Fresh nationwide rail strikes hit UK
Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, London
Another mass walkout bringing the UK's railway network to a grinding a halt causing major disruptions; tens of thousands of signalers, maintenance workers, ticket collectors fighting for their rights as negotiations with the government for better pay and conditions hit the buffers.
Many rail employees, often working unsocial hours in a high-pressure environment, say they have seen no pay rise in three years as the specter of soaring inflation, predicted to surpass 13 percent over the next year, looms over negotiations.
The conservative government accuses had offered a below inflation pay rise and accused the Unions organizing the strikes of taking the country for ransom. Despite that public support for the strikers is on the rise.
Stoking the public ire, comments by Conservative prime ministerial hopeful Liz Truss, the foreign minister, who has pledged to restrict the ability of public sector workers to strike.
The opposition Labor Party, which receives funding from several trade Unions, has also come under fire for failing to support the walkouts.
The rail strikes, which also include London’s underground and over ground network, have set off a wave of industrial action that is set to get bigger, with teachers, health workers and even barristers planning their own strikes.
Britain’s so-called summer of discontent seems well and truly underway with a general strike now looking more likely than ever and with the railway workers in the eye of the storm.
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