today – there’s usually seven.”
At Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham, a striker told the Socialist: “We’re not just on strike for more pay – we want to save the NHS for everyone from the Tories wrecking it!”
Wales NHS ‘offer’
The pressure of the action has led to new pay offers for NHS workers from the Welsh Labour government which, in turn, ups the pressure on the Tories. The RCN, GMB, Royal College of Midwives and the physios’ union suspended the action in Wales, but Unite went ahead. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said it would be “wholly premature” for the action to be suspended.
The ‘enhanced’ offer of an additional 3%, taking the total to 7-8%, is still a significant pay cut compared to inflation. Only 1.5% of the extra is to be consolidated, the rest is a one-off payment. Nurses and ambulance workers are yet to see the details and discuss in meetings, but many will want to fight on. RCN and GMB members report having heard not one member supporting the offer or the suspension, and report ambulance workers joining Unite in order to continue the action.
National strike wave dates currently announced
National Education Union in schools and sixth forms
- 14 Feb: Wales
- 28 Feb: Northern, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber
- 1 March: East Midlands, West Midlands, Eastern
- 2 March: London, South East and South West
- 15 and 16 March: all England and Wales
With national demonstrations in London and Cardiff on 15 March
PCS
- 15 March national action
- Targeted action in February by workers at the British Museum, the Output Services Group of the DVLA, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
UCU in the universities
- 9 and 10 Feb
- 14, 15 and 16 Feb
- 21, 22 and 23 Feb
- 27 and 28 Feb; 1 and 2 March
- 16 and 17 March
- 20, 21 and 22 March
Unison has dates throughout February at various universities
Ambulance workers
In Unite
- 17 February in the West Midlands
- 20 February in the East Midlands, North East and Wales
- 21 February in Wales
- 22 February in the North West and Wales
- all five regions on 6 and 20 March
In GMB
- 20 February, 6 and 20 March.
NHS campaigns have called a national NHS SOS demonstration on Saturday 11 March
Northern Ireland: 16 March could see massive coordinated public sector action
