Passengers wait for a delayed train on December 13, 2022 in London on the first day of a railway strike (AFP/Daniel LEAL)
The beginning of a new “winter of discontent”? Many Britons suffered to get around on Tuesday, the first day of a UK railway strike, faced with widespread social unrest in the face of soaring prices.
Train, logistics, Eurostar and border police security officers, but also nurses – for the first time in more than 100 years – paramedics, etc. With the approach of the end-of-year holidays, strike calls have multiplied in many sectors to demand increases.
Between now and December 31, no day will be spared from strikes.
The British media are already talking regarding a new “winter of discontent”, referring to the massive strikes that rocked the country in the late 1970s and caused the British economy to lose the equivalent of tens of millions of working days.
If we are still far from these levels, with approximately one million days lost since the beginning of the year, 417,000 working days were lost in the month of October alone due to labor disputes, i.e. the “most high since November 2011,” the National Statistics Office (ONS) said on Tuesday.
As in the 1970s, inflation is at the heart of demands for better wages. At more than 11%, it is hitting household purchasing power hard, fueled by energy prices, particularly under the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In the public service, nurses are thus demanding a salary increase of more than 17% from the State to make up for years of scarcity. A request deemed “unaffordable” by the government. In rail transport, the RMT union refused a proposal for an 8% increase over two years, deeming it insufficient in the face of rising prices.
RMT union general secretary Mick Lynch at a rally in support of striking Royal Mail workers on December 9 (AFP/Daniel LEAL)
According to the ONS, despite the upgrades obtained in certain sectors, wages fell by 2.7% between August and October under the effect of inflation.
– “Virtual” Christmas –
Faced with his demands, the government adopted a very firm tone, justifying its refusal to respond to the demands of the unions by the delicate situation of the country’s public finances and the risk of seeing wage increases feed inflation. And he mobilized the army to replace the strikers in certain sectors.
“I think we have a fair and reasonable approach,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose government is at half mast in the polls, told the BBC.
“I would ask the union officials…to put an end to the disturbances, especially around Christmas time. This is going to have a negative impact on people’s lives,” he said.
Passengers board a delayed train on December 13, 2022 in London on the first day of a railway strike (AFP/Daniel LEAL)
The government has already “provided considerable support” to households to offset soaring energy prices, Transport Minister Mark Harper also said on Tuesday on Times Radio.
He had earlier castigated the new “virtual” Christmas that the strikers were preparing to pass on to the British, prevented from visiting their families for the holidays.
The general secretary of the nurses’ union Pat Cullen estimated for her part on the BBC that “this government had turned its back” on nurses, who should be up to 100,000 to strike in England, Wales and Northern Ireland Thursday and December 20.
– Understanding –
Two years before the legislative elections, the Labor opposition blames the government. Party leader Keir Starmer accused the executive of “a colossal lack of leadership”, for its failure to prevent the nurses’ strike.
According to a Yougov poll published at the end of November, 47% of Britons are opposed to the strike in transport when 41% support it and the travelers questioned Tuesday in London by AFP in an unusually quiet King’s Cross station, were rather benevolent.
“I totally understand them…it’s hard for people right now,” said 28-year-old web developer Allan Smith, who was trying to find a plan B to get to Heathrow.
Chris McBride, a 74-year-old former firefighter, judges the government “incompetent” to support households. “I’m retired, I have to be careful to warm up, it’s difficult,” he says.
