To wonder how the strikes will end?

[Wingingit11]

This isn’t a thread about whether you agree with strikes as a concept or not (there have been soooo many) but to question how you think the strikes will end?! To me, the longer they go on, the less likely there is to be movement on either side ?

But this has gone on for far too long now IMO, bordering on attention seeking territory

Surely the whole point ?

The Daily Mail reported only 30% of teachers went on strike.

Obviously the Mail aren’t exactly pro teachers, so take with a pinch of salt, but if that’s true, it isn’t a lot and the government will know it. I also suspect it will go down with each subsequent strike day.

No incentive for this government to offer a reasonable deal at all. Strikers are the equivalent of a good war for the Tories. Something they can blame everything bad on, individuals to point at as the bogeyman, a group to rally their people against. Great cover for their own inadequacy, terrible Covid economic recovery, Brexit shit show and the ongoing cost of living catastrophe. Johnson had Covid to blame it all on, Sunak has strikes, so he must be relieved.

Agree, Sunak needs the strikes to continue and he and his ministers will do all they can to prolong them.... keeps the public eye on other things rather than his lies, weakness & corruption.

Strike action by nurses has paused in Wales following an increased pay offer. In England, I can't see the situation improving until there's a new government. Thankfully it's getting closer and closer.

Private pay is going up much faster than public pay which is one reason for the strikes

I agree with this and another pp who said, because things can carry on functioning, nothing will change. I really doubt the govt will fold on this so they’ll have to either admit defeat or keep strikes indefinitely, at which point they’ll probably loose a fair bit of public support.

@anniegun thanks that’s v interesting. Of the professions striking what are below 5%? I know teachers are 5% (but attached to school budget).

I think the NHS will be privatised and the government will blame the striking staff for the decision as if they had no other option.

I doubt the current gov have time to privatise as max 11 lefts of This term, but as others have said upthread it’s whether the nhs is left in a viable state

Neither of those things are true in Scotland.

Yes, should have clarified England. Must be annoying to be spoken for; apologies.

There have been loads of strikes and very little change in government policy. They'll carry on for a bit, achieve very little and the public will lose patience.

That may or may not happen, what really matters is what is left of the NHS and Education, neither can continue operating without staff, privatised or not.

So far the only people losing support is the Government.

I don’t think the Government are going to budge, because inflation is expected to start falling quite sharply towards the end of the year. So unions will have less leverage once inflation is back at 5% rather than 10%. Clearly this doesn’t mean prices are going down, but the ‘headlines’ of 10% inflation vs 5% pay rises won’t hold anymore. That’s just what I think their plan is anyway.

@GPTec1 not the case. It's all anecdotal but no one I know supports the strikes.

Yes. This.

If I was the government I’d just settle and get the pay disputes resolved.

Then I’d stick 10% on the basic rate of income tax to fund it.

I agree with you on this; the majority of people I know will still vote Tory at the next election. I know many people who wouldn’t dream of voting labour and realistically, the other parties don’t stand a chance.

Thanks 💐

Yes I agree too, labour are not a good option to vote for at the moment and there is no decent alternative, so lots will vote tory.

Actually I’m starting to think that they will also leave it because advancing technology will help them sooner than perhaps some people expected

not with healthcare but with trains

also with education, sorry to say, I know there were US politicians who thought tech learning at home would be a possible replacement for state funded education. There’s been a lot of trial runs for things over the last few years

i think it might be seen as a solution to the labour shortage and anyone who can get better pay and conditions now should make the most of what might turn into a gold and short lived moment for workers.

I was reading the labour shortage thread and also articles about ChatGPT. That’s a bunch of people who will lose work and might end up replacing the people who have managed to escape shit conditions in many sectors.

I think they’re waiting for inflation to fall too.

I think inflation will be going up for a while yet. Again, especially with a labour shortage, the powers that be are losing their cannon fodder, so to speak. They need people struggling to pay for heating and eating.

@EmmaEmerald I think we might have read similar articles. The one I read mentioned software engineers being at risk as ChatGPT can write code just as easily as kids coursework. Which makes sense when you think about it.