“What is striking is the scale of the movement, but also the number of companies in which the workers voted for the strike” in the United Kingdom, analyzes Marc Lenormand, lecturer at Paul Valéry University in English studies and British civilization, specialist in social movements and the history of British trade unionism.
He returns to the proliferation of strikes, particularly in transport, against inflation and for wage increases, in the United Kingdom, a movement that is already historic since these are the first strikes “for twenty, thirty, even forty years” depending on the sector, emphasizes Marc Lenormand.
franceinfo: Are we facing a movement of historic proportions?
Marc Lenormand : What is historic in this movement are the sectors on strike. Over the past thirty years, the main strikes in the UK have mainly affected the public sector, mainly against austerity policies. This was the case, for example, during what was called “the winter of discontent” in 1978-1979. What is special today is to see private sectors, sometimes industrial ones, on strike, which has not been the case depending on the sector for twenty, thirty, even forty years. For example, starting tomorrow, there is an eight-day strike starting at the country’s main container port. And this is the first time since 1989 that there will be a strike in this port. In the railways, this is the first national strike since 1994. What is striking is the scale of the movement, but also the number of companies in which the workers voted for the strike.
Strikes are relatively rare in the UK, are they considered extreme action? As a sign of a very difficult situation?
It is above all something that is very complicated to implement. In France, the right to strike is enshrined in the Constitution. This is not the case in the UK since in the 1980s and 1990s Conservative governments introduced an extremely restrictive framework. This means that today, in order to go on strike, the trade union organizations have to make a long campaign with their members, that they organize a ballot and that this ballot votes mainly in favor of the strike. There are even higher thresholds in certain sectors since in transport, it is necessary not only at least half of the members consulted, but also 40% of the electorate, that is to say of the whole workers likely to go on strike.
Is this a sign of a very deep malaise among British workers?
What is quite remarkable is that indeed in these consultations, there are very high participation rates, often over 80%. This was the case in rail, on the docks for example. And votes for strike action exceeded 90%: in the postal sector, 98% of postal workers voted for the strike. So it does show a determination, and certainly a situation in which a large number of workers feel that it is imperative to take action to obtain wage increases. Because we know that inflation in the UK will exceed 13% this year, and it is possible that almost two thirds of British households will not be able to pay their energy bills this winter.