Britain: A country on strike – Politics

British parents who wanted to take the train to work or take their children to school were better off staying at home on Wednesday: on what is probably the biggest day of industrial action in more than a decade, around half a million people went on strike in Great Britain – across several sectors . In addition to teachers and train drivers, university lecturers and border guards also stopped working. Seven unions coordinated the national day of protest they declared.

The government had warned the population in advance of “significant disturbances”. The National Education Union calculated that its actions would affect around 85 per cent of all schools in England and Wales. Trains stood still nationwide and there were also impairments at border controls at airports and ferry ports.

The “Winter of Displeasure” continues

“I’m striking because the government isn’t listening,” says Ed Finch, 51, a school principal in South West England, over the phone. He is primarily concerned with the working conditions: “There are fewer and fewer teachers, fewer teaching assistants, that puts pressure on everyone and that harms the children.” In his school, he observed an increase in psychological problems among the students, but also among his colleagues. “At my school, there are teachers who cry in the car on the way to work and cry again on the way home,” says Finch. Many felt that they were not doing justice to the children. So he tells them, “You’re doing everything you can, but you’re being let down by a greedy, corrupt government.” To fill in gaps, Finch teaches some classes himself, although he doesn’t have the time to do his actual job as principal as needed.

“Abandoned by a greedy, corrupt government”: School principal Ed Finch has also taken to the streets.

(Photo: Miriam Valerie Dahlinger)

With the mass strike, the unions increased the pressure on the government in London. For months, in this “winter of resentment,” public sector employees have been taking to the streets. They are demanding better working conditions, but above all significantly higher wages in order to be able to pay for the sharply increased prices for electricity, heating and living expenses. With inflation at around 10 percent, many workers in the country are extremely dissatisfied.

The government wants to limit the right to strike

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told Times Radio she was “disappointed” that teachers’ strikes in England and Wales were continuing. The industrial action was unnecessary as talks with the unions continued. The unions had rejected previous government offers of around five percent more salaries for teachers – which would not even come close to offsetting the rise in the cost of living. After months of unsuccessful negotiations, an agreement is “farther away than it was at the beginning,” said Mick Whelan, head of the Aslef train drivers’ union.

The wave of strikes put Prime Minister Rishi Sunak under pressure. The prime minister has been arguing for months that there simply isn’t enough money to fully cushion the consequences of inflation. An inflation-adjusted hike would only fuel the “vicious circle” of ever-rising consumer prices.

But the government has further fueled the anger of many strikers with a controversial bill. Sunak and his Minister for Economic Affairs Grant Shapps want to limit the right to strike for police officers, firefighters, employees of the national health system NHS or railway workers. Sunak argues that this should guarantee basic services. Paul Nowak, the head of the union’s umbrella organization TUC, called the plans “undemocratic, unworkable and almost certainly illegal”. Striking workers fear losing their jobs.

More strikes have been announced for the coming days. Then the nursing staff in the clinics and the firefighters want to stop working.

source site