The Unite branch at the FCA will shortly be taking industrial action.
So far, the following strike days have been fixed: 4 May, 5 May, 9 June, 10 June, 5 July and 6 July.
The work to rule will begin on 6 May and will continue for all days that are not strike days.
Strike days
On strike days, members will not log on to FCA electronic systems, answer FCA calls or emails, or attend the office.
As members will not be working on strike days, they will not be paid by the FCA for those days. The union will provide members with strike pay of a minimum of £70 per day: members will be able to fill in a form to claim this.
On strike days Unite will organise a presence at FCA offices in London and Edinburgh. This will allow members to talk with colleagues and answer questions about the action. It is important that members are prepared to support this effort if they are asked to do so.
Working to rule
Working to rule means carrying out your contractual obligations to the letter.
You can find more information about this here.
What to tell your manager
You do not have to give your manager advance warning that you are taking industrial action, although you may choose to do so if you want to.
The industrial action has been well publicised, so your manager is probably already expecting at least some of their team to be involved in it. It should come as no surprise if and when you tell them that you are exercising your legal right to participate in it.
Union members and people taking industrial action have legal protections against mistreatment. We trust the professionalism of the FCA’s managers, and we do not expect anyone to be mistreated due to their union membership or the industrial action.
If you have any concerns that you are being pressurised not to exercise your legal rights or otherwise mistreated please contact uniteatfca@gmail.com. This would be a serious matter and we would escalate it within the national Unite organisation as appropriate.
Out of office messages
When working to rule or on strike, we recommend every member puts an internal out of office message.
The FCA has made it clear in its Q&A document that you should simply say that you are unavailable that day and not mention the strike or industrial action. They have also asked that staff working to rule do not put on continuous out of office emails during this period. Whilst we are concerned about the FCA’s approach to clamping down on staff discussion, we recommend staff taking part to follow the rules laid out by the FCA as we do not want any colleague to face repercussions for taking part.
Likewise, please consider advertising the contractual hours you will be working to your email signatures, though again, the FCA has forbidden staff from mentioning the reasons for this.
Advertising the hours you work at least helps colleagues know what to expect and when they are able to contact you. This also helps raise awareness and visibility of our actions with colleagues across the organisation.
We will also be handing out stickers in the mornings during working to rule so you can give the action visibility and keep momentum up.
Non-members
As union members, we are keen to get all the support we can. If you want to join the industrial action we recommend you choose to join us as a member of Unite. That way you get a say in how we operate.
The government has set out the status of non-union members who choose to join a lawful industrial action here.
If the practice of working to rule spreads, it might open the way to a much-needed conversation about achieving a healthier work/life balance at the FCA.
