The British public is well-used to confrontations between workers in the public sector and the government of the day.
Over the decades there have been strikes and work-to-rules involving miners, teachers, the railways, the civil service and health workers among others.
In the last century, “the Winter of Discontent” in 1978-79 and the miners’ strikes of 1972, 1974 and 1984-85 were polarising events which changed the course of British political history.
Stations deserted and trains idle across UK – rail strikes latest
In spite of the best efforts of some polemicists on the right and left, it would be premature, as yet, to put this summer’s discontents into the same box.
The railways are not the coal mines, and for most people this is not a classic “capital vs organised labour” dispute. The former Labour cabinet minister David Blunkett thinks those who want to see it on those terms are mistakenly “fighting a class war from several decades ago”.
Keir Starmer’s hesitancy about wading in is matched by the public’s confused emotions.
This week, the pollsters YouGov found that 37% support the strikes and 45% oppose them. But in Savanta’s survey, a majority, 58%, said they felt the strikes were justified.
This is not a strong base for the government to ask the country to dig in for months of confrontation, while refusing to engage in discussions. The public mood seems to be much closer to “why can’t they just sort it out”.
Things have changed since the cost of living crisis began to bite. With inflation soaring towards 10%, demands for 7% pay increases, such as the RMT’s, no longer seem quite so unreasonable.
Read more: What you need to know about the rail strikes
Who gets blamed for failing to stop the strikes?
But in one way, the UK could soon be back to the 1970s.
The miners’ strikes then led to power cuts and a three-day working…
Source : skynews
