Rishi Sunak is working on tough new anti-strike laws

[Emotionalsupportviper]

We don't have a government in this country any more.

We have a dictatorship.

Well they aren’t working with NHS staff over the conditions in the NHS and haven’t been for 12 years. How many more years should they be given?
This is desperate action from desperate staff.

People need to realise the Cons are not interested in a well funded, well managed and efficient NHS, they want it gone.. an AE service only, they see it as a socialist construct, much like the Unions in that regard and want both consigned to the history books
the wealthy only care about people like them, we are just an undifferentiated lumpen mass who deserve nothing because we are not rich therefore cant be as good as them
even so with so many jobs unfilled they don't got much bargaining power....

@Soothsayer1 Yes isn't this what Johnson's biographer said about him...

Businesses limiting supply and putting up price of antibiotics used to treat Strep A...

Pharmacist on Sky saying antibiotics have never been in short supply or seen wide price fluctuations but they are now...

As my mum (funnily enough a life long tory) used to say to me "companies aren't interested in profit, they are only interested in BIG profit"

This is why we need unions, if they could, they'd treat workers as the Victorians did.

@Livinginanotherworld

Your post re. @Hungrycaterpillarsmummy being a "Tory"...

Why have you degenerated into identify politics?

Why does voicing a logical fast based opinion make someone a "Tory"?

What does being a "Tory" mean to you?

What is the issue with being a "Tory"?

Wandering towards Gilead…

If identity politics, tribalism and stirring up hate make you feel better about the circumstances you're in you crack on 👍

Alternatively you could come to terms that people don't waste their time plotting against others in the way you think. There just aren't these great big conspiracies out there....

The world of work is fucked at the moment. Massive workloads, stagnant wages for lots of people, pay so low people have to top up with benefits, etc. etc. A lot of this has built since Maggie got rid of the unions and now it is a complete and utter shit show.

This is another reason to add to my very long list of why I will not be voting Tory at the next General Election.

Oh the Tories are on the way out, no doubt about that. Unfortunately it’s the damage they are doing in the meantime that worries me.

Any Govt that truly cared about the NHS wouldn't scrap nurse and AHP bursaries and if they did, after seeing the harm this had made, they'd reverse the policy.

Even Hunt, as a back bencher, said midwifery was a disaster.. now in Govt, he is doing nothing, nothing at all.... no plan.

We all have read or been personally affected by maternity scandals but nothing done... why? Tories been in for 12 years but they can try and get emergency laws in to stop strikes...

@ExpectMore

Are you a public sector worker?

I don't see why it matters - the value of one's opinion shouldn't be based upon the sector one works in.

But as you're interested, and I don't mind sharing: I work for a private company that works in the supply chain of a public sector body.

Of course it matters. It's very easy to say public sector workers should cope with low pay and poor conditions when you're not actually one yourself.
It's breathtakingly arrogant.

Don't forget they have money for bogus test and trace, dodgy contracts for their pals, giving themselves payrises and not charging companies like Amazon nearly enough in tax.

You're the mug gladly financing this via your taxes but a liveable wage for crucial workers is somehow too much?

I bet you enjoy having all the benefits you have thanks to unions. Paid holiday, parental leave, minimum wage, weekends, cap on working hours.

Somehow you benefitting is fine. You're lucky there weren't too many people like you back then and maybe you should sit and reflect for a minute on how your privilege was able to exist despite people like you.

Right. I feel this couldn’t happen as easily in somewhere like France but British residents just accept all of this with barely a whisper. I really wish the next GE was 2023. Labour aren’t great but better than this lot.

So someone can only have an opinion on something if it affects them directly?

What a load of rubbish. I think we'd need a drastic overhaul of our electoral system and democratic principles if it were the case as that's not how they're currently structured... thankfully!

@Miajk you're the mug missing my fundamental point.

That's that I've no issues with strikes in general, no issues with unions in general, no issues with public (or private) sector working getting paid a fair salary or having good conditions (I mean, that's obvious right?!), my issue is:

1. I don't believe those providing critical services should be allowed to strike - they shouldn't be allowed to put vulnerable people nor the country at risk (yes that means they need other ways of having their voice heard)
2. (again, an obvious point but I feel it gets missed) the £s have to stack up, books have to balance

Your points re. test and trace are all bogus red herrings. They make easy emotive cannon fodder but are baseless. I'm assuming of course you'd have a risk free approach to rapid procurements in times of need...

I hate this government. Everything they do is designed to put more money in the pockets of their rich friends.

It is NOT the critical services "holding the country to ransom".

It is our corrupt, bullying, self-serving government!

PM and cabinet are blaming the unions - but working people in all areas are being forced into this action (they do not take strike action easily, believe you me) by the cost of living and the increasingly stressful conditions in which they are being forced to work. They are pushed beyond their limits.

If you think that people strike as a first resort, you are an idiot!

@ExpectMore

You can hold whatever opinion you want. Maybe work on empathy and compassion while recognising your privilege.

@Emotionalsupportviper

No, don't believe they strike as a first resort, I just just think it should be an option of last resort either.

I don't understand why it's such a hard to grasp concept? Not why it's somehow so horrendous to want to protect the vulnerable in our country?

I mean, it's not like it's not an already accepted concept: police and army are already not allowed to strike 🤷‍♀️

If society can accept it's a bad idea for such services to strike, why not NHS, ambulance, power infrastructure etc?

What's the fundamental difference?

Oh here we go, resorting to personal attacks. Doing so is normally a sign of having run out of other options in a debate.

Ps. Just because someone has a different opinion that you disagree with, doesn't mean they lack empathy nor compassion.

To illustrate my point, to continue with your line of thinking, I could (if I were to be childish) say:

where's your compassion and empathy for the little old lady to whom the ambulance won't arrive?

Where's your empathy and compassion for the patient whose had their long awaited operation cancelled?

Where's your empathy and compassion for the family that won't get to see their loved ones this Christmas due to travel distribution?

Or don't they matter to you...?

Get my point?

The police and army are constrained from striking to ensure the Government isn't overthrown, defend the country and maintain law & order.

If they were paid by effectiveness at their jobs most would be lucky to scrape a subsistence allowance.

Largely they are lazy, greedy, self-serving, callous, steeped in corruption and contemptuous of the electorate. And if they aren't, they really need to show that they are really working for the good of the country and not themselves or their party, because they certainly don't seem to give a damn.

I do not doubt that there are some hard-working, deeply caring individuals among our parliamentarians - unfortunately they seem to be so few that their influence is ineffective.

They are, on the whole, contemptible.

You regard the unions as a "Ponzi scheme", @Hungrycaterpillarsmummy - they aren't. They are the only way that individuals without power can make their voice heard over the arrogant braying of governments - and this particular government is an asset-stripper, selling off everything in the country which is worth having and will leave behind an empty nation, devoid of hope and health if they get the chance.