A Historic Wave of Strikes Sweeping Britain, Threatens to Paralyze Economy

Britain is currently experiencing a wave of strikes and industrial actions considered among the largest in the country’s history.

Due to bitter cost-of-living crisis and soaring inflation, many government sectors chose to resort to strikes over pay, pensions, jobs, and redundancy procedures. For the first time in Britain’s history, the nursing unions—which represent about 300,000 male and female nurses—are engaged in a strike for days, when the demand for medical services will increase during Christmas.

This prompted the British government to develop an emergency plan and ask for the army’s help in the worst case.

Britain will witness strikes in 4 vital sectors in the country: health, education, transportation, and government institutions, where more than half a million people work; this threatens to disturb government interests for a few days and cause losses of hundreds of billions of pounds.

 

A Wave of Industrial Actions

More than 100,000 civil servants will go on strike over pay, pensions, jobs, and redundancy provisions, as the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced this week. This union is Britain’s sixth largest trade union and represents civil and public servants, as well as private sector workers on government contracts.

PCS is calling for “a 10% pay rise, fair pensions, job security, and no cuts to redundancy terms,” Anadolu Agency reported.

“Unless substantial proposals are received from the government, the NEC (National Executive Committee) will agree a programme of industrial action at its meeting on Friday, 18 November,” PCS said in a statement.

Civil servants who voted in favor of industrial action were 86.2%, which is the highest in the union’s history, according to the statement.

Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary, wrote to the Cabinet Office and called for negotiations.

Serwotka also said, “the government must look at the huge vote for strike action across swathes of the Civil Service and realize it can no longer treat its workers with contempt.

“Our members have spoken, and if the government fails to listen to them, we’ll have no option than to launch a prolonged programme of industrial action reaching into every corner of public life.” PCS General Secretary added: “They have to give our members a 10 percent pay rise, job security, pensions justice, and protected redundancy terms.”

 

Strained System

No week goes by in Britain without a new government or economic sector joining the wave of strikes. The most important of them are the strikes of nurses and the 100,000 civil servants who represent the backbone of ministries and government institutions in the UK.

The nurses’ unions voted to go on strike after the government refused to negotiate about increasing their wages by 4% or 5%. The strike was the first of its kind since the founding of these unions.

Among the exciting statements that express the difficult situation experienced by workers in the nursing sector was of the Executive Director of the British National Health Authority (NHS), who said that nurses and paramedics are witnessing a wave of resignations.

Government sector employees joined those who voted to strike where civil servants were the majority of those who run all government institutions and ministerial sectors. 100,000 out of 150,000 employees agreed to go on strike, which means two-thirds of the energy working in government interests will completely stop.

At a time when teachers voted unanimously to strike in Scotland, professors of higher education in Britain announced a 3-day strike. 70,000 university employees are also participating, making it the largest strike in the history of British universities that will affect 2.5 million students in Britain.

Train drivers in Britain also decided to continue their standoff, opposing a plan to lay off 2,500 workers over the next two years in order to save $2.5 billion. The drivers’ strike is affecting the lives of millions of Britons.

Worse still, Britain’s largest container port is expected to suspend work for 8 days. Felixstowe port is the largest in the United Kingdom, with 1900 employees; it receives about 4 million containers yearly. The strike would impede the supply chain, especially during Christmas.

 

Not ‘Reasonable or Affordable’

After their members voted to go on strike, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said that pay demands from nurses’ unions are “neither reasonable nor affordable.”

He also said he was saddened by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) strike, which he said was in “nobody’s best interests.”

The health secretary refused negotiations with the union after the latter demanded an increase of no less than 15% compared with the £1,400 rise given earlier this year.

Barclay said the pay award “is a balanced increase,” which is “fair for nurses and the taxpayer.”

He wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: “Yet the RCN is demanding a massive pay rise of 17.6%; an increase that is simply neither reasonable nor affordable. It is about three times the average settlement that millions of hard-working people, including many Sunday Telegraph readers, working outside the public sector will typically receive.

“Huge settlements like these would turbocharge inflation when we are endeavoring to keep it under control. It will have an adverse impact on people’s incomes in the long run.”

After a meeting with the RCN’s general secretary, Pat Cullen, in Whitehall on Thursday, the health secretary said his door will always be open to all the unions.

He went on: “If the RCN does go ahead with industrial action, I will make sure that emergency services continue to operate for those that need them most, and patients should continue to come forward for emergency services as normal. But it is inevitable that any strike would mean some patients will have their treatment delayed, and I would urge the unions to consider the impact on those who rely on the NHS for their care.

“We are facing a difficult winter for our whole country, and industrial action is in nobody’s best interests.”