Who is putting? How this coming week’s walkouts will have an effect on you

It is the week when households throughout the UK gear up for Christmas – however earlier than settling all the way down to turkey and sprouts there can be additional industrial motion to take care of first.

In the approaching days, ambulance drivers, nurses, driving examiners and freeway employees will all be putting.

Then a recent walkout by postal employees will disrupt last-minute deliveries of playing cards and presents – whereas additional stoppages on the railways from Christmas Eve will make travelling home a problem for a lot of.

This is a bumper version of my newest strike briefing, with numerous helpful data on what is occurring – and the way it would possibly have an effect on you.

So what’s the week forward trying like?

Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, nurses from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union are strolling out on Tuesday 20 December.

The strike will contain workers in a couple of quarter of hospitals and group groups in England, all well being boards in Northern Ireland and all however one in Wales.

Under commerce union legal guidelines, life-preserving care needs to be supplied – so all nursing workers are anticipated to work in providers reminiscent of intensive and emergency care.

But the motion will have an effect on routine providers, reminiscent of deliberate operations, district nursing and psychological well being care.

Watch Make Sense of Strikes on iPlayer and discover out extra about why individuals are putting and whether or not industrial motion works.

Ambulance workers throughout most of England and Wales will go on strike on Wednesday 21 December in a dispute over pay.

The co-ordinated walkout by the three principal ambulance unions – Unison, GMB and Unite – will have an effect on non-life threatening calls solely.

However, it might imply individuals who have had journeys and falls not being responded to.

National Highways site visitors officers within the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working in London and the south-east of England will cease work from 22 to 25 December.

The strike will contain management centre workers. Traffic officers who work within the aftermath of accidents may even cease work.

PCS says its rolling programme of strike motion “could have a major impression“. However, National Highways says no roads can be closed and it has “well-rehearsed resilience plans in place”.

The subsequent strikes by Royal Mail workers are attributable to happen on 23 and 24 December – a few of the busiest days for pre-Christmas deliveries.

On strike days Royal Mail says it won’t be able to ship first and second-class letters.

However, it can ship as many parcels and Special Delivery letters as potential.

Royal Mail supply places of work and customer support factors can be closed. Letters won’t be collected from put up containers.

Border Force workers are happening strike for eight days over Christmas at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester airports, in addition to the port of Newhaven, may even be affected.

The strike will happen from 23-26 and 28-31 December.

Heathrow has warned passport checks might take longer on strike days. The authorities says travellers might face “serious disruption”.

And in the event you’re fascinated by reserving a last-minute flight, right here is an additional spanner within the works – British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have stopped promoting new tickets for inbound flights to Heathrow on the times of the Border Force strikes.

The RMT rail employees’ union has introduced additional strikes from 18:00 GMT on Saturday 24 till 06:00 GMT on Tuesday 27 December.

Previous strikes by the RMT have had a serious impression on providers all through England, Scotland and Wales.

Network Rail says passengers ought to examine their train-operating firm’s web site and solely travel if completely vital.

Drivers in south and west London who’re within the Unite union and work for operator Abellio will stroll out on 24 December in a dispute over pay.

Areas affected embody Battersea, Beddington, Hayes, Southall, Twickenham and Walworth.

Civil servants within the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) – together with driving examiners and a few job centre employees – are putting most days till early January.

But the economic motion is regional – with totally different areas affected every week. This week, till 24 December, the walk-outs can be in north-west England and Yorkshire and the Humber.

Some car testing and enforcement providers may also be unavailable.

Check out our full rundown of all of the December and January strikes.

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How are you influenced by the strikes? Are you collaborating in strike motion? You can e mail: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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