#industrial-action

#industrial-action

Residents of a London borough face the threat of a bin strike after refuse workers in a pay dispute backed industrial action. The GMB union said it will now formally ballot members who work in Richmond, in the south west of the capital, on industrial action if contractor Serco does not bring forward a revised pay offer by Friday (October 24). GMB said Serco had not presented anything concrete to bin staff working in the borough, despite pay talks stretching back to April.

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When Seamus Foley took a job on a zero-hours contract at a board games bar in London two years ago, the flexibility it offered was appealing. Now, it is a deal so bad he is prepared to walk out on strike. It's exhausting. You're constantly living your life on the back foot, says the employee at Draughts, which has bars in Stratford and Waterloo.

"It's fantastic to see so many people today," she said. "I feel like we are only after winning an all-Ireland. This is the day we are going to make this happen, if we are ever going to make it happen. "We need the people inside this (department) building to listen to the voices who are employing them. All of you put them in this building. "There are so many different stories from people and this day is going to make the difference for all those who made the decision to come to Dublin in these numbers. "Up the school secretaries and up the school caretakers."

A survey of Royal College of Nursing members showed 91% did not think the 3.6% pay increase this year was enough. The RCN warned there was widespread dissatisfaction with the NHS contract, known as Agenda for Change. Nurses begin on band five, with a starting salary of just over 31,000, after this year's pay rise. Nearly half of nurses are on this bottom band and research shows many struggle to move on from it.

The way out of this dispute is to negotiate, not frustrate.