The British who went out to work today must have a broken heart.
The British Railway, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) led the strike of 50,000 railway employees across the UK to protest the layoffs and wage cuts of state-owned railway companies.
This strike was called by the media "the largest railway strike in the past 30 years" .
0,000 employees who maintain train tracks and signals will leave their posts, makes 80% of railways in the UK unable to run , and 0,000 employees who work in London Underground also refuse to work, leaving the railway system basically shut down.
strike dates are June 21, 23 and 25 local time, which is only tentative. Mick Lynch, the union secretary general of
RMT, hinted that the railway strike may continue until the fall.
Those who go out to take the bus this morning will find that there are almost no people at Queen Street Railway Station in Glasgow...
The crowded King's Cross Station , without staff, and passengers are very scarce...
Glasgow Central Railway Station is Scottish The busiest site, but today there are more pigeons than people...
London Euston Station is empty, with only about 10 trains departing...
Most of the British people knew about the strike in advance, and those small parts did not read the news The person had to stare at the closed entrance and was stunned...
Like the previous subway strikes, the buses will be particularly crowded these two days.
Today's morning rush hour, London Uber taxi prices soared.
Lynch apologized for causing inconvenience to people, but he said that it was all forced by the British government and railway companies.
"They cut our jobs, benefits, wages and pensions, and the means are very radical. We RMT has no choice but to protect our employees to the end."
Due to the epidemic, the railway company's revenue has decreased, and the railway department and the London Transport Agency require that The company saves expenses.
Railway Company intends to lay off thousands of employees starting from July 1. The news came out and the entire industry was in an uproar.
Originally, employees were dissatisfied with wages. The British are currently in the largest economic tightening in decades. Food and fuel prices soared, bringing inflation to close to 10%, resulting in the average basic wage as the same level as in 2006.
It’s fine if the salary does not increase, but you will be laid off. How can you bear this?
RMT and the railway company started negotiations. The two sides had a long talk on layoffs but had not agreed on layoffs. The railway company only said that it could raise the employees by 2%, and Lynch said that this was far from enough.
"The inflation rate now has reached 10%. What's the use of rising such a little? During the negotiations, we have made great concessions to the railway companies, but because of the government's support, the railway companies have not taken our demands seriously at all. . "
" So, from now on, RMT will carry out continuous strike activities to paralyze the railway network across the UK. "
Experts analyzed that these three days of the railway and subway strike will be used for millions of British and foreign tourists The impact caused the British tourism and entertainment industry to lose 1 billion pounds.
Students who participate in the GCSE and A-level exams this week (equivalent to the UK's high school entrance examination and college entrance examination) will also face great pressure and do not know whether they can arrive at the examination room in time.
As for the Glastonbury Music Festival held this week, there will be much fewer people who can get through it than in previous years, making this world's largest open-air music event a little bit shy.
British media are lamenting the damage caused by the strike to the economy, and this strike actually caused a lot of inconvenience. But strangely, ordinary British people do not hate strikers, but instead stand on their side.
"Dear BBC/Sky/TalkTV and other media, please stop portraying the railway strike as 'trade union against ordinary workers'.
Trade union, by its definition, is composed of ordinary workers."
" public Emotions have changed, and people now have strong sympathy for RMT strikers. Those old-fashioned Conservative accusing unions no longer work. Ha, see if I'm right. "
" Railroad strike is not just about railways Employee-related.
This strike first appeared because RMT was on the frontline of the ILO’s battle.
If they win, millions of employees in other industries would boldly demand salary increases. The government and capital know this. . "
A reporter took to the street to interview the taxi driver affected by the strike, thinking that he would condemn the strike, but unexpectedly the scene was overturned, which made British netizens very happy.
Nurse and doctors also took to the streets to support the strike action of railway employees.
Someone else said it even more extreme:
"How can a railway strike be enough? We want a vigorous and comprehensive strike.
This country is fucked enough, we need a revolution."
It's a bit exaggerated to say "revolution", but it is indeed , British people from all walks of life are now seeking strikes, and a strike movement that swept the whole society is coming.
British media reported that teachers' union NASUWT and the National Education Alliance NEU said that if the government does not provide a consistent salary increase with inflation , they will launch a strike of 750,000 teachers.
teachers' salary increases this year are 3%, which makes unions and alliances very dissatisfied, believing that teachers are already in a "survival crisis."
Education Alliance requires wages to rise at least 9%, and teachers' unions require them to rise to 12%. If this number is not reached, the unions will allow teachers in England, Welsh and Scotland to participate in the strike.
"Last year's problem was too much work, this year's problem was too much work and too little salary." Kevin Courtney, the union's joint secretary general, said, "The teachers' emotions have changed. , even if you don't want to strike, you have to do so."
Currently teachers are still negotiating with the government. If the Education Minister does not propose a major salary increase plan this Wednesday, the union and alliance will vote to start the strike. Unison, a union of health workers, said they would strike in June if their annual salary increases below the 9.2% inflation rate.
Unison has 500,000 members, and they are medical staff in major hospitals in the UK. The strike could prevent thousands of patients from visiting medical treatment in time.
The British Medical Association, which represents doctors' rights, said that if junior doctors cannot be given a compensatory salary increase of 22% they will definitely choose "yes" in Unison's strike vote. 5,000 employees of Royal Mail also wanted to go on strike.
Royal Mail said it would give a 2% salary increase, and the transport workers union said this was not enough and "unacceptable".
Because the negotiations were not reached, the union had sent votes to the company's transporters, engineers, customer service and others. If most people choose to strike, it would be the first time that the Royal Mail Company has taken a strike since its privatization in the 1980s. .
Grassroots employees of the British government can't stand it anymore. Public and commercial services union representing 180,000 civil servants requires a 10% salary increase. If the government cannot do it, a strike will be launched in September this year.
The union that protects the rights and interests of garbage collectors, librarians and nursing staff said that each person deserves a salary increase of at least £2,000, and if not given, they will take "all actions".
Some industries have joined railway employees and started strike action.
CBA, a criminal lawyers representing lawyers in England and Wales, said 81.5% of their members support the strike, so from next week, more than 2,000 lawyers in the UK will refuse to accept new cases.
During the epidemic, The British court system has accumulated a large number of cases, which has made the workload of lawyers appearing in court. But the lawyers did not receive corresponding salary increases (although the annual salary is already 200% higher than the average UK salary), and they decided to leave the court in protest.
Traffic police will also conduct a one-week strike this month to protest wage cuts and layoffs. In order to save expenses, the parliament of Wiltshire has allowed traffic police to reduce wages by 10%, which is £2,000 per year. The union said this made the members' lives worse and unacceptable.
For citizens, this strike is good because there will be no fines received in those days, and there is no need to charge for parking in the council parking lot.
Due to the epidemic, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the shortage of labor, the rise in prices in the UK has caused a series of butterfly effect , making more and more people want to strike.
Many people are worried that the UK will reappear the "dissatisfied winter" of the late 1970s. It was a major strike in all walks of life, with more than 1.5 million participants, causing the paralysis of public services across the country.
The railway strike has only three days, and the impact has been limited.
But if the RMT union continues and other guilds follow suit, what would it look like?
is a little afraid to think about it...
