UK government plans to make it harder for public sector to strike
It took months to arrange, but only hours to fail. Negotiations between unions and the UK Government aimed at working out pay deals to prevent another wave of public sector disruptions.
We are talking about people who are working well beyond their contracted hours anyway just to get the job done because they can't hand patients over because they care so much.
So for the government to be talking about productivity, in exchange for a pay reward is an insult to every single one of our members.
Onay Kasab, Ambulance Drivers Union Representative
An insult to his union members, and perhaps to other public sector workers across the country, protesting against the government's refusal to give them pay rises that keep pace with inflation, which soared above 10% in October last year, the same month public sector pay in real terms hit a 19 year low.
Brexit has destroyed investment. It led to us being a less attractive place for foreign direct investment as well. So unfortunately, we've got a lot of self inflicted wounds, plus Ukraine, plus, you know, fairly incompetent government.
But the government is digging in. Instead of making concessions, it has introduced controversial new legislation to Parliament designed to curb the impact of the strikes. Critics of the new bill are warning of the consequences.
Once you start sacking people, people are more likely to even go on strike together. I mean, ultimately, this is so much against the trade union movement they risk a national strike over it, because trade unions will get in together to make sure that they have an impact and stop this kind of legislation.
Without the desired pay offers from the government those walkouts are bound to go ahead with tens of thousands of Transport Workers, National Health Service staff, civil servants and others, set to take part in industrial action this month and beyond.
There are more strikes in the UK today than in more than a decade driven by a cost of living crisis and a lack of inflation-matching pay rises.
The union's are saying enough is enough and that the only way for them to cease further industrial action is hard, cold cash. It remains to be seen if the UK Government will be the first one to blink in this staring contest.
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