GMB London Region

06/08/2026

Octopus says it engages with unions "whenever our team asks us."

Good news: the team is asking.

Octopus workers want recognition and a real say on pay and conditions.

Over to you, Octopus. 🐙

Union says that as a top-rated ethical company, UK’s largest energy firm should welcome its involvement

06/08/2026

A machine can read a map. It cannot read a room, calm a frightened passenger or answer for its choices when something goes wrong.

Uber and Wayve have secured the first licences for self-driving minicabs in London, 15 cars cleared to carry passengers this summer. For now a trained driver sits in every one, and that driver is the reason the car is safe to ride at all. The plan is to take them out.

We will not pretend automation can be wished away. But no city is made safer by stripping out the people who keep it moving, and no driver should be quietly engineered out of a livelihood they have spent years building.

Our message is simple. Keep drivers behind the wheel.

Wayve Uber wins first minicab licence for autonomous cabs from TfL but vehicles will have a safety driver (at first)

04/08/2026

GMB. THE union calling for water nationalisation.

As per the New York Times👇

The new prime minister, Andy Burnham, faulted Margaret Thatcher’s privatization in the 1980s. He wants an alternative economic model, especially to run utilities.

03/08/2026

A machine can plot a route. It can't replace the knowledge and human connection our drivers bring every day.

300,000 private hire jobs are on the line as robotaxis eye London. GMB is pressing the government to act.

Read More👇

With more than a century of combined experience behind the wheel, the Gouldings now face their greatest challenge yet: Waymo, Wayve and Baidu.

31/07/2026

GMB WIN 🧡

Security workers at Sizewell C have won up to four years of 'missing' holiday pay.

The G4S workers flagged that overtime wasn't being counted towards their holiday pay. GMB took it up, and members are now getting what they're owed.

This is what GMB is for.

Read more: https://gmblondon.org.uk/news/security-workers-at-sizewell-c-win-four-years-missing-holiday-pay

30/07/2026

Octopus Energy is Britain's biggest household energy supplier. It's the only major one which has not recognised a union.

The installers fitting your heat pumps and EV chargers want a real say on workloads, training and representation.

GMB is formally seeking recognition.

Time to sit down and talk.

29/07/2026

Gardeners at The Royal Parks are voting on strike action, and it is not hard to see why.

The skilled workers who look after Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, St James's Park and Brompton Cemetery have been offered a pay rise of just 70p an hour by contractor idverde. That leaves them only 55p above the London Living Wage.

The London Living Wage is a floor, not a ceiling. It is the least a worker should get, not the most.

Treating it as a cap tells experienced, qualified gardeners that their skills count for nothing.

Read more: https://gmblondon.org.uk/news/gardeners-at-royal-parks-begin-vote-on-strike-action

28/07/2026

Thank you Chris Hinchliff MP for meeting GMB London’s Retired Members Association in Parliament today to talk water.

Our retired members are leading the fight to bring water back into public hands. Clean water is not a luxury. It is a common good.

28/07/2026

Everyone has an opinion on the NHS. The people who hold it together rarely get asked.

So we're asking.

This September, GMB London holds its first ever conference for NHS members.

Sign up: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=Bu2-fmudXk67ViAZWkPyhkzyXNdHh0dIk8LsZXXp5OBUNlE3MFA3RkFDSjhJNTg4UzMxVkFaT0ZSOC4u&route=shorturl

23/07/2026

Our striking ISS members are back out on the picket line & they're thrilled to be joined this morning by General Secretary of the TUC, Paul Nowak.

Thank you Paul & Trades Union Congress (TUC) for supporting our outsourced members as they fight for fairness and equality.

Outsourcing doesn't benefits workers, patients, or taxpayers. It only benefits the companies who earn millions at our expense.