Strikes 2023: Who is striking and when?

Here is a list of all the unions that have carried out strike action in 2023 and their progress so far.
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Trade unions across many different sectors have organised industrial action in the coming days and weeks. Junior doctors, university staff, teachers and many more professions have already taken part in strikes in 2023 with more yet to come.

Many unions have organised walk outs to help secure better pay and conditions for workers. Nurses, university staff and ambulance workers are just some of the workers to have protested in the past month.

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Ahead of the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget on March 15, several sectors  were on strike the previous month. Around 133,000 civil servants were among strikers on the same day as the chancellor’s announcement.

With so many people taking part in strikes at the moment, it can be difficult to keep track of who is still striking and who has either paused or reached a deal.

Here is a list of industries  planning to take industrial action, when they will strike and their demands. Some unions have paused strike action while they are in talks with the government.

Workers striking in 2023

Unions and staff must observe certain rules while strike action is taking place. This includes giving enough notice around strike action. Below is a breakdown of everyone who has announced strike action taking place in the coming weeks,

Passport office staff

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Next strike: Over 1,000 passport office staff will strike for five weeks from April 3 to May 5. The strikes will take place across England, Scotland and Wales. In Belfast, strike action will start from April 7 to May 5.

The union is asking for a higher annual pay rise than the 2% the government has offered.

Nurses

Next strike: Strikes are paused. The union is in talks with the Government and March strikes were called off as a result.

Three unions are recommending staff accept the government’s offer. This is a 5% pay increase from April and a minimum one-off payment of £1,655. However, Unite does not recommend the offer and is putting it to a vote.

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GMB Scotland members accepted an offer. This was worth an average of 6.5% for 2023-24. Ballots are still underway at other unions across Scotland.

Ambulance workers

Next strike: Strikes are paused while workers are voting on the same offer given to nurses and midwives. This is an offer of a 5% pay rise from April, and a one-off payment of £1,655 at the minimum.

University staff

Next strike: University staff are scheduled to strike from March 20 to 22. Staff from the University and College Union have been striking across 150 universities in the UK.

The Union is disputing pay, casual contracts, pensions and workloads.

Teachers

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Next strike: Teacher strikes are on pause while intensive talks take place. This follows strike action by England teachers from March 15 to 16. The next dates are not being announced for another two weeks.

Talks with the Department for Education will focus on teacher pay, conditions and workload reduction. Others that will be involved in the talks include the Association of School and College Leaders, National Association of Head Teachers and NASUWT.

Civil servants

Next strike: Staff at Ofsted will walk out from Monday to Wednesday every week in March. This follows strike action from around 133,000 civil servants on March 15 – the same day the chancellor revealed the Spring Budget.

Members across 124 government departments are taking part in the action. The Public and Commercial Services  is asking for a 10% pay rise. There are also calls for better pensions, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms.

Rail workers

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Next strike: March 30 and April 1. However, members of the RMT union at Network Rail have voted to end strike action for some of its staff following an offer on pay and conditions.

RMT is still in dispute with 14 English train operating companies and their subsidiaries. This is likely to cause major disruption for some travellers.

Of the future strikes, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our dispute with the train operating companies remains firmly on and our members’ recent highly effective strike action across the 14 train companies has shown their determination to secure a better deal.

“If the government now allows the train companies to make the right offer, we can then put that to our members but until then the strike action scheduled for March 30 and April 1 will take place. The ball is in the government’s court.”

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