Great Britain: working time as the grounds for many collective disputes

The traditional 1 April settlement date for annual pay rises has passed, so unions’ priorities have shifted. A crop of industrial disputes over issues of working time have emerged. They focus upon shift systems, holidays, flexibility for work and annual leave.
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Production workers, members of the Unite union, at Bombardier engineering took 14 days strike action over management attempts to force them to work 70 per cent of their shifts at night time because they believed would cause disruption to their family lives. They also undertook a 12 week ban on overtime. Some 170 Unite members at Optare, one of the biggest bus production companies, began t industrial action over plans to force them to take two weeks’ annual leave in the height of the summer seas

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