Wednesday 1st February 2023 will see will see up to 500,000 workers taking national strike action across
five unions: NEU, UCU, PCS, Aslef and RMT. It is the biggest single day
of workers’ action yet in the strike wave that has developed in the
aftermath of the Covid pandemic, and taken off especially since last
summer.
Actually, it is the largest strike since the public sector walkout of
30 November 2011. That day of action, just over 11 years ago, was
effectively a public sector general strike, when 2 million workers in 29
unions walked out together to defend their pensions from the Tory-led
coalition with the Lib Dems.
Such action and more still will be needed to defeat the
cost-of-living squeeze of the bosses and their Tory government, and
Sunak’s planned new anti-union laws. But this is a very important step
towards what is needed.
Thousands of workers will be taking strike action in defence of pay, terms and conditions, and in defence of safety standards that are under assault by the Tory government. They remain committed to passing on the cost of the pandemic, their failures and their mishandling of the economy onto the shoulders of workers.
These workers include teachers, school and education staff, lecturers, train drivers, civil servants and more.On the same day, the TUC has announced a national day of action in the campaign against the government's latest announcement of their intention to attack workers rights through the criminalisation and undermining of industrial action.The unions have said that "the system cannot function based on the
efforts of a fatigued workforce and with constant cuts in rights
consolidated in the past."
The government is currently trying to force through their draconian and undemocratic anti-strike bill which is designed to prevent democratic worker action like this.
The latest vote on the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill has been taking place today January 30, before it proceeds to the House of Lords. Britain’s new anti-strike laws are expected to be on the statute books
by the summer.
The aim is to hobble the unions by limiting workers rights to
withdraw their labour. The bill proposes that employers are given powers
to force workers to work on strike days, to provide what the government
deems an appropriate ‘minimum service level’. The eight sectors where
strikes will be restricted in this way are: railways, fire service,
ambulances, education, border security, nuclear decommissioning, other
health services and other transport services.
The Bill allows for the government minister to unilaterally determine
the ‘minimum service level’ without any requirement of trade union and
employer involvement. Employers are only required to consult unions as
to the service levels required, and then only within a framework
determined by the government. As a result, there is no obligation on
employers to negotiate any agreement with unions about minimum service
levels in advance of any strike.
The bill will also allow employers to sack workers who fail to work on a
strike day when instructed to work and it allows employers to sue the
unions if they are not considered to have taken ‘reasonable’ action to
ensure their members work on strike days when required by their employer
to do so.
Rishi Sunak has falsely claimed this proposed legislation on
minimum service levels is authorised by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) – the UN’s agency for workers’ rights, but that is
not true, as confirmed by the ILO’s Director General. For a briefing on how the bill breaches ILO conventions see the response to Sunak’s claim published here by the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom.
Union action appears to be strengthening public opinion in support of
strikers. An average of two to one the public supports specific actions
by teachers, railway workers and civil servants.
Support for nurses, ambulance staff firefighters and teachers ranges from half to two-thirds of the public.
Despite a co-ordinated media campaign against rail workers, over 40
per cent back the RMT strike. Bus workers and teachers get even better
support, while even three in 10 back driving examiners.
Every picket line attracts substantial crowds, not of the legally
sanctioned half a dozen official pickets, but crowds of supporters from
other trade unions and the public.
Neither the government, the police nor any employer thinks it
politically expedient to limit pickets. The February 1 day of action is a
timely and necessary escalation of solidarity actions, and with the NEU
now on strike, offers the possibility of even bigger mass
demonstrations.
The TUC, predictably enough, has suggested that the government’s proposed laws be fought in parliament and the courts.
Our Government has no concept of right and wrong.They are the same old nasty party. And as the ongoing tax and corruption
scandals illustrate so starkly, it is a government of the rich, for the
rich — it is more interested in defending the profits and privileges of
the millionaires than defending the jobs and livelihoods of millions.
As we've seen over the pandemic, workers are on the front line of our inequality crisis: from health and housing to climate and the cost of living. The consequences are fracturing societies, with workers facing a wave of repression, which has left people; with no choice but to take action.
If you believe in the triumph of solidarity, human rights,
equality.support the strikes Their fight is our fight.Their win will be
our win.Solidarity with all those taking action for decent pay and to
defend public services, terms and conditions, or campaigning to defend
the right to strike
Victory to the workers. Let's unite and get rid of the Tory psychopaths.We are stronger together!
