The DWP strike ballot ends on Monday, 23 Feb. It is vitally important we get a YES vote but of course the anti-trade Union laws mean we have to get a 50% plus turnout as well. Every vote, your vote, therefore counts. So vote, and vote YES.

A union machinist just won a Texas State Senate seat Trump carried by 17 points. He was outspent four to one. How did he do it? By tossing out the Democrats’ playbook and running a grassroots economic populist campaign with a strong pro-labor message.

Please listen to the podcast if you can. We can learn lessons from the labor movement in Minnesota. In fact faced with a Reform government in the UK we have to learn those lessons!

Interesting report from Minnesota. 'Edwin Torres Desantiago, the Immigrant Defense Network manager, told MPR News in November that 2,500 people were trained as (constitutional) observers. He said the total now is nearly 30,000 trained observers in 77 out of 87 counties in Minnesota'.

From the book 'The Good Society'; of all the 40 countries in the OECD and the EU, Britain had the greatest rise in child poverty in the decade before 2023, at 20%; close to a third of British children now live in poverty.

Please read this article on Kate Pickett’s book the The Good Society. It shows how inequality drives the crises in care, health, education and justice and why tinkering at the edges won’t fix a system this broken.

Congratulations to the Resident doctors who voted in the ballot. The government now has a choice; heed the vote and negotiate a deal or face further strife.

As thousands of ICE agents swarmed the Minneapolis area since December, workers have been facing them on the job and organizing in various ways to fight back, @lfelizleon.bsky.social reported ahead of the Jan. 23 day of action in Minnesota: labornotes.org/2026/01/will... 🧵 1/7

From the large windows of a skyway between buildings in downtown Minneapolis, it looked like some 50,000 to 100,000 demonstrators were in the streets, snarling traffic, lifting banners, and waving handmade signs in gloved hands, @Lfelizleon writes labornotes.org/2026/01/twin...

The International Committee also discussed, and decided on actions concerning Iran, Ukraine, Sudan and the Far Right in Europe.

Today, the PCS International Committee met to address the ongoing situation in Minneapolis. So we will send formal messages of solidarity to Alex’s Local and the local AFL-CIO. Mother Jones saying is relevant here "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!"

For British trade union activists in particular, EPSU’s collective bargaining newsletter is invaluable for keeping up to date with trade union struggles across the EU and wider Europe. If you can, it’s well worth following.

From @ensu-resu.bsky.social: "The criminal Putin regime is intent on making life unliveable for the Ukrainian people" Our solidarity must help Ukraine survive! Support these emergency fundraisers! ukraine-solidarity.eu/our-solidari...

The BMA is gravely concerned about reports of violations of medical neutrality in Iran. Read our statement below.

Local businesses in Birmingham are suffering. Like residents & bin workers, they want to see an end to the strike. Why did @bhamcitycouncil.bsky.social walk away from a ballpark agreement and from all negotiations back in the summer 2025? Do your job. Get in the room. Negotiate a fair settlement

DWP strike ballot now open: www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...

And we mustn't forget that the reason Dr. King was in Memphis was to support black sanitation workers on strike. Dr. King supported the labour movement and in turn, at least certain elements of the movement supported him and the Civil Rights struggle.

Again a simple problem to solve.

Please read this. An important response from the trade union and wider movement.

If you don't think something similar couldn't happen in this country, then think again. Reform openly speaks of having an Ice-like force for this country and to carry out raids to deport hundreds of thousands of people.

ICE appears to be reveling in the hypocrisy and double standards that the Trump administration’s unqualified defense of their sickeningly violent and occasionally murderous behavior, against Renee Good and innumerable others, has given them license to indulge in.

It’s been almost 4️⃣ years. ▪️ For four years, the Ukrainian people have been living under bombs. ▪️ For four years, Russia’s brutal aggression has continued. ▪️ For four years, workers in #Ukraine have been keeping their country running - rescuing people & supporting those forced to leave their homes.

130 PCS members at the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) will strike from today to 15 January over real-terms pay cuts. They were offered a 2% rise while the Mayor of London received 3.2%, with other policing organisations IOPC and NCA receiving 3.5% and 4.4% respectively.

Along with UNISON and other unions, 2026 is also a year of Green activity for PCS as well.

The Employment Rights Acts has been passed which is good. But it is inadequate in so many ways. To read about that, please see here: freeourunions.org/2025/12/21/t...

