Cash shortages during the Christmas period are looking increasingly likely due to strike action by workers at G4S (LSE:GFS), while walkouts are also threatened by Royal Mail staff, rail workers and nurses.
Over 1,000 G4S (LSE:GFS) workers, who transport cash for banks and businesses, are set to strike for 48 hours from 5 December after GMB union rejected an offer of a 4.5% pay increase.
Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) and HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) will all be likely affected, along with supermarkets and pubs, including Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) and JD Wetherspoon PLC (LSE:JDW), which rely on G4S for transporting cash.
G4S was last year taken private for £3.8bn by US rival Allied Universal, which is owned by US private equity giant Warburg.
Royal Mail strikes
Elsewhere, more industrial action looks likely from Royal Mail workers, will cause disruption for retailers and parent company International Distributions Services PLC (LSE:IDS) in the run up to Christmas.
Workers have served legal notice for strikes on Thursday and Friday this week, as talks over pay and conditions broke down again after four weeks sitting down with the Acas dispute service.
Six days of strikes are also planned during December likely affecting the delivery of cards and presents across the UK.
Workers this morning held a series of no-confidence votes in Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson, as talks between the Communication Workers Union and the formerly nationalised company seem to head towards a stalemate.
“Britain’s postal workers are hard-working, decent people – every day, they go the extra mile in keeping our country connected and safe," said a CWU spokesperson. “They don’t deserve to have their pay smashed, their conditions ripped up and their lives wrecked by Simon Thompson, who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
A Royal Mail spokesman said the CWU had rejected its pay offer with "several false and misleading claims about the detail of what we were proposing and launching personal attacks."
They added that the CWU has "shared its alternative proposals which we are reviewing and expect to get round the table to discuss again on Tuesday."
Rail strikes
Rail strikes seem set to continue well into the new year too, with workers from 14 companies last week voting in favour of continuing action for a further six months after pay talks with train operators also ended without agreement.
Over 40,000 rail workers will go on strike on 13-14 and 16-17 December, along with 3-4 and 6-7 January, the RMT said in a statement.
Commuters have seen several days of strike action in the past few months, with another strike due to cause nationwide disruption on Saturday 26 November.
Nurses' strikes
Meanwhile, dates are due to be announced for strike action by nurses, which could see well over half of the UK’s NHS trusts affected in December.
While negotiations continue over nurses pay, the Scottish government is reportedly looking to improve its current offer, which would currently see an average pay increase of 7%, by moving money around within its budget, according to the BBC.
The Royal College of Nursing reiterated it was campaigning for a rise of 5% above inflation last week, referencing NHS staff shortages and real terms pay cuts suffered by its members of around 20% over the last 10 years.