The decline in living conditions has become too much for British workers. As inflation surges to its highest level in decades, rail workers, journalists, attorneys, and postal workers have gone on strike in recent weeks to seek higher compensation.
Employees of the nation's postal service as well as engineers and call center agents for telecom operator BT are among the at least 155,000 workers who are now on strike (BTGOF). On Wednesday, two train unions declared that 14,000 of its members would go on strike once more later this month.
This fall, additional strikes might risk enormous disruption across a number of businesses. In the upcoming weeks, teachers, physicians, and nurses will vote on whether to go on strike. Even so, unions could plan their walkouts. The two largest unions in the nation, Unite and Unison, who together have 2.7 million members, are urging other groups to join them in coordinated action.
Since the "winter of discontent" in the late 1970s, when soaring inflation drove workers to organize widespread walkouts, it is one of the most major bouts of industrial unrest the United Kingdom has witnessed. Between November 1978 and February 1979, the Office for National Statistics estimates that 7.9 million working days were lost.
The backdrop to this year's clashes is rising costs and years of stagnating salaries. At 10.1% in July, consumer price inflation reached a 40-year high. Inflation could soar past 18% at the start of next year, according to forecasters at Citigroup last week. If gas prices don't drop soon, Goldman Sachs believes it could even reach 22%.
The stress is already being felt by the workers. Compared to the same time last year, the average real wages, which take inflation into account, decreased by 3% between April and June. The reduction in purchasing power was the greatest in more than 20 years. In the ten years leading up to 2020, real salaries barely grew.
Additionally, average household energy costs, which have already increased by 54% this year, are anticipated to soar by an additional 80% in October to £3,549 ($4,124). Auxilione, a research company, predicts that typical bills might reach £7,700 ($8,949) in April of next year, or £642 ($746) per month.
In response, workers are mobilizing.
The strike wave this year is noteworthy, however, due to the variety of businesses affected and the hurdles that UK employees must clear in order to legally take a day off work. "In the UK, striking is really challenging. It's significantly more challenging than anywhere in western Europe, particularly since the Trade Union Bill was passed in 2016 "She said. By requiring at least 50% of members to participate in the ballot and at least 40% of the votes cast to be in support of strike action, the law, which went into effect in 2017, made it significantly more difficult for unions to organize a strike. The bill also doubled the amount of time that unions must notify their employers before a strike, from one week to two.
Compared to it, Benassi noted that in Germany, neither a vote nor a notice period are necessary which leaves a bad remark of great concern.
References
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/01/economy/uk-strikes-inflation/index.html