The UK has been largely paralyzed by a wave of strikes which are reportedly protracted and supported and organized by unions across a range of sectors. Health and education operators are on strike for the whole month of December, from today the railway workers are also on strike. It is expected that only 20% of services will be performed.
According to correspondent Lia van Bekhoven, this is the largest strike in a generation. “Everyone is going to notice something in the next few days because pretty much every day for the next month a life is going to be turned upside down somewhere.” Railway staff are on strike today, around 100,000 nurses have been on strike since Thursday. Postal and ambulance workers are also demanding that their wages keep pace with inflation.
“They all want a pay rise that millions of workers in the UK haven’t had for years and are now sidelined by rising energy and food costs, while wages are still at 2008 levels.”
Scotland
According to Van Bekhoven, these wage demands will be honored in some regions. ‘In Scotland, a number of strikers have called off their strike because the Scottish Government wants to go beyond London. The Scots are willing to raise wages more than inflation, but less than what the strikers are asking for.’
However, the British government does not want to go that far, according to Van Bekhoven it is holding back everything and leaving the negotiations to the employers. Nurses want a 5% raise on top of 11% inflation, but the government is sticking to 4.5%. Although the nurses say they are willing to negotiate, the British government does not seem interested.
sacred cow
Van Bekhoven thinks London is hoping public support will decline rapidly as the strike continues. In the case of nurses, however, this support is broad. ‘The NHS is a sacred cow and is held in high esteem. Everyone also knows that the NHS itself is hooked up to a ventilator and is barely functioning because there has been almost no investment over the past 12 years. People die because they have to wait 19 hours for an ambulance, or because they lie on a gurney in a corridor for more than 24 hours. Everyone also sees how hard the nurses work and there is a lot of understanding for the care staff.’
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
