GMB London Region

05/09/2026

Stronger together. 🧡

School support staff from across London came together today for our school support staff conference. Teaching assistants, cleaners, caterers, caretakers, admin staff and lunchtime supervisors, all in one room.

These are the people who keep schools running, and every one of these jobs is skilled and undervalued. As one member put it today, support staff are now looking after the holistic needs of the child. The job has grown. The job descriptions haven’t, and neither has the pay.

In November, 800,000 school support staff transfer to the new School Support Staff Negotiating Body. GMB fought for it, and we will not accept a version that sets a minimum and calls it done. A floor is not a framework. Same job, same skills, same pay.

And no trust in trusts. Academisation has broken up pay and conditions school by school, and our members are not paying the price for it.

If you work in a school support role, you belong in GMB.

Join today: https://www.gmb.org.uk/join-gmb

04/09/2026

New allergy safety duties are in force in every school in England from this term. Every school must now have a published allergy safety policy, train its staff, and hold spare adrenaline pens.

A welcome change, and long overdue. But a policy sitting on a website protects nobody. It has to be followed properly, with training that deserves the name.

When a child reacts, it is usually support staff who respond. They need to be trained, valued and recognised for it.

Five things to check in your school ⬇️

03/09/2026

Wayve driverless taxis just landed on the Uber app. So what happens to the people who actually drive?

On BBC Radio London this morning, GMB's Kola Olalekan asked the questions no one's answering.

How do you skill up 100,000 London Uber drivers? How do you redeploy them? What happens to unemployment when their jobs get automated away?

Watch the clip 👇

03/09/2026

658 employers. £4m in wages stolen from workers who earned every penny of it.

B&Q. Five Guys. Care homes. Nurseries. NHS trusts.

Every one of them called it a “technical” error.

None of them made the error in the workers’ favour.

Join a union. Get what you’re owed.
https://gmb.org.uk/join-gmb

B&Q and Five Guys are among hundreds of UK businesses named by the government for paying staff below the minimum wage. Find out which other companies are on the list: https://bbc.in/468KWaS

02/09/2026

"Jobs. Jobs. Jobs."

GMB London Aviation Officer Perry Phillips gave evidence to the Transport Select Committee today on Heathrow expansion.

108,000 jobs. 17,000 in construction at peak. 5,000 apprenticeships.

But the ground handlers Perry represents aren't asking for themselves. They're asking whether their kids get the same shot at a secure, well-paid, unionised job at Heathrow

That's what's on the table.

01/09/2026

Day One. 🌳

The gardeners who keep Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and St James's Park world-class are on strike over a 70p pay offer.

London Living Wage is a floor, not a ceiling.

Idverde, get back round the table.

01/09/2026

On 1 June, coastguard rescue officers learned the MCA wanted to scrap call-out payments and move to a volunteer-only model.

Within weeks, hundreds of CROs organised with GMB, took the case to Westminster and won a pause.

The fight isn't over.

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=s0LiEtu1PNo&ra=m

SAVE OUR COASTGUARD — United, We Are StrongOn 1st June, coastguar...

27/08/2026

The gardeners who keep Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens & St James's Park world-class are skilled professionals, and they know what their labour is worth.

Idverde won't pay them fairly.

So they're walking out Sept 1, 2 & 3. 🌳

https://www.itv.com/news/london/2026-08-27/gardeners-working-in-prestigious-london-parks-set-to-strike-over-pay

26/08/2026

Today GMB London welcomed a delegation from Atomprofspilka, the union representing Ukraine's nuclear workers.

As the union at Sizewell C, we listened to the harrowing reality facing their members at Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, still living and working under Russian occupation.

We are proud to twin our Sizewell C branch with theirs and to send a donation every Ukrainian Independence Day.

We will keep standing with them until Ukraine is free. 🇺🇦

GMB London today welcomed a delegation from Atomprofspilka, the trade union representing nuclear energy workers across Ukraine, in a visit that reaffirmed the deep bonds of solidarity between our two movements.

24/08/2026

Today Ukraine marks its Independence Day.

We mark it standing with the workers of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, jailed for defending their colleagues.

Solidarity has no borders.

Hear their story in London on 27 August.👇

On 27 August two Ukrainian trade unionists, including a rep from the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, are speaking at UNISON HQ.