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Health and social care workers, physiotherapists, bus drivers, teachers and bin staff are striking today.
Some 4,200 physios who work at 30 NHS trusts in England are set to walk out in a call for better pay.
Members of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy will stage the same industrial action on February 9 – but across 60 trusts this time.
Health and social care workers in Northern Ireland are also striking for the next 24 hours.
Members of four different unions, Unite, Unison, Nipsa and GMB, are all joining forces and walking out together.
Unite alone accounts for 4,000 staff members who are unlikely to go to work today.
These workers will walk out again on January 26, with another two 48-hour strikes scheduled for February 16 and 17, 23 and 24.
Unite is the most recent union to join the health and social care picket lines today, after 87% of its members voted to reject a ‘below inflation’ pay rise offered by the Government.
Meanwhile, London bus workers at Abellio are also taking industrial action – for the second day in a row this week – following 20 days of strikes in the past few months.
Dutch company Abellio made profits of €401 million (£354 million) in 2021 but has made an ‘unacceptable’ pay offer, the Unite union claims.
The no-deal is said to leave full-time drivers with under two years’ of service on £3.29 less per hour than their colleagues with more than two years.
Teachers in Scotland are also staging action today, as part of walkout lasting 16 consecutive days.
They will strike again next month – with teachers across two local authorities walking out.
Teachers in England and Wales are also joining the industrial action for the next protest on February 1.
Those working in South Ayrshire and Edinburgh are striking in a dispute over another 5% pay rise offer.
Any new offer would need to be agreed by all 32 council leaders – but they are not due to meet until towards the end of this month.
Meanwhile, around 80 refuse workers and street cleaners in Liverpool are continuing their week-long walk out, which kicked off on Monday.
Liverpool Streetscene Services Ltd workers want a pay increase of 4% and an additional £1,000 to offset energy bills and food prices shooting up.
Unite says many roles are underpaid – for example refuse drivers, who must hold a HGV licence, are given £14.71 an hour.
LSSL said it was ‘surprised and disappointed’ at the move after ‘the national pay award… was agreed and awarded to their members in November’.
A spokesperson said: ‘This rise of £1,925 equates to a £1 per hour increase with an additional 4% for any additional allowances, meaning all our staff have seen their annual salary rise between 7% to 12%.’
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