Updated on 2/1/2023 at 6:45 pm
- What started as industrial action in individual sectors has long grown into a conflagration.
- With the biggest strike in years, the “winter of discontent” in Great Britain has reached its temporary peak.
- An estimated half a million workers across a range of industries walked out on Wednesday.
In London Tens of thousands demonstrated above all for significantly higher wages and better working conditions – but also for the right to strike. Seven unions had coordinated the day of strike. Downing Street warned of “significant disruption”.
In 2011, about two million public sector workers left their jobs. However, concerted strikes in many sectors have not happened for decades. Now teachers and train drivers, university lecturers and government employees, bus drivers and security forces went on strike simultaneously. The British public has long been talking about a “winter of resentment”.
Dissatisfaction exists in all sectors. Further walkouts have been announced for the coming days, Monday and Tuesday, for example, again by NHS health service nursing staff. For the added headache of the Prime Minister’s Conservative government
Schools, railways and universities are on strike
The strikers are united in their demand for an inflation-based increase in their wages. Consumer prices have risen by a good 10 percent recently, but wage concessions from the government have been very low. For example, teachers should get five percent more. At the very least, the responsible union scolded the new. Real wages have fallen 23 percent since 2010, and many teachers have quit because of poor pay. “The government has disrupted our education system, underfunded our schools and underpaid the people who work there,” said NEU Co-CEO Kevin Courtney. 120,000 teachers in England and Wales have now stopped work for a day. About 23,000 schools were closed.
Tens of thousands of employees from 150 colleges participated along with the teachers. Engine drivers of 14 private railway companies. There were about 100,000 public sector employees and driving school examinees from 124 different government agencies.
But the government refuses to renegotiate. Prime Minister Sunak asserted that his door is always open for negotiations. But that does not apply to salary negotiations. The 42-year-old warned that an increase in line with inflation would only fuel a “vicious cycle” of ever-rising consumer prices.
The Tories plan to interfere with the right to strike
Dissatisfaction is fueled by a controversial government scheme. Sunak and Commerce Secretary Grant Schabbs have had enough of a series of labor disputes since last summer and want to introduce legislation limiting the right to strike. Stricter restrictions apply to police officers, firefighters, NHS forces or railway workers. Sunak argues that this should ensure basic services.
“People don’t have the freedom to choose when they need an ambulance or the fire department,” Shabbs said. His draft strikes a fair balance between the right to strike and the needs of the people. On Monday, the Tory-dominated House of Commons passed the bill on third reading. But opposition is expected in the House of Lords.
Trade unions and opposition parties have strongly criticized the plan. TUC general secretary Novak complained that the plan was “undemocratic, impractical and almost illegal”. Striking workers fear losing their jobs. Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner calls the legislation “de-drafting nurses” – and has affected many others. In opinion polls, a majority support the strikers. Many blame the government for this mess.
Cost of living fuels protest
While in the past the Conservatives have repeatedly blamed the Labor Party, which is closely associated with the unions, for the effects of the strikes, observers believe this approach no longer works. Many people themselves have been affected by rising energy and food prices. “Because of the cost of living crisis, these strikes can no longer be portrayed as ideologically driven,” James Frain of the Public First consultancy told the online portal “Politico”.
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Instead, the government’s stubbornness weighs on its poll numbers. Labor has been in the lead for months, and a turnaround is yet to be seen. For now, the Tories should fear defeat in the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2024.
Nevertheless: Sunak will not yield, my party colleagues. Instead, the Prime Minister gets their support. “Politico” quoted a Tory MP as saying inflation will soon drop further, which will relieve consumers. “That’s why we have to be as tough as possible.” (dpa/ng)
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