Launched Tuesday, June 21, the largest railway worker’s strike in three decades is due to last three days. The drop in purchasing power is at the heart of the problems.
by
Deserted stations, but rare trains taken by storm. A London metro practically stopped. And a country, under a summer sun, which has largely worked at home, avoiding travel. The United Kingdom knew, Tuesday, June 21, its greatest strike strike since 1989 on Tuesday, in accordance with the law, a minimum of traffic has remained in place, but barely 20 % of the trains worked. Mike Lynch, the secretary general of the Syndicat Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) could be rejoiced in the early evening: “It’s fantastic to see the strike also followed. This exceeded our expectations.”
Two other daylight days are scheduled for this week, but this is only the beginning, he warns: “RMT members show the way for all the workers in the country who have fed up See their wages and working conditions destroyed by the conjunction of profits from large companies and government policy. “
British media, never short of images, already evoke a “summer of dissatisfaction”, in reference to the famous “winter of dissatisfaction” of 1979, when immense strikes had immobilized the country, factories until Garbage collection, including gravediggers.
Strength test
The magnitude of the current movement is not comparable to that of the late 1970s, but social dissatisfaction was unusually widespread for the United Kingdom. In addition to transport, social movements could break out in hospitals, schools, post office, local communities and even with lawyers.
Anger essentially stems from the sudden fall in purchasing power. Across the Channel, inflation was 9.1 % in May. It should reach 11 % in the fall, according to forecasts from the Bank of England. At the same time, wages increased sharply in the private sector (8 %), mainly thanks to bonuses, but they did not follow in the public (1.5 %). For the 5.7 million employees in this sector, this represents a violent reduction in real wages, which follows a decade of austerity.
By way of compensation, the RMT, which does not represent train drivers but all other employees of the railway, requires an increase of 7 %. This represents less than inflation because the negotiations began in December 2021, before the war in Ukraine, when no one anticipated such a pricing. The thirteen railway companies, by private law but regulated by the public authorities, offer only 3 %. To this force test on wages is added the possible removal of 1,800 jobs in Network Rail, the public enterprise which manages the railways. With the COVVI-19 pandemic and the development of telework, the use of the train is down sharply and savings are necessary. The RMT claims that this project endangers network security.
You have 41.16% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.