In a United Kingdom already shaken by a social crisis, teachers announced on Monday that they would go on strike to demand better salaries, which puts a little more pressure on the conservative government of Rishi Sunak.
After railway workers, nurses, paramedics and public officials, teachers in England and Wales joined the cohort of sectors on strike by announcing seven days of mobilization, the first of which will take place on 1er next February. They are demanding wage increases in line with inflation that exceeds 10%, unheard of for more than 40 years.
This strike is announced on the day that Parliament examines a law aimed at establishing a minimum service in certain public sectors. “It was a really difficult decision for our members to make,” said the country’s main teachers’ union, the National Education Union (NEU), on Twitter. This vote “sends a resounding message to the government: we will not sit there and watch the destruction of education without resisting,” he added, saying he was open to negotiations.
“We have raised our concerns with successive education ministers over salaries [des enseignants et du personnel scolaire] and on the funding of schools and universities, but, instead of solving the problem, they sat on it,” lamented the two union officials, Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, in a joint statement.
Last week, a vote organized by another education union, the NASUWT, did not yield a majority to launch a strike by its members.
This strike is a new setback for the government, accused of not doing enough to support the British faced with the crisis of the cost of living.
Education Minister Gillian Keegan, who is due to meet NEU officials on Wednesday, said the upcoming strike was “deeply disappointing”, stressing the additional funding already released by the government. “It will have an impact on the children and after the pandemic it is going to be difficult because we are already trying to bring them up to speed,” she stressed.
Teachers also began a 16-day strike in Scotland, where First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called for “compromise on both sides”.
Strikes and discontent
These strikes are part of a broader social movement that has shaken the United Kingdom for several months. Many sectors are calling for wage increases due to inflation.
On Monday, the nurses, who already have to take two days off work this week, announced that they would stop work again for two days in February (6 and 7), always to demand a salary increase.
The union Royal College of Nursing (RCN), at the origin of this movement widely supported by the population, specified that more hospitals would be affected than during their first two days of strike in December. “We are doing this in a desperate attempt to see [le premier ministre] and ministers save the NHS’, the public healthcare system, said RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen, calling on the government to “fix” the problem of tens of thousands of vacancies in hospitals.
Faced with the strikers, the Conservative government is firm, highlighting the delicate situation of public finances.
And while strikes are further disrupting the operation of public services that are sometimes in bad shape, he presented a law in early January aimed at establishing a minimum service in several sectors, including health, education and transport. Examined Monday in Parliament, it aims, according to the government, to adopt in the United Kingdom provisions already existing in other countries.
At the same time, 200 trade unionists braving the cold had gathered in front of Parliament to denounce the text. “We have the feeling that they want to stop all mobilizations. The only thing we have as workers is our right to refuse to work,” Liz James of the Unison union told Agence France-Presse.
If the law only targets certain sectors deemed sensitive, “you have to be stupid to think that you won’t be next on the list”, judge Paul Feming, general secretary of the Equity entertainment union.