Are we heading for a summer of discontent?

Junior doctors are balloting at the moment, other NHS staff, police, fire service and councils will no doubt follow. the police won't bother balloting because they do not have the right to strike, for them it's illegal. Shame it isn't coupled with a fair pay policy to compensate for the lack of that basic human right.

GrannyGravy13

I don’t think that there is the stomach amongst the general public for demonstrations, strikes etc.

The Train drivers strike does not appear to have garnered much support that I have seen/heard.

Couldn't it prompt people to think about their personal position? How many people are working in understaffed situations, having slogged through Covid and now finding their salaries and conditions are worse than before this government gained power.

On top of that, we could begin to feel things are out of control with missing drugs, increased prices for essential foods, and the thought of the cold in winter.

I think we could then be very "discontented" towards the end of Summer. If people then decide the government still hasn't fulfilled any of its promises and is going back to austerity with no improvement in relations with the EU and all that could mean, there could be quite an outcry.

The high employment figures must surely be emboldening for unions and workers who see their real income reduced by zero or below inflation pay increases.

The public were very much behind the P&O workers who were sacked so perhaps there is appetite for action.

Couple this with energy costs set to increase in the autumn and rising petrol prices and it's easy to see how there could be trouble ahead.

sodapop

Smileless2012

I agree GrannyGravy. Life's stressful enough without strikes especially when the vast majority are in the same boat with price rises outstripping income.

Exactly right Smileless2012 things are moving in the same direction here in France too.

I think that those in the same boat should consider strike action too, rather than resent those who are trying to obtain better pay and conditions. But, of course, solidarity with people in the same situation as oneself doesn't seem to be a strong point for the British, especially since Thatcher completely demonised the unions.

An awful lot of money has been poured into the UK over that past couple of decades by way of QE, but there is no evidence of it having 'trickled down' to the poorly paid, yet key, workers. Why should we approve of the already wealthy becoming even wealthier and yet resent the workers who actually keep their gains flowing in when they would like a share in the country's wealth?

I'll quote Adam Smith yet again:

No society can surely be happy and flourishing of which the far greater part of its members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged

I wish I was more optimistic, but industrial action is what happens when the workforce sees a significant drop in living standards. The growing disparity between the public and private sector pay awards will see public sector workers taking action because they can’t afford to live. Junior doctors are balloting at the moment, other NHS staff, police, fire service and councils will no doubt follow. It wouldn’t surprise me if the civil servants in England also took action. My guess is from August onwards we will start to see some really serious problems.

Smileless2012

I agree GrannyGravy. Life's stressful enough without strikes especially when the vast majority are in the same boat with price rises outstripping income.

Exactly right Smileless2012 things are moving in the same direction here in France too.

ASLEF have joined the strike action, along with some other transport unions.

Discontent is inevitable with the economy as it is. We also have a government who seems unable either to want to arbitrate or care.

It’s not the train drivers who are striking, is it? I thought it was the RMT.

I certainly think that the train drivers are probably not reported whereas other strikers might be. I appreciate that their job is boring and carries a level of responsibility but the figures quoted for their salaries are quite exorbitant. They also have other perks which a lot of employees just don't get nowadays. I know their Union Leader feels that they get what they get because their Union fights hard for them but there comes a point where they should be reading the situation a little better.

The Train drivers strike does not appear to have garnered much support that I have seen/heard.

When did any strike ever garner much support? I can't remember any and I'm going back to the 1960s...

I think there 'could' be flash points this summer, not sure what will cause it, though Iam64 details a few possibilities.

So many of us are discontented with a variety of issues. The cost of living increasing daily, the growing number of people with covid, the horrors around the Rwanda policy, half the roads in the country in the process if, if in need of repair.
I could go on and in but, I’m going to take my smaller dog out for a much needed walk. Hopefully, that will cheer us both up

I agree GrannyGravy. Life's stressful enough without strikes especially when the vast majority are in the same boat with price rises outstripping income.

I don’t think that there is the stomach amongst the general public for demonstrations, strikes etc.

The Train drivers strike does not appear to have garnered much support that I have seen/heard.