Strike dates: Who is striking and what pay do they want?

DANIEL LEAL People hold placards on a picket line outside Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in LondonDANIEL LEAL

Hundreds of thousands of workers have been taking part in strikes over pay.

However, some agreements have been reached, including a pay settlement for more than a million NHS staff in England.

Who is allowed to strike?

Industrial action by workers doing many different jobs has been organised by trade unions. Certain rules - like giving enough notice - must be met.

Police and prison officers are not currently allowed to strike.

The government is trying to introduce a law that will require some trade union members to work during a strike, to provide a minimum level of service.

Teachers

  • Members of the National Education Union in England went on strike on 5 and 7 July
  • The government offered teachers an extra £1,000 one-off payment for this academic year
  • The pay review body has reportedly recommended a 6.5% rise for teachers next year, which the NEU has called a "credible" offer
  • The National Association of Head Teachers is balloting its staff on whether to strike over pay, funding, workload and wellbeing
  • The unions want extra money to ensure any pay rises do not come from schools' existing budgets
  • In Northern Ireland, five teaching unions went on strike on 26 April

Tube staff

  • London Underground workers will strike from 23 July until 28 July
  • RMT members are in a long-running dispute about pensions, job cuts and working conditions
  • The union says changes will cost members 30% of their pensions and put 600 jobs at risk
  • They previously took industrial action in March.

Junior doctors

  • Junior doctors in England will strike between 07:00 on 13 July and 07:00 on 18 July
  • The British Medical Association said junior doctor roles have seen pay cut by 26% since 2008 once inflation is taken into account.
  • To reverse that they want a 35% pay rise, which the government has said is "unreasonable in the current economic context"
  • Junior doctors in Scotland are set to strike between 12 and 15 July after rejecting a 14.5% pay rise over two years
  • Hospital consultants are due to strike on 20 and 21 July.

Rail workers

  • There has been a series of strikes by members of the RMT and Aslef unions
  • RMT members working for 14 train companies are taking action on 20, 22 and 29 July
  • Train drivers in the Aslef union are having an overtime ban between 3 and 8 July and also between 17 and 22 July
  • A separate dispute involving RMT members and Network Rail was resolved after union members accepted a revised pay deal
  • The unions are in dispute with the government and rail companies about pay, job cuts and changes to terms and conditions
  • Rail industry bosses say changes need to be agreed to afford pay increases and to modernise the railway

Nurses

  • Members of the Royal College of Nursing union in England will not continue their strike action after too few of them took part in their latest strike ballot
  • A majority supported strike action but trade union laws mean that more than 50% of members need to vote
  • Nurses in England are included in a deal, reached on 2 May, offering a 5% pay rise and a one-off payment of at least £1,655
  • A majority of unions accepted the offer
  • Nurses across nearly all parts of Wales have suspended action planned on 12 and 13 July
  • In Scotland, union members have accepted an offer worth an average 6.5% for 2023-24

Ambulance workers

  • Ambulance workers are included in the pay deal for NHS staff in England announced on 2 May
  • Unite - one of three unions threatening to continue action - has a mandate for further strikes in some ambulance services

Passport Office staff

  • Passport Office staff belonging to the PCS union took action for five weeks in April and May
  • The union is asking for a 10% pay rise, improved redundancy terms better pensions and assurances of job security
  • They say the government has offered a pay rise averaging 4.5-5% for 2023

Civil servants

  • Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members took action on 6 June in Northern Ireland and 7 June in Wales
  • They have taken action for months and there have been three national walkouts
  • PCS is calling for a 10% pay rise, better pensions, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms
  • The government has offered civil servants below senior grades a lump sum of £1,500 for 2022-23
  • The Prospect union, which has more than 32,000 civil service members, paused planned strike action after the government offered to engage in "meaningful talks" over pay

University staff

  • Members of the University and College Union (UCU) have been striking at 150 universities across the UK
  • Some students may not receive their grades this summer because of a marking boycott by staff, affecting exams and assessments.
  • In April, the union renewed its mandate for industrial action for another six months
  • The dispute is about pay, casual contracts, pensions and workloads
BBC iPlayer

Watch Make Sense of Strikes on iPlayer and find out more about why people are striking and whether industrial action works.

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Have any disputes been resolved?

Some workers have settled disputes:

Does the public support strike action?

Public support for strike action varies widely between different industries, a poll carried out by YouGov in January suggested.

For example, it found nearly two in three people (65%) supported the nurses' strike - with ambulance workers backed by a similar number. However, only about one in three people (36%) backed university staff strikes.