Turmoil in the UK

[Ravenlocke]

I’m starting this thread because so much is happening in UK I think it needs it’s own thread.

https://twitter.com/ChannelUK1/statu...21230578925569

Rubbish piles up in streets of Edinburgh on fifth day of bin strike

The rest is here:

https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/22/rubbi...re.top.twitter


https://twitter.com/CWUnews/status/1560371397800730635

https://twitter.com/RadioGenova/stat...52177057112064

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/VillageVeganUK/s...81999468908544

https://twitter.com/IOMPOSTOFFICE/st...74159488847872

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/Rand0mB1tsUK/sta...30256115421184

https://twitter.com/TLDRNewsUK/statu...63392912121857

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...nflation-wages

Unions on brink of ‘synchronised’ strikes, says RMT’s Mick Lynch
Railway workers leader predicts ‘massive response’ to impact of rapidly rising inflation on wages

The leader of the RMT union, Mick Lynch, has suggested unions are on the brink of calling for “synchronised” strikes over widespread anger at how much soaring inflation is outpacing wages.

Speaking from a picket line in Euston as railway workers staged another strike in their dispute over pay and conditions, Lynch predicted “a massive response coming from working people”.

Asked by Sky News how close the UK was to a general strike, Lynch said: “Only the TUC can call a general strike.” The TUC’s general secretary, Frances O’Grady, was on the picket line behind the RMT boss as he spoke.

Lynch added: “There is a wave of reaction amongst working people to the way they’re being treated. People are getting poorer every day of the week. People can’t pay their bills. They’re getting treated despicably at the workplace. I think there will be generalised and synchronised action. It may not be in a traditional form.

“But we’ve seen the Post Office workers and BT [on strike] we’ve seen the bus workers in London out on strike tomorrow and over the weekend. I think there is a massive response coming from working people because they’re fed up with the way they’ve been treated.”

Rail strikes 'will continue until we get what we deserve', says RMT – video
This week official figures showed pay had fallen behind inflation at a record rate, and the rate of inflation hit 10.1%.

Lynch repeated that RMT workers did not want to be on strike, but said the union would not back down. He said: “We will keep going until we get a negotiated settlement and our members decide whether it’s acceptable or not.”

Rail strikes 'will continue until we get what we deserve', says RMT – video
He confirmed that the RMT had rejected an 8% pay increase offer from Network Rail because it was over three years.

He said: “That is an offer for Network Rail – on the train operating companies we’ve haven’t had an offer. And we would have to accept massive changes to our members working lives.”

He pointed out that other transport workers had been offered better deals.

Lynch said: “We’ve had a deal done in the aviation industry of 12% and 13% this week, so they’re not offering us anything really, they’re offering a real term pay cut. That’s not acceptable to our people. If we were to accept 4% for this year, and 4% for next year, members would be poorer as a result of that deal.”


And Lynch again accused ministers of scuppering the negotiations. He said: “The obstacle here at the moment is the stance of the minister Grant Shapps, backed up by the Treasury, and I think that’s got a bit wound up with the Conservative party leadership process.”

He added: “If we can get the companies negotiating freely, without being shackled by the government, we can negotiate a settlement in this dispute and get the railways back to running fully.”

Speaking earlier to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said the union had been working with Network Rail and the train operating companies but “the gap between us is still there”.

Lynch said: “We’ve got to find a way to bridge that but I fear that because of the political interference that’s happening with the public transport and the Treasury, we’re not able to do that.”

“We’ve also got a dispute tomorrow with London Underground, which is more of the same – that the funding from the railway has been cut – and that means an attack on rail workers across the land and I think many workers are suffering from that at this moment.

“They’re not getting a square deal but we’ll keep working with the companies to get a negotiated settlement and as soon as we can do that, will put it to our members and hopefully we can get the railway back providing service the that public needs.”

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[Ravenlocke]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...-crushes-wages

Tens of thousands of UK workers strike as inflation crushes wages

Rail, mail and dock workers are launching strikes in vast numbers as UK inflation erodes the value of their wages.

Britain’s rail, mail and dock workers are launching strikes in vast numbers as 40-year-high inflation erodes the value of wages at a record pace.

Britain’s train network faces further heavy disruption on Thursday and Saturday in major walkouts that follow the sector’s biggest strike action for 30 years already this summer.

Tens of thousands of staff are expected to strike over the two days, leaving a skeleton train service that will hit holiday-makers and commuters.

London’s Underground railway, commonly known as the Tube, will be hit by a strike on Saturday, ahead of an eight-day stoppage starting on Sunday by dockers at Felixstowe, Britain’s largest freight port, located in eastern England.

“We will continue to do whatever is necessary to defend jobs, pay and conditions during this cost-of-living crisis,” Sharon Graham, head of major British union Unite, said this week.

Official data on Wednesday showed UK inflation at a 40-year high above 10 percent, as soaring food and energy prices hurt millions of Britons.

Inflation to keep rising

And the situation is set to worsen under a new prime minister, as under-fire Boris Johnson prepares to step down.

The Bank of England has forecast inflation to top 13 percent this year, tipping the British economy into a deep and long-lasting recession.

