Voices responds to a December of discontent

There is a new “winter of discontent” ahead, with unions representing workers from a wide range of public-facing professions undertaking industrial action in December.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) representing postal workers, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members, ambulance staff, London bus drivers, Eurostar security personnel, G4S staff, Border Force agents, Heathrow baggage handlers, Scottish teachers, driving examiners in northern England and Scotland and National Highway Workers around the country all have strikes planned as their calls for improved pay and working conditions go unanswered, while inflated food and energy costs squeeze salaries.

There will be disruption to services and inconvenience to many over the Christmas period, but – as I have previously written – “if industrial action doesn’t put anyone out – if no one is affected, no one notices, everything runs as normal – then what, exactly, is the point of it?”

Working people are not to blame for inflation or the current state of the UK economy, and the Conservatives’ current strategy regarding strike action may not cut much ice with the public – take Sunday’s news that the government has rejected an offer by nursing leaders to suspend this week’s planned strike in return for pay talks with the health secretary, as an example.

On Voices, we believe it is important to hear from those striking, a decision that is not taken lightly. Indeed, unions are required to go through a rigorous balloting process before choosing this course of action. It is not responsible or fair to vilify working people when they exercise their democratic right to call for liveable pay and safe working conditions.

General secretary of the CWU, Dave Ward, explained for Voices why posties are striking. His op-ed condemns the planned “Uberisation” of Royal Mail and warns of wider-reaching implications beyond the postal service – “this is a fight for the future of every worker in the company, and also for every worker in Britain”.

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Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, wrote about how firefighters and emergency fire control staff, integral to the pandemic response, are struggling. “Some are having to go to food banks to feed their families. It is an utterly disgraceful state of affairs. We can’t go on like this.” We also know that NHS staff, including nurses, are turning to food banks – the very people we clapped as “heroes” during the height of Covid.

This is going to be an extremely difficult winter for millions of people in Britain, as rising prices continue to erode wages. The vast, vast majority of us are feeling the pinch of a painful cost of living crisis. As The Independent’s Editorial last week made clear, anti-union laws removing the right to strike is not the answer.

Yours,

Harriet Williamson

Voices commissioning editor