High inflation in the UK, currently at 8.7% year-on-year, is triggering a wave of strikes in 2022. Some of those conflicts are being closed, but others are lingering. Here’s a little overview.

Health

UK resident doctors ended a 96 hour strike on Tuesday the 15th to demand a 35% pay increase. It is the fifth force measure so far this year to try to recompose the accumulated 26% of wage losses since the 2008 crisis, according to the BMA (British Medical Association) union.

The junior doctor lashed out at the deterioration of the public health system (NHS), once the pride of the nation, due to the government’s adaptive policies. Patients suffer from long waiting lists, and ambulances for emergencies take up to 50 minutes, among other problems. On August 24 and 25, a 48-hour strike of “senior” doctors was planned.

However, Rishi Sunak’s conservative government managed to secure a 5% wage increase which was accepted by several unions in the sector. In the case of nurses, who went on an eight-day strike from December 2022, they voted en masse in consultations at the end of June for new forced measures (out of a total of over 100,000 participants, 84% did so in aid). , but could not do so due to anti-strike laws requiring more than 50% of staff to pay.

other conflicts

The RMT Workers’ Union, which unites railroad workers, announced two new strikes for August 26 and September 2 that will involve 20,000 workers on fourteen lines. They demanded a raise in wages and improved working conditions. This is one of the longest conflicts, since June 2022 a strike action was carried out – there was only agreement on a number of fronts and regions. Engineers belonging to Aslef are implementing this month – also due to salary claims – a strength measure which consists of not working overtime.

Strikes are also expected for August at Gatwick airport (London’s second largest), at airline services company Menzies, at Birmingham airport, and at Liverpool John Moores University, according to a published survey. by Independent.

All of these struggles are isolated from one another, and even within each sector they tend to be divided by region and company, when it would be more effective to hit the boss and the government together. A general strike can override Sunak’s rights.