To no longer support strike action?

[Sobloodydone]

I live in Liverpool where there is currently a bus workers strike going on, entering its 4th week after a walk out demanding pay that meets inflation. They have been offered in increase that they turned down claiming it wasn’t enough.

I am beyond frustrated now as the entire city is pretty much out of action in regards to public transport. It’s costing £25 a day in taxis to get to work who have said no working from home and threatening termination if attendance is missed. It’s just not sustainable!

I am working class and long supported strikes and many people have the opinion we should be supporting them no questions asked but what about the thousands of people they are affecting? Nobody is getting the price of inflation matched within their wages. Supposed to believe we’re all in it together when supporting them but what about everyone else who can’t get to work/hospital/shops/see their elderly family?! It’s an indefinite walk out so god knows what will happen if kids can’t get to school in 3 weeks!

also that Grauniad article only refers to the square mile, which =/= the entire consumer goods/FS/PS sector. Probably less than 10% of it, in fact.

Good point, I only skimmed it!!

I don't agree with indefinite strikes that cause chaos for everyone else. Most people are getting offers of around 5 percent. I only got 2.8 percent. I am a Foster Carer, what would some suggest, that I refuse to feed and care for my foster child? Maybe refuse to take him to his hobbies? Inflation is already out of control but it will spiral further if everyone demands 13 percent pay rises. I have lived through a recession in the 80's and saw how spiraling inflation caused recession. Many people who thought they had very safe jobs lost their jobs. We need to bite the bullet and accept lower than inflation pay rises this year to bring inflation under control. We don't need another Winter of Discontent. I feel for you OP and hope the bus drivers go back to normal working soon.

I have been involved in strike negotiations with a couple of government agencies (and successfully diverted one last year by providing data to reject the reason for the strike - i.e. what the unions said the reason for the strike was, was simply not the case - think along the lines of 'increased stress because of new working patterns') .

It is almost impossible to negotiate with unions - their leaders are literally there, and paid well, to make these things continue. There is no incentive for them to resolve things, and it will probably only get resolved when the workers cannot put up with no pay for any longer - there is no requirement to pay people who are on strike. (Obviously the union reps still get paid)

I can't see how anyone could think an 8.5% pay rise offer is not reasonable and having been party to these types of 'negotiations' I do not actually feel that union reps 100% represent the workers that well. People are losing wages every day which cumulatively will add up to quite a lot!

Solidarity with all striking workers ✊🏽

" I have lived through a recession in the 80's and saw how spiraling inflation caused recession"
As I recall there wasn't really spiralling inflation in the 80's. That's when it started to come down from the high's of the 70's.

It's also a bit unfair to be talked Ng about wage spirals when higher earning and shareholders are profiting massively. Like most people I lined through the 08 recession and it was the low paid that largely had to suffer so we could bail out people who had been profiting from incredibly risky leveraged investments.

YABU

I’m in Merseyside in an area affected by the strikes. I am with the strikers all the way, and hope they get the outcome they deserve.

YABU my dad is taking part in these strikes, and let me tell you, this isn’t pleasant for him.
He’s not just striking for better pay, but it’s for safer conditions.
He’s not on a high wage as it is, works shifts and companies are raking in profits. I think more people should strike- in fact, I think a lot more strikes are on the horizon.

You understand the point of strikes is to cause as much disruption as possible right?

That's the whole point of striking. People need to know how valuable the service is . Sorry it inconveniences you but the world doesn't just revolve around one person

How are your colleagues getting to work, OP? Is there no-one driving in from your side of town that you could car share with?

A lot of people have been doing this during this on rail strike days. The company my friend works for have set up something on the company intranet where you can get in touch with people driving in from the same areas.

I don’t personally support strike action in any form, never have and never will. And anyone who believes that the bus workers involved in this particular strike will receive an inflation-matching payrise as a result are frankly deluded.

You should probably renegotiate your contract then: no paid time off, no sick pay, no cap on the hours you can work, nothing. Give it back. People fought long and hard for you to disparage one of the ways that all those things became possible.

I am grateful to the unions and what they have achieved over the years. There will be more to come. History tells us that when things get really tough, the oppressed start pushing back. I’m sick of this country where so many struggle whilst those at the top benefit. I think many many more people will get sick of it and there will be general strikes like there was back in 1926.
The ‘all in it together’ trope is dead in the water and when fuel bills look set to rise to over £4K a year whilst the oil companies rake it in, sorry but that’s just plain wrong. There’s no money for you poor folk, only us rich folk. It stinks! This whole country stinks! Get yourself a bike coz it’s not going to get better anytime soon, not by a long shot!

I understand that these strikes are an attempt to bring down the government.We did not vote for the rail unions or any other union to govern us.

Yabvu

every social media today and yesterday has had working class socialist bots coming out to say they used to support strikes and no longer do because of the inconvenience. It suggests to me if any of them are real humans behind such posts that they never supported strikes in the first place.

what I actually think is this is likely the result of a bunch of postuni interns posting propaganda bullshit wherever they think they can cause influence.

Mnhq really needs to take away that recommended thread function which keeps bring it up old threads (including years old!)

Most people didn't vote for this government and certainly not for this PM.

The question is whether you'll feel the same way if you're life / standard of living is compromised by the strikes.

I have to drive to work in an area affected by train strikes and every time it's carnage on the road. It's taken me 2 hours to do a 20 minute drive on a couple of occasions.

Imagine if nurses strike too, you're child is sick. What do you think will happen at A&E? Carnage at a whole different level. If it was just one industry I would sympathise but I actually don't know anyone who isn't struggling at the moment.

so god knows what will happen if kids can’t get to school in 3 weeks!

Well the teachers will be on strike so they won’t have to!

Bob Crow and his greed killed my support for strikes.

How can they afford to strike for so long if they are so badly paid? How do they pay their rent and feed their families etc?

Be pissed off with a government who are quite happy to allow the super rich to siphon off money, not pay fair taxes and allow energy companies to profiteer.

Resenting strikers feeds the Tory greed machine. While we’re distracted fighting each other, we don’t notice what they’re doing.

We are stronger together. Unfortunately I don't live in Liverpool but I bet the power of Mumsnet community could sort you out a lift share for a few days a week. Come on Mumsnet dole out some christmassy magic. I will contribute to petrol money...

Guys. The date. That strike has finished

Did they get a decent pay rise though?