Biggest industrial action since 2011: Hundreds of thousands strike in UK

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers across the UK are on strike in a concerted effort across a range of sectors. They are demanding significantly more money than the government has so far provided – and it has announced that it will be guaranteed.

In Britain, teachers, train drivers, border guards and other public sector workers have walked out – an estimated half a million in total. According to the TUC, it was the biggest strike since 2011 and was coordinated by seven unions.

Combined strikes in many sectors have not happened for decades. Now teachers and train drivers, university lecturers and government employees, bus drivers and some sections of the security forces went on strike simultaneously. Nine out of ten schools in England and Wales are affected, according to a study by the Teachers’ Union.

“The workload is always higher and higher and our salaries are lower and lower with inflation,” said Nigel Adams, a 57-year-old teacher at a protest march by thousands of teachers in London.

Passers-by applauded the strikers, while car drivers and bus drivers honked their horns in support. The crowd marched towards Parliament and finally halted in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in Downing Street.

Sunak calls for “affordable” wage increases

The employees do not want to be satisfied with the government’s earlier salary concessions as they are below the recent inflation rate of ten percent. However, the government rejects the improvements – teachers, for example, have already received their biggest raise in 30 years and students are eligible to go to school, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told parliament.

Sunak called for “affordable” wage increases and warned that large wage increases hurt efforts to fight inflation. Unions, on the other hand, accuse Sunak – a billionaire – of having nothing to do with the hardships ordinary workers face in precarious work at low wages and skyrocketing prices.

Real pay for teachers has fallen 23 percent since 2010, said co-chair Kevin Courtney. “The government has disrupted our education system, underfunding our schools and underpaying the people who work there,” he said. Many teachers quit their jobs due to poor pay.

Tony, a train driver, said the hikes offered were humiliating, especially following the pandemic: “We worked through Covid. We were hailed as essential workers and then this slap in the face,” the 61-year-old said.

Government wants to curb strikes

Parallel to the strikes were protests against government plans to restrict the right to strike. By law, it wants strict control over strikes by rescue and nursing workers, fire brigades and railways. In this way, basic distribution should be ensured. Unions reject this as undemocratic.

Workers across a wide range of industries in Great Britain have been on strike for months. Union leader Mark Cervotka described the government’s failure to accommodate them as “unsustainable” on Sky News television.

There’s no end to the strikes: “Next week we’ll have paramedics and we’ll have nurses, and then it’s the firefighters’ turn,” Servotka said. He warned that the unions were ready to strike in the summer as well.

The Tories want to be tough

In opinion polls, the opposition Labor Party has been leading for months and a turnaround is yet to be seen. As it stands, the ruling Tories must fear defeat in the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2024.

However, my party colleagues say that Prime Minister Sunak will not back down. Instead, the Prime Minister gets their support. A Tory MP was quoted as saying by the political magazine “Politico” that inflation would soon fall further, which would provide relief to consumers. “That’s why we have to be as tough as possible.”

Combined strikes in Britain

Imke Koehler, ARD London, February 1, 2023 8:39 pm