Consignia, formerly known as the Post Office, has reached a broad agreement in an outline deal with the Communication Workers' Union. The postal workers union had been threatening Consignia with strike action in pursuit of a 5% pay claim, having turned down their offer of a 2.8% increase. Growing antagonism between the two sides was defused after two top executives rejected their 10% pay rises.
Strike threat to councils
In February, local government trade unions threatened councils in England and Wales with a wave of crippling strikes as the latest round of pay negotiations between the two sides broke down. Leaders of Unison, the GMB and the TGWU, which represent 1.2 million local government workers, say they will call on their members to reject a 3% pay offer and move to a ballot for industrial action.
Teachers to strike over living allowances
Teachers have voted in favour of a one-day strike over London cost of living allowances. Hundreds of schools in the capital will be affected when around 40,000 members of the National Union of Teachers stage a one-day stoppage on March 14. The NUT wanted allowances to go up by a third, taking the inner London payment from £3,000 to £4,000, but the government offered 3.5%, worth an extra £105, effective from April 1.
Rail strike turmoil
Arriva, which operates trains from Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester, has suffered three strikes in recent months, as conductors, ticket and station staff walked out over an 18% claim to match drivers' pay. Further strikes are planned.
Several train companies are facing industrial action. Staff at ScotRail have conducted two 24-hour stoppages, with a further two planned later in the month, over a pay dispute. The RMT rail union has suspended strikes on South West Trains to hold negotiations over this year's pay rise.
Tube strikes
Downing Street secretly ordered London Underground to concede an inflation-busting pay rise to avert two 48 hour tube strikes in what political opponents claimed was a desperate attempt to ease the pressure on beleaguered Stephen Byers.
Officials at Downing Street and the transport secretary's Whitehall department instructed the network to settle in full a 5.7% claim by drivers. Tube managers publicly claimed they took the decision to pay up but an underground director and a Downing Street aide both privately admitted the government gave the green light for the u-turn.
Strike threat as BA cuts 5,800 jobs
British Airways was threatened with strike action in February over fears it would try to turn 5,800 new voluntary job losses into compulsory redundancies while coping with the slump in air travel and the mounting challenge of low-cost carriers.
Transco strike threat
In February, unions reacted with anger and threats of strike action to Transco's that it plans to make 2,400 workers redundant.
Footballers' strike that never was
The spectre of a footballers' strike was averted after a 10-year television deal with the Premier League and the Nationwide League was thrashed out last November.
