Tom Porter Brown and Clive Walder, Birmingham Socialist Party
Unison members at University of Birmingham (UoB) working in a variety of support staff roles took another three days strike action in their months-long campaign against contract changes. These would see more evening and weekend working for less reward, with the lowest paid earning less than £12 an hour.
Socialist Party members visited the picket lines. Catering workers told us that, following the disruption to working patterns with the pandemic, management attempted to force through a number of permanent changes. A lot of people were made redundant by default and those who remained were presented with a ‘choice’: sign a contract that would make their conditions and hours worse, or get kicked out.
Security staff told us how they thought they had a decent deal when the new contracts were first proposed, but they were on strike for two main reasons: firstly, in solidarity with the catering and library staff, and secondly, because the university changed their deal after it had already been presented!
Library staff told us how management had offered one-off payments to anyone who signed a sketchy contract.
The rally on the first day of strike action brought together 70 workers who had been picketing around the campus that morning. Many were there for the first time, having joined the union in the course of the strike.
If UoB management thought they could bully staff into signing away their pay and conditions, they had another think coming!
Socialist Party members supported Unite strikers in Greenwich and Bromley libraries, fighting Greenwich Leisure Ltd over pay and conditions
