London: Railway employees Britain Thursday staged the latest in a series of strikes, once again disrupting commuters and leisure travellers, as decades of high inflation hit wages and prompts walkouts across various industries.
The latest action by rail workers, which will be repeated on Saturday, is part of strike action not seen since the 1980s by the sector and others under former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
The dispute over wage hikes and working conditions has shown little sign of resolution and is likely to be intensified by news this week that UK inflation topped 10 per cent in July for the first time since 1982.
The global impact of the war in Ukraine on energy and food prices, and, to a lesser extent, the post-Brexit trade conflicts, are to blame for the escalating cost-of-living crisis in Britain.
Thousands of railway workers are ready to move out in two days, leaving a skeleton train service and leaving vacationers and passengers stranded, even as housework continues for many office workers after the Covid restrictions are lifted.
Meanwhile, London transport workers servicing the underground “tube” and bus networks will make up for three days of travel misery in south-east England on Friday.
Recruitment consultant Greg Ellwood, 26, told AFP at an unusually quiet Euston station in London: “It’s extremely unreliable these days, so I feel like I’m going to have to drive, park and pay a lot. ”
“We’re all just trying to make a living and get there… so I have all the sympathy for them in the world,” he said, referring to the strikers.
– ‘Defender jobs’ – There are also dockers in strike areas at Felixstow, Britain’s largest freight port, located in eastern England, which will begin an eight-day stoppage on Sunday.
Waves of industrial action could continue into the autumn, as the Bank of England forecasts inflation will top 13 percent later this year, pushing the economy into a deep and prolonged recession.
“We will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect jobs, wages and conditions during this life-saving crisis.” Sharon GrahamThe head of the major British union Unite said this week.
“This record drop in real wages demonstrates the critical need for unions like Unite to protect the value of workers’ wages,” Graham said.
He hit upon suggestions including the BoE governor Andrew BaileyThat wage increase was partly fueling inflation.
“Wages are not driving inflation,” she stressed ahead of the latest UK inflation data showing that rising food prices were the main factor behind July’s spike.
Inflation has also risen around the world this year due to rising energy prices due to an invasion of Ukraine by major oil and gas producer Russia.
mick lynchThe Secretary General of the Union for Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) urged the UK government to engage in negotiations on wages, jobs and conditions.
“Instead of waging an ideological war against railroad workers, millions of voters want the government to allow for a fair negotiation,” he said at a picket line in Euston.
– wage deals – but a spokesman for the Department of Transportation blamed union leaders like Lynch for causing “misery” to millions, urging them to work with industry “to agree a deal that would give our railways 21 will bring in the th century”.
Some proposed strikes planned for the British summer have been put on hold after unions and companies agreed wage deals at the eleventh hour.
But British Airways ground staff and refuelers at Heathrow Airport have called for a proposed walkout, while other areas remain firm.
More than 115,000 British postal workers employed by the former state-run Royal Mail are planning a four-day strike from the end of August.
Telecom giant BT will be facing its first halving in 35 years and a walkout has recently or will soon be followed by Amazon warehouse staff, criminal lawyers and refuse collectors.
The UK’s leading business lobby group, the CBI, this week acknowledged workers’ “struggle with rising costs such as energy prices” and said employers were “doing their level best to support workers”.
However, it has also been claimed that the “vast majority” of companies “cannot make enough wage increases to keep up with inflation”.
Analysts expect the sector-wide stagnation to continue post summer as inflation continues to rise.
It comes as teachers and health workers have hinted at a possible walkout should they not receive new wage deals deemed acceptable.
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