The government is facing a wave of summer strikes – how will it respond?
Public sector strike action is always tricky territory for Labour politicians to navigate, particularly when the party is in opposition. When strikes plagued the previous Tory government (teachers and junior doctors in particular) Labour MPs – including Keir Starmer – were quick to condemn the government while trying hard not to criticise the unions, with whom the Labour party has always enjoyed a spiritual and financial relationship.
Strikes on a Tory PM’s watch were always down to “a failure to negotiate” and when asked what they would do differently Labour MPs would say they’d start by “getting round the table” and talking. Those MPs are now ministers, and they might be wondering if there are enough tables in Whitehall to avert a summer of discontent.
In Birmingham, where 21,000 tonnes of rubbish lies strewn across the city, talks with Unite (the union behind the strike) are not going well, with Unite’s leader now warning that similar action could be launched in other cities if cash-strapped councils seek to make savings in a way that affects union members. The prospect of rubbish rotting in the warm summer months is very real.
Meanwhile, the hard-left National Education Union is gearing up for strike action, ostensibly in response to an “unacceptable” pay offer – though the union’s chief, Daniel Kebede, seems more interested in “reorganising society” and regaining “control of an education system from a brutally racist state”. Not to be left out, Unison has asked its NHS members whether they would support strike action this summer if their pay “fails to keep up with rising living costs.” The Civil Service is also getting in on the action, with the PCS union leading strikes at the end of this month in response to “rigid attendance policies” – in other words, a request from ministers that staff spend less time working from home. Industrial action is also on the cards in higher education, with University and College Union staff planning walk-outs in May and June.
One of Labour’s firsts acts in government was to increase pay for large parts of the public sector, and they’ve since worked hand-in-hand with unions to rewrite UK employment law, but it seems these moves won’t be enough to avoid a summer of strike action and a difficult political row with their allies in organised labour.
Let’s see if they’re better at “getting round the table” than their Tory predecessors.