10,000 UFCW grocery workers in Colorado struck Kroger in January last year, setting the pace for 2025. By the time the gov't shutdown paused the official counting of strikes, 183,000 workers had walked out. Our editor Jenny Brown on last year's notable labor struggles labornotes.org/2025/12/2025...

The DWP ballot will now start on 19 January. This is because DWP queried some of the information supplied as part of the ballot notification. Until ALL the anti-trade union laws are scrapped, unions will be subject to challenges in conducting strike votes. We need a positive right to strike.

The DWP strike ballot begins today (5 Jan). I urge all DWP members to vote YES and to send in the ballot ASAP. For more information on the vote please see here: www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...

A good note to end the year on.

Whilst we're enjoying Christmas and preparing for the New Year, we mustn't forget that very early in 2026 the DWP ballot begins - a ballot that we need to win.

I hope that the government will get around the negotiation table with the BMA, and make a credible offer that actually could end the dispute.

During the festive days and on Old/New Year workers deliver our public services 24h a day, 7 days a week, the whole year round Thank you EPSU, your union voice in Europe, wishes you all a very good 2026 with many victories for higher pay and better conditions @epsu.bsky.social

Steve Reed’s letter to councils warning against a four-day week is a backward step. Instead of embracing innovation that boosts productivity and staff well-being, he’s clinging to outdated notions of “hard work” = longer hours: www.theguardian.com/business/202...

As we come to the end of a very difficult year I wanted to say a few words about *some* of the issues that, with your help, I will focus on next year. At the top of my list: - Campaign finance reform - Income & wealth inequality  - The rapid deployment of AI - Medicare for All

“The Brotherhood,” as many members affectionately called it, would become a vehicle to educate Black communities about labor unions and an institutional anchor for waging civil rights fights and developing activist pressure tactics, writes Paul Prescod labornotes.org/blogs/2025/1...

Opinion | "Any Health Secretary should be making allies of the workforce, not enemies," writes Andrew Fisher trib.al/PxH4Akx

Though I should add the protections around fire and rehire and zero hours contract are not as robust as I think they should be; nor are the protections in place. In the case of zero hours contracts, they might not come into effect until 2027!

This is good.

Dr Jack Fletcher, the chair of the BMA’s resident doctors sets out the reality that the BMA faces. He accuses the health secretary of “cruel and calculated” behaviour.

BMA members have spoken and so the trade union movement should fully support this strike. The Resident doctors through their demand for more training spaces are trying to end corridor care. Given his refusal to provide those spaces, Wes Streeting is perpetuating such care.

Great to be joined last week by PCS members (love the banner) inc @johnmoloney.bsky.social AGS - who explains in our video why @pcsunion.bsky.social opposes Rosebank. Join them in signing our open letter here: docs.google.com/forms/d/11xy...

DWP can easily give the guarantees that Carrie-May and the members are asking for. Solidarity with the Lincoln strikers.

Trump says it's an A++++ economy. He's right. His billionaire friends have never had it better. If you're a working class person: 👉60% live paycheck to paycheck 👉Grocery prices at record highs 👉Premiums to double for 20+ million The economy must work for all, not just the 1%

Over the coming years, we'll see more and more unions contemplating industrial action over AI and associated technologies.

Despite headlines suggesting a 29% pay rise, the hourly rate for Resident Doctors has only increased from £14.09 to £18.62 over four years for the lowest grade.

The following BMA figures, for last year, illustrate the competition for specialty training posts (number of applicants per available place): A&E: Over 14:1 (5,081 applicants for 357 places, turning away over 4,000 doctors). Psychiatry: Almost 22:1 Anesthesiologists: 12.5:1

This is a very interesting discussion. Of course in the UK we're even further away from considering a general strike or even having coordinated strikes between major unions. Yet in the event of a Reform/Tory government wouldn't such strikes be necessary?

Tonight I and others will joining a CACCTU meeting to discuss what we should be doing in 2026, the year agreed by the TUC as a year of climate activity.

We joined @fossilfreeldn.bsky.social outside DESNZ today to say 'Stop Rosebank' You can sign and share the trade unionists open letter against the mega Rosebank oil field here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... We need climate jobs and a just transition not fossil fuel expansion!

Just received the December edition of Labor Notes. As I said yesterday, in my opinion at least, well worth the subscription.