Strikes and other industrial action have been an everpresent occurrence in 2022 and 2023, and it does not look like they are stopping any time soon.
Thousands of workers are still planning work stoppages, mostly due to unfavourable working conditions and the pressure that the cost-of-living crisis is putting on their wages.
From teachers to junior doctors, strikes have now spread to virtually every sector, and while some of the most impactful disputes are now suspended for talks, there is no shortage of other walkouts.
Table of contents
When are the next strikes?
Doctors
Junior and senior doctors recently undertook an unprecedented wave of joint strikes between September and October.
Following strike dates on 19 and 20 September, both junior doctors and consultants walked out again for three days between 2 and 4 October, with staffing reduced to Christmas Day levels.
The union is campaigning for junior doctors’ pay restoration and has warned of the recent increase in overseas health services offering higher rates to incentivise British health professionals to work overseas.
BMA consultants committee chair Dr Vishal Sharma said prior to the strike: “Junior doctors and consultants walk the same wards, look after the same patients in an underfunded and poorly staffed NHS. It is becoming ever clearer that this Government does not value us or our work and nor does it really value patient care.
“Never before have NHS consultants and junior doctors been forced to strike together for days on end, but that is where we have been brought by this Government. They must act to address our pay erosion, so that the NHS is able to train the doctors that we currently have, and to ensure that we have enough consultants to train the senior doctors of the future.”
There are currently no strikes tabled for the future, but with the dispute still unresolved, there will likely be further action.
Trains
The ASLEF rail union is set to undertake a series of rolling strikes in the first week of December in response to comments by Transport Secretary Mark Harper that a deal was “on the table” – which the union disputes after having rejected the last offer.
ASLEF members will strike between Saturday 2 December and Friday 8 December, along with an overtime ban between 1 and 9 December. The dates are as follows:
- Saturday 2 December: EMR, LNER
- Sunday 3 December: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern Thameslink, WMT
- Tuesday 5 December: C2C, Greater Anglia
- Wednesday 6 December: Southeastern, Southern (including Gatwick Express), SWR mainline, SWR depot drivers, Island Line
- Thursday 7 December: CrossCountry, GWR
- Friday 8 December: Northern, TPT
However, the dispute between the RMT rail union and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which has lasted more than a year, may finally be over.
An initial deal, known as a memorandum of understanding (MOU), has been struck between the parties that includes a 2022 backdated pay rise of 5% along with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies until the end of 2024. Further negotiation will be needed to settle the following year’s rise.
The deal, if agreed, would terminate the RMT’s strike mandate and rule out the looming possibility of strikes over the Christmas period.
The referendum on the deal for RMT members closes on 30 November.
[Read more: Will the national rail strike affect London’s Tube and Overground?]
Buses
London Transit bus drivers operating in West London are set to go on strike in mid-November and on dates across December.
More than 350 workers, represented by the Unite Union, will walk out after rejecting a 6.8% pay offer from RATP, the French company that owns London Transit. Staff have also highlighted changes to terms and conditions including cuts to meal relief and altered arrangements for days taken in lieu.
The strikes took place on 10 and 13 November and will continue on 1, 4, 22 and 23 December, affecting the 13, 23, 28, 218, 295, 414, 452 and N28 routes.
Go North East bus driver strikes are also set to continue after talks between the Unite Union and the Go Ahead bus Group broke down. Strike dates are planned from 9 November to the end of the month.
These disputes follow previous bus strikes which have each been resolved, including by Arriva and Abellio workers in London, who secured a 7% and 18% pay rise respectively.
Nurses
The dispute between nurses and the government has been put aside for the moment with hopes of settling on a pay rise for over one million NHS staff, including nurses, midwives, security guards and cleaners.
If the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) accepts the proposal, Agenda for Change members will receive a non-consolidated 2% pay rise for 2022 and 2023, and a permanent 5% rise for the financial year of 2023/24.
Even if the strikes are suspended for now, not everyone is happy with this deal. Harry Eccles, a clinical nurse specialist, told the Guardian: “It’s an insulting offer. It goes nowhere near what we set out to achieve. The job of nurses like me is to speak to our colleagues across the United Kingdom, across different unions to say we need to reject this.”
Wales has already rejected an offered financial settlement and, even though Scotland has accepted the Scottish Government’s pay offer, England is still on the fence.
Teachers
There are no teacher strikes planned after all four teacher unions accepted the most recent offer put forward by the government.
Union members voted overwhelmingly to accept the 6.5% pay increase, which equates to a boost of £2,500 per year for the average teacher.
The accepted offer is “properly funded” in the sense that it will not come from the existing budgets of schools – a point of contention in previous offers.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, told the BBC: “It’s not all that we wanted, and we will continue to campaign for better school funding and for a restoration of teacher pay – but for a one-year pay award, it is a significant achievement.”
University and college staff
University and college staff around the country have been striking over disputes with management for reasons including below-inflation pay rises and a row over pay docking.
The most recent strike came from five colleges in Stockton on Tees, Redcar and Cleveland due to disputes over low pay.
UCU Staff at Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy and Redcar and Cleveland College walked out on 7, 13 and 14 November.
The dispute is over a pay rise of 3% for 2022-2023, which members rejected, with the union asking management to make a “realistic” pay offer.
Civil Service and public bodies
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is in the midst of a wave of strikes that started in December and are set to last “well into 2023”.
Some 124 government departments have given a mandate to strike in total, citing “a 10% pay rise, pensions justice, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms” as demands.
The pensions regulator, represented by PCS, is the next organisation to go on strike due to a failure to increase pay in line with other civil service organisations. The strike will last from 22 November to 14 December.
For exact strike dates and areas, visit the PCS website.
What is causing the strikes?
The strike action up to now and the upcoming planned walkouts have largely been in response to real-term pay cuts in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, and, in some cases, redundancies, pensions and working conditions.
This has been strongly exacerbated by inflation at highs not seen in decades.
[Read more: How will train strikes affect London’s tube and overground?]
