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Up to half a million British teachers, civil servants and train drivers walked out over pay in the biggest coordinated strike action for a decade on Wednesday, with unions threatening further disruption as the government digs its heels in over pay demands.
Mass walkouts across the country closed schools, halted train service, and forced the military to stand by to help with border checks on a day dubbed “Walkout Wednesday.”
According to the union, about 300,000 teachers participated, the largest group to participate, as part of a wider action by 500,000 people, the highest number since 2011, when civil servants left en masse.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the attack, which forced millions of children out of school.
“I am clear that the education of our children is precious and they deserve to go to school today to be taught,” he said.
His government has been fighting unions, arguing that granting their demands for a massive pay rise would fuel Britain’s inflationary problems.
WATCH | English teachers and nurses are out:
Up to half a million British teachers, civil servants and train drivers are taking part in the biggest strike in more than a decade, with unions threatening the government with further disruption if it does not meet pay demands. This comes at a time when the UK is seeing inflation of more than 10 per cent.
This wave of industrial action in the UK is being driven by workers in many sectors – healthcare, transport and education.
At the heart of the riot is pay.
Average wage growth in Britain slowed down after the global financial crisis, and while it gradually picked up in the second half of the 2010s, pay increases were generally small for public sector workers and brought little or no real increase.
The divide between public and private sector salaries has become sharper over the past year as consumer price inflation has reached double digits. Private sector wages in the three months to November were up 7.1 percent compared to a year earlier, while public sector wages rose 3.3 percent on average over the same period.
Worst inflation in 40 years
Many of the particularly disturbing industrial disputes are in public or public sectors such as transport and health care, involving railway staff, paramedics and nurses.
The worst inflation in Britain in 40 years, around 10 percent in recent months, has outpaced most public pay offers, and caused a cost-of-living crisis that has seen even some people with resort jobs for food banks.
Many unions say workers’ wages have been eroded over the past 10 years with little growth, adding to the impact of sky-high inflation, caused by rising energy prices and the effects of the pandemic.
While some private sector workers, from container port staff to bus drivers, have reached pay deals with employers after taking strike action, many public sector disputes continue.
WATCH | Nurses out of work:
Thousands of nurses in England have walked off the job in the biggest strike yet to disrupt the country’s National Health Service. They said they were forced, unpaid and asked for a five percent raise above the state’s 14 percent inflation rate.
Railway staff, nurses and ambulance workers, teachers and civil servants are demanding a pay rise that matches or exceeds inflation as well as some commitments on working conditions.
The union representing teachers in the state-funded school system has called for inflationary pay awards to be fully funded by the government.
Around 100,000 civil servants – who work in government departments from Border Force airport staff to driving license agency employees – have also gone on strike to demand a 10 per cent pay rise.
Rail attacked an already weakened economy
In response, the UK government, which takes advice from an independent pay body when setting public pay rises, has called on unions to call off strikes while holding talks with them.
He said raising wages in line with inflation would only increase prices and cause interest rates and mortgage payments to rise.
The demand on the public purse also comes as the government embarks on a package of tax hikes and spending cuts to try to fix public finances and tame inflation.
In the meantime, the rail strike has caused widespread disruption for commuters and damaged the hospitality industry in cities as people stayed at home. Government ministers have also urged Britons to avoid risky outdoor activities on days when ambulance workers are on strike.
The period between June and November saw more days lost to industrial action than six months in more than 30 years, according to the Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), a consultancy.
CEBR estimates that strikes and the indirect effects of worker absences caused by rail strikes cost the economy at least 1.7 billion pounds ($2.8 billion Cdn) in the eight months of last year, part of the economy’s total annual output of more than 2 trillion pounds ($3.29). trillion Cdn).
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