Strikes Suspended

Following Wednesday’s successful one-day stoppage, there were meetings of union members yesterday (Friday) to set up roster’s and make other preparations for similar industrial action on Wednesday 21st October. On Friday evening, however, a message was sent round indicating that next week’s strike action had been suspended on the grounds that a process had been agreed to construct a process for formal pay talks. That announcement made it onto the news last night. It is of course a good thing that the Government that has decided to move, but it is important to realize that this is not a victory. Nothing has been agreed, and the mandate achieved via balloting is still in place, so the industrial action is suspended rather than cancelled. Unions that were previously working to rule will continue to do so. Given the antics of the Government over the last few weeks, there isn’t much trust or goodwill going around so they will have to work to restore what they have damaged. There’s more…