Do Strikes work?

[HollyBollyBooBoo]

Do the people who strike, or the workforce they represent get any change for the better out of it. Does going on strike actually work?

Yes, a withdrawal of Labour frequently results in renewed negotiations that result in agreement being reached.

Worked really well for the miners back in the past.

Here are some very recent strikes that resulted in improved pay offers.

yes they do and often make others aware of the working conditions.

Generally speaking no.

In this economic climate, I doubt it.

The simple fact is there isn't enough money in the pot.

Pay nurses 10% then what about teachers? Police? Basically anyone employed by the state.

The cost of living crisis isn't going to be alleviated by inflation that's in part generated by pay increases. It just causes more misery in an already shitty situation.

People need to be realistic and before I get told off, I'm in a profession impacted by state austerity and even if my union calls for it, I won't be striking.

In this economic climate, I doubt it.

And yet I just posted three recent news stories about strikes working.

globalnews.ca/news/217994/timeline-of-past-bctf-teachers-strikes/
in british columbia
in one area or another it's always led to some level of improvement.

It works better than not striking.

There has been much progress made through union activity in the past.

How would NHS employees replicate that?

@ControversialSuggestion i guess it would be the equivalent to specializing in one particular in demand area, and going private or out of country (operating room or infectious diseases).

Instead of going on strike what seems to work in banking is to get really good at your job, to provide exceptional value to your employer, and then to get to choose who to work for out of the firms competing to take you on.

How well paid were the bankers who caused the 2008 financial crash? Did they provide value for money?

How would that work in teaching?

Instead of going on strike what seems to work in banking is to get really good at your job, to provide exceptional value to your employer, and then to get to choose who to work for out of the firms competing to take you on.

I'm really good at my job, provide exceptional value and the threat of strike was what got me higher wages.

I'm not a wbanker though.

To be fair, it does work in teaching.

My HOD commands a much higher salary than any other HOD in our school by sheer virtue of having negotiated higher pay when the school was in dire need for his specialism. This was years ago, not recent, but soon after pay portability went out of the window.

Moving from MPS to UPS is by virtue of good teaching and taking on responsibility, as is almost every TLR. Moving from TLR holder posts into Lead Practitioner posts, which have a large scope for salary improvements, is possible. Moving from those into MAT-wide Lead Practitioner posts works, too, and comes with more money - all without having to go into formal SLT posts.

It works in our favour that good teachers are becoming rare because the workload is insane.

But it does come with a lot of actively having to seek promotions.
Also, these posts are rare and schools often don't have the money, so you have to be prepared move to where someone is willing to pay this.

But it does work.

By finding higher paying jobs outside the NHS. Scarcity would force the state to increase wages or to lose a general election.

Meanwhile in the real world, operations get cancelled, waiting times increase, patient care suffers because there just isn’t enough staff. And the staff there are work themselves into the ground because the government refuse to raise wages.

At my sons old primary they were much favoured recruiting nq teachers as they needed x number of teachers to cover the classes and nq were cheaper per head. Becoming too experienced or too expensive limits employment options in current climate. It’s not like in other industries where if someone is very good at their job it’ll generate extra income so they pay for themselves, a schools income is fixed

But that’s the whole point of nursing strikes. We’re not talking scarcity, we’re talking dire understaffing that affects anyone on a catastrophic level.

But it isn't about individuals getting better jobs it's about the sector as a whole and the future of teaching / nursing etc. Great for the super teachers who can command any salary they want cos they are better than everyone else but they can't all do that!!

Strikes used to work. It was an established negotiation system. It shows how vital these services are and how much more value should be put on them than currently is.

Of course these vital professions should be paid a fair wage!! Otherwise people won't do them and the country will be even more fucked than it is.

It CANNOT be about individuals.

I stand with the strikers.

That's not what happened at all!

What la la fairy world do you live in?

Is part of your "exceptional value" to rewrite history?

Yes and dedicate your life doing a job working for fat cat wankers, making them more money.

Rather than a job that those pesky striking public sector workers to that actually helps save lives, improve life chances, make a difference to society and all of our lives ... tsk! Those guys eh?!

They're doing this too. Retention in both nursing and teaching is terrible.

It depends if you look at previous en masse strikes it ended in Thatcher reducing union power and mining gone

It’s a bit different now as Labour were in power then.

Imo some sectors will suffer from it due to driving demand elsewhere or changing working patterns more - rail and post