I’m a rail worker and although I’m in a different union, I think Mick Lynch has been excellent. I must say that this time around there has been so much public support, and a lot of that will be to do with the way Mick has conducted himself and how he has been able to explain the issues. I stopped by my local picket line on Tuesday for a chat and was so surprised to hear all the car horns and cheers of support (middle class, eternally Conservative suburb).
I think that people are finally waking up to the fact that teachers, TAs, nurses, lower paid rail workers, fire fighters etc have huge responsibilities for others, rigorous training, unsocial hours, rules and regs coming out of their ears yet anyone under 35 in these roles now is very unlikely to be able to afford a modest standard of living.
I honestly think we are headed back to the days (in London at least) when multiple unrelated families would live in the same house, ie. Parents and kids renting two rooms and another family with children living downstairs, sharing bills etc.
If you are hauling your arse across London on a night bus for a 5am start at a skilled full time role and your partner is doing the same but you cannot afford to rent or buy a modest flat in a city suburb plus cover bills then something is deeply wrong.
The working class have no options here but to get behind unions. Inflation is at 11% and rising fast, the RMT have asked for a very modest 7% (still a real terms cut) to be told you are greedy bastards.
“oh they shouldn’t be striking coz inflation” Yeah, but there’s always a reason not to give the workers a fair rise, isn’t there? The recession of 08/09, Cameron’s Age of Austerity, then May told us there was no magic money tree for us. Then Covid, now we can’t do it because of inflation. Funny how all this never seems to hit the rich in the pocket though. Property prices shored up and banks bailed out until the cows come home.