Enjoy your weekend — it’ll be the first without major strikes since early December, if you live in the UK.
(Bloomberg) — Enjoy your weekend — it’ll be the first without major strikes since early December, if you live in the UK.
Walkouts have become common in today’s Britain, with frequent disruption to the rail system, parcel deliveries, hospitals, ambulances, airports and various other sectors as workers protest against sub-inflation pay offers.
The fallout has put pressure on the Conservative government, which trails the opposition Labour party in the polls, as ministers try to keep a tight rein on the public purse and restore the country’s fiscal credibility.
The lull in nationwide walkouts is unlikely to last for long and protests are scheduled to resume next week. Here’s a guide to where industrial relations stand.
Transport
No exact dates have been set for more rail strikes.
The main three unions — Aslef, the RMT and the TSSA — all remain in dispute over a mix of issues including pay, pensions and changes to working practices.
There are hopes the RMT and TSSA will be able to formulate a deal with train companies that they can put to their members. The unions said Thursday that detailed discussions will continue in the coming days.
Nonetheless, the TSSA is re-balloting members having changed the way in which it gathers votes in a bid to hold more strikes, and the RMT has a mandate to strike for another four months.
Even if they find a compromise, a deal with Aslef’s train drivers could be more difficult to pin down. Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, suggested Wednesday that “zero” progress had been made during talks with the government and rail bosses. “We’re further away than when we started,” he said.
Tube strikes could also return, with Aslef balloting members after the RMT said in December that it would hold further walkouts on the London Underground.
More bus strikes in parts of London are scheduled to take place on Jan. 16, 25 and 26.
National Health Service
Nurses will strike again on Jan. 18-19 while ambulance workers from two unions — Unison and Unite — will walk out again on Jan. 23, in absence of an meaningful progress in talks in the interim.
Physiotherapists have also announced strikes on Jan. 26 and Feb. 9. Midwives have a mandate to stage industrial action and junior doctors are currently being balloted and are likely to hold a major protest in March.
Read More: England Heart Attack Patients Wait 93 Minutes for an Ambulance
Schools
State school teachers at one union have failed in an attempt to strike, failing to meet a 50% threshold that’s necessary to secure a mandate according to British law.
However, the same labor group — the NASUWT — said members had achieved the threshold at a large number of private schools in England and Wales.
Furthermore, another union, the NEU, has a ballot closing soon while a third group, the ASCL, will be balloting soon.
Teachers’ strikes have already been taking place in Scotland.
Public Sector
Some 100,000 civil servants will strike on Feb. 1, from a vast range of public sector organizations including the Serious Fraud Office, UK Space Agency and the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, southwest London.
Border Force officers and driving instructors, who have already staged a string of walkouts in December and into January, will join this day of action by workers from 124 government departments and agencies.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.