To think it’s time for a general strike

[Mountainatmygates]

I am old enough to remember the poll tax riots which did eventually bring about a shift in policy.

The country is on its knees - I read yesterday that energy bills could hit 6k a year in the spring and put 45 million into fuel poverty.

it’s completely nuts and the current government are wholly to blame after 12 years in power. I have just been in France where bills have risen 4% because the energy companies are nationalised.

I think it’s genuinely time for some collective action.

You want a general strike to reduce inflation?

@thelittleapple no, I want a general strike to protest against this shitty governments abject failure and to not sit passively at home and accept what is happening

Do you not get sacked If you do this and aren't in a union?

What day are you organising it for?

@fufflecake join a union before they get banned as Truss has indicated she would like to.

Its funny how when MPs wanted to remove Boris, they withdrew their Labour

YANBU but it won't happen. Not enough people can afford to strike, not enough people are unionised and too many people have sucked up the rhetoric and are busy sneering and blaming those less fortunate.
Divide and conquer has worked too well and the abundance of media propaganda is at record level. These are different times and different folk.

Do they have just random unions to join? I don't have one in my industry.

@JustTheOneSwan yes quite. It’s terrifying really.

@fufflecake what is your industry?

I hear what you’re saying.

I work in the public sector and have some for 30 years. Thee have been a few instances of striking over the years, of which I’ve never been in favour.

HOWEVER, this is something I’ve been giving some thought to over the past while, and have decided that if there’s strike action I’ll fully support it.

I agree with you, and believe that mass industrial action is going to be the only way the politicians will take notice.

There’s a binmen’s strike in Edinburgh just now, and the litterpickers employed for the festival are doing some refuse collection, which is really pissing me off!

Yes there are generalist unions that pretty much anyone can join as well as industry specific ones.

This crisis has been 45 years in the making. (Arguably up to 60 years, as Britain's endemic avoidance of major investment and workers' rights protections started in the 1960s.)

I don't think a strike is going to solve anything, except annoy Daily Mail and Telegraph readers and harden their already well-calcified opinions.

@NightmareSlashDelightful I just don’t accept though that we all sit at home and accept fuel poverty while corporations make billions. F*ck the daily mail too - people are dying and kids are going hungry.

We already had bad enough figures for fuel poverty and winter deaths, the coming few years are going to be brutal.
But people won't mobilise or organise because they honestly believe these people are at fault for being poor.
We admire wealth above all else now.

@JustTheOneSwan i agree but I wonder if this will be the straw that breaks the camel back to coin a cliche. 6k a year bills for households are considerably more for businesses and schools and hospitals and enough to tip society over the edge. There are multiple threads on here about inflation on food too. At some point people will realise that it doesn’t have to be this way!

I agree op. Private companies running public services (energy, water, transport) are making obscene profits. Something has to change.

People just ignore it.
even £4000 per year, how many hours do you have to work to take that home after tax?
for most people that's a couple of months not days or weeks or hours.
two months labour so someone can make a profit, not even cover the costs and a bit of profit but record profits.
It's scandalous.

And the Dail mail will continue to try and brainwash the public into thinking it’s the fault of the EU or refugees or benefit claimants or the unions or someone else but people will eventually wake up to the fact that blame lies with the Tory government and those that bankroll them

I am old enough to have been AT the poll tax demo! 1990. It was an amazing example of people power bringing an end to a wholly unjust policy.

I don’t know what changed.

whenever they have those vox pops with people who are clearly struggling still saying “Ooh Boris is doing his best” I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

This government is the most corrupt, cruel and incompetent government I’ve lived through - it’s desperate.

Criminal Barristers have just voted for indefinite strike action.

I don't want a GS but i think we are heading for a series of very damaging strikes and no surprise really, CEO pay in the FTSE100 has risen from 2.5m to 3.6m p.a (in last 12 months) these companies have made 100s of billions in profit over the last year or so, have increased prices and their pay... yet thats not "inflationary"
indeed our next PM wants to boost their profits even more.

General strike? Yup that’ll help no end.

@JustTheOneSwan totally agree. And conflate working with deserving - so anyone who can’t work for whatever reason is entirely responsible for their own poverty and misery.

Workhouses anyone?

The U.K. hasn’t had a General Strike since the 1920’s but you could argue times are desperate enough now to warrant it

@Aposterhasnoname so what would you suggest then? The only ‘power’ most people have is to withdraw their labour in protest. As I said above, it worked for the tories when they wanted rid of Boris

We need change in this country & it takes two to have a dispute, employers can chose to help their staff or take the profits themselves.

Tesco made 2 billion in profit last year, yet still keep putting prices up and pay their staff so little most have to claim benefits.

The French invested heavily in nuclear power so they, mostly, produce their own energy. We rely on imported gas despite having our own shale gas reserves and there are gas fields in the north sea, albeit requiring substantial investment. The Germans are opening up coal-fired power stations.