Fighting Back

On Thursday 7 May, teachers and support staff in the National Education Union at Highgate Wood School in Haringey will begin a series of strikes against a package of cuts

Bus drivers at Bow garage in east London were on strike on Friday 17 April. This followed four strike days in March, and one-day strikes on 24 April and 15 May are planned.

I went to support the lively University and College Union (UCU) picket line at London Metropolitan University (aka London Met). There were impassioned speeches from teachers and one student defending what should be London Met’s fundamental role of giving working-class students opportunities.

National Education Union (NEU) members across 18 schools in Enfield took strike action on 27 March, after the Labour local authority and other school trusts in the borough imposed a punitive sickness policy.

Unison members at King’s College London voted by 89% to strike. The first two days of strike action took place on 10-11 March, and a further two days on 25-26 March.

Teachers and support staff at Brick Lane Independent Special School began a five-day strike on 18 March. Support staff report working an extra hour each day compared with those at the borough’s state special schools, yet still earn below the London living wage.

Drivers at the Bow bus garage in East London have finished a solid four-day strike as the nearly 500 workers at the garage are being made to work long shifts covering extremely busy routes through central London with insufficient breaks.

Tube train drivers on London Underground who are members of the RMT union are preparing for strike action from 24 March.

Library workers’ determined resistance has pushed back the Hackney Labour council’s proposed cuts to library services. This is another victory for the local community as well as the workforce.

On 6 and 7 February, bus drivers at Lea Interchange garage in east London will be out on strike again against bullying management. Hundreds of workers have stood on the picket lines on the two previous two-day strikes.