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Strike action is continuing this week as trade unions walk out in disputes over pay and working conditions amid the cost of living crisis
Walkouts have affected everything from rail services and Royal Mail deliveries to NHS nurses, ambulance staff and teachers this year.
Here is the full list of strikes taking place this week, and through March 2023 so far.
Who is on strike this week?
Ambulance staff
Thousands of ambulance workers across England and Wales are striking this week as part of the ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.
The action involves more than 11,000 members of the GMB union, alongside some members of the Unite union.
On Monday 20 February, emergency staff represented by the GMB union are walking out at the following trusts:
- South West Ambulance Service
- South East Coast Ambulance Service
- North West Ambulance Service
- South Central Ambulance Service
- North East Ambulance Service
- East Midlands Ambulance Service
- Welsh Ambulance Service
- Yorkshire Ambulance Service
The Unite walkouts are staggered, and have been organised as follows:
- Monday 20 February in East Midlands, North East and Wales
- Wednesday 22 February in North West
- Thursday 23 February in Northern Ireland
- Friday 24 February in Northern Ireland
Teachers
The next strike involving teachers in the UK falls on Tuesday 21 February, with a 12-hour walkout in Northern Ireland. Many schools are not expected to open until midday, with members of the National Education Union (NEU) joining workers from three others – the NASUWT, Into and UTU – in the action.
In Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has announced plans to target symbolic constituencies, such as those represented by outgoing First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, on three consecutive days of action from Wednesday 22 to Friday 24 February.
Union members are not required to inform their employers if they plan to strike. Schools will decide how to handle strike days in their region on an individual basis, and should contact parents and guardians in advance with arrangements.
More on Strikes
Who is on strike in March 2023?
Teachers
NEU members in England will walk out on Tuesday 28 February in the North, North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber, and Wednesday 1 March in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and East, while on Thursday 2 March teachers in London, the South East and the South West will strike.
In Wales, members of the same union are also set to strike on Thursday 2 March after postponing action on 14 February following talks with the Welsh Government.
Then on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 March, NEU members in England and Wales will take nationwide industrial action.
In Scotland, the EIS has planned two national strikes for Tuesday 28 February and Monday 2 March, joined by the NASUWT .
The EIS is also planning a further 20 days of rolling walkouts from 13 March until 21 April if a resolution has not been reached.
It has also planned regional strikes between Tuesday 7 and Thursday 9 March in parts of Glasgow, Dunfermline, Perthshire, East Dunbartonshire area, Mid Galloway and Wigtown West.
Nurses
Nurses will stage an unprecedented 48-hour strike next month in a significant escalation of the bitter dispute with the Government over pay and staffing.
For the first time, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has called for walkouts by staff in emergency departments, intensive care units, cancer care and other services previously exempted from strike action.
The strike will begin at 6am on Wednesday 1 March and end at 6am on Friday 3 March.
Staff at 128 services across England will walk out. In the RCN’s previous strikes, “life-preserving” services such as chemotherapy, dialysis, critical care, paediatric intensive care and paediatric A&E have been exempt from taking action.
In a major change, there will be no “wide-ranging” exemptions in place this time around, the RCN said, adding that it is “working directly to ensure” that services previously exempted are “reduced to an absolute minimum”.
The union said it expects hospitals to arrange for such life-preserving care to be provided by “members of the wider workforce and other clinical professions”. This may include nurses who are not members of the RCN, along with other healthcare professionals.
Rail workers
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has announced four more days of train strikes in March and April in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions.
Rail workers at 14 major companies will walk out on the following dates:
- Thursday 16 March
- Saturday 18 March
- Thursday 30 March
- Saturday 1 April
RMT members working for National Rail will also strike on 16 March, with the walkout ending at 2am on 17 March.
The following rail operators will be affected by the strikes:
- Avanti West Coast
- Chiltern
- CrossCountry
- c2c
- East Midlands
- Gatwick Express
- Greater Anglia
- Great Northern
- Great Western
- LNER
- Northern
- Southeastern
- Southern
- South Western
- Thameslink
- TransPennine Express
- West Midlands
National Rail and the 14 companies will provide more information on how services will be affected closer to the time.
Previous action by the RMT has seen up to 80 per cent of the rail network brought to a halt. Most operators will either be running no trains at all or a severely reduced service, with trains starting later and finishing earlier than usual.
Find the latest advice from National Rail here.
University staff
University strikes will continue on the following dates in March:
- Thursday 16 March
- Friday 17 March
- Monday 20 March
- Tuesday 21 March
- Wednesday 22 March
The University and College Union (UCU) paused strikes planned for 21, 22, 23, 27 and 28 February, and 1 and 2 March, after positive discussions around a pay deal.
Dr Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: “To allow our ongoing negotiations to continue in a constructive environment, we have agreed to pause action across our pay and working conditions and USS pensions disputes for the next two weeks and create a period of calm.”
Civil servants
About 100,000 civil servants are set to strike on Wednesday 15 March – the day of the Spring Budget – the Public and Commercial Services union has announced.
The action will affect dozens of key services and government departments, including DVLA, the Cabinet Office, the Department for Education, the Home Office, the Department for Transport, National Highways and the UK Health Security Agency.
Find a full list of services affected here.
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