LONDON. It’s the UK’s biggest strike in 30 years in what promises to be a week of hell for all citizens. Indeed, the summer of discontent, as is now feared given the growing social tensions, similar to those of the winter of discontent, that is the famous quotation from Shakespeare’s Richard III and then homonymous season of strong social tensions in the seventies, when the Country was overwhelmed by strikes and blockades to demand higher wages during the failed Labor government of the prime minister James Callaghan.
No confidence vote against Boris Johnson, the count is underway. Prime Minister: “We win to end this story”
by our correspondent Antonello Guerrera
Discomfort until Saturday
Almost 50 thousand railway workers are on strike today, the day after tomorrow and Friday, but practically the inconvenience will remain until Saturday, so much so that the government has urged everyone not to travel except for “absolutely essential” or “necessary” reasons. In practice, only a fifth of the trains will travel (4500 out of 20,000), which will travel from 7 in the morning until 19 in the evening and half of the country will remain absolutely isolated.
The agitation was decided by the union Rmt (Rail, Maritime and Transport) for the conditions of the workers of the Railway Network, both those operating in the stations and the workers on the network. The trade association is asking for a decided wage increase (about 7%) given the galloping inflation (now close to 11%) and the reduced post-pandemic transport service that has reduced the income of its clients. The company responded spades, limiting itself to offering a 1% increase in paychecks and potentially 2% if there are new cuts. This is because, always second Railway Networkthe maintenance of the railway lines costs about 20 billion a year, while the revenue from passengers’ tickets exceeds 4 billion at most.
Boris Johnson is saved from the vote of no confidence. But most of him are cut to the bone
by our correspondent Antonello Guerrera
Failed negotiation
In short, the negotiation was destined to fail and so it was. The government of Boris Johnson harshly criticized the move by the trade union RMT “which will cause incredible inconvenience to citizens”, while Labor leader Keir Starmer has adopted, and it is not new, a compromise, declaring understanding for the strikers but catechizing his deputies not to participate in pickets (something that the more socialists like the Corbynian John McDonnell have instead immediately done). Indeed, in recent days the Johnson executive ministers have threatened the use of temporary workers to cover the absences of those officers on strike. A temptation that has outraged the trade unions and the left.
However, even this solution seems like just a ‘wishful thinking’ for Boris Johnson, as there are no workers in the UK and unemployment is at a 40-year low at 3.5%. A shortage accentuated by the rigidity of Brexit in terms of migration and which is now making itself felt heavily especially in the tourism sector and in airports, where chaos has been going on for weeks now, as the images of the mountains of baggage stuck at Heathrow have shown.
The incredible rise of Tony Blair’s son: with his tech start-up he is one of the youngest British scroungers
by our correspondent Antonello Guerrera
Easy Jet canceled hundreds of summer flights yesterday, as did British Airways and other companies in recent days, which are taking the blame for the disorganization of airports. In any case, the main problem is one: during the pandemic, thousands of workers were made redundant in airports and companies. Now it is a problem to fill the void they have left because there is a long bureaucratic process in the name of passenger safety to hire their replacements.
Not only. There are more strikes on the way: British Airways, teachers, etc. In short, it promises to be a Thatcherian summer for Boris Johnson, with more and more discontent in the United Kingdom.