“This record fall in real wages demonstrates the vital need for unions like Unite to defend the value of workers’ pay,” Graham said, while hitting out at suggestions, including from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, that pay rises were driving inflation.

“Wages are not driving inflation,” she insisted ahead of the latest UK inflation data that showed rocketing food prices were the main factor behind July’s spike.

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1560280860443680769

[Ravenlocke]

https://popularresistance.org/britai...sh-for-action/

Britain’s Strike Wave Escalates As Millions Push For Action

More than 40,000 rail workers represented by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) will continue national rail strikes on Thursday and Saturday. Around 10,000 RMT members on the London Underground and Overground will strike Friday, alongside 1,600 London United bus workers beginning two days of action.

In an action that will massively impact on the UK economy, 1,900 workers at the UK’s Felixstowe port, responsible for half of all container freight, will begin eight days of strike action on Sunday. Over 500 workers have also voted to strike at the Port of Liverpool, Britain’s fourth largest.

Close to 115,000 Royal Mail workers in the Communication Workers Union will strike on August 26 and 31 and September 8 and 9. Another 50,000 BT telecoms workers in the same union will strike August 30 and 31. Post Office workers will join on August 26, 27 and 30.

In a powerful confirmation of the angry and determined mood among workers, wildcat walkouts involving thousands have taken place at Amazon and are continuing fortnightly at subcontractors across the UK’s vital energy infrastructure.

These strikes take place as workers across Europe and internationally are also taking significant industrial action. One-day general strikes have been held in Italy, Greece and Belgium. A wave of strikes has swept across Turkey, and major actions have been taken against some of Europe’s biggest airlines, including a planned five months of strikes at Ryanair in Spain.

Workers are being driven into struggle by a catastrophic collapse in living standards comparable only to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Wages in the UK, flatlining for over a decade, have fallen by a staggering 7 percent versus RPI inflation over the year to April-June, at the fastest rate on record. Two-thirds of households face a winter of fuel poverty, with average bills set to rise to £4,426 a year by next April. Millions are unable to even properly feed their families.

The growing mass movement brings the working class into a direct confrontation with trade unions working desperately to contain and sabotage their struggle and a Conservative government seeking to impose the full weight of the crisis on workers and their families by any means necessary, with the active collusion of the opposition Labour Party.

Over 200,000 workers are out on strike this month, but this would be closer to 3 million if the biggest battalions of the working class were not being deliberately demobilised by the trade union bureaucracy.

Over one million workers in the National Health Service and one million more in the education sector and in local government are being prevented from striking by an extended process of consultative ballots and by actual ballots delayed into the autumn and beyond.

This is being done deliberately, to avert a mobilisation that could topple the government. The unions know and fear this possibility, as was revealed by the comments of RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch and Aslef General Secretary Mick Whelan.

Both raised the subject of a general strike, only in order to insist that it was not in their power to organise one. Lynch told BBC Newsnight that only the Trades Union Congress (TUC) “can call a general strike, not me. If they call it we’ll support it, absolutely.” He did so knowing that the TUC would never make such a call. In similar fashion Whelan told Sky News, “I don’t think it’s likely there’s going to be a general strike…”

Nevertheless, the fact that two trade union leaders feel it necessary to speak of a general strike is because this is already being discussed on picket lines and in workplaces up and down the country. Theirs is an attempt to placate popular anger over de facto pay cuts, thousands of job losses and speed ups.

The same political concerns underlie Lynch’s fronting of the new Enough is Enough campaign, launched by the Corbynite left of the Labour Party and the Jacobin-owned Tribune, with the RMT and the CWU the only trade union affiliates. Its demands are: “A real pay rise”, “Slash energy bills”, “End food poverty”, “Decent homes for all” and “Tax the rich”.

These are popular and necessary measures, but they require a frontal assault on capitalism and, above all, a political struggle against the Labour Party that the unions are desperate to prevent.

Even as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer denounces strikes, threatens to expel his own MPs for joining picket lines and echoes Tory attacks on “magic money tree” reforms, Lynch and Whelan insist that he must be supported as the only alternative to the Tories and encouraged to “come off the fence”.

For the working class to wage a real fight in defence of its interests requires the formation of new organisations of struggle, independent of the trade unions. Rank-and-file committees, led democratically by the most trusted workers, must be built in every workplace and community to unify the struggles now erupting and prepare the conditions for a general strike.

In waging this struggle, the most important allies of workers in Britain are their brothers and sisters in Europe and internationally. They will be able to call on their support through the International Workers’ Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees.

Such a struggle cannot be confined to the industrial sphere. Many workers understand that they are not only fighting this or that employer, but a Tory government and a Labour Party acting together to impose the dictates of the major corporations, banks and the financial oligarchy.

The Tory leadership contest has seen Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak compete over who can lay out the most draconian plans for mass strikebreaking and the outright banning of strikes and protests. Measures to be implemented from September include enforcing minimum service levels in all “critical industries and services”, banning strikes by different unions in the same workplace, delaying strikes with a “right to respond” time for the employer, scrapping the law allowing unions to use a strike mandate at any point in the next six months, and compulsory cooling-off periods after each strike, lasting up to 60 days.

With a few token criticisms, Labour will allow all these measures to be implemented and attack any workers who oppose them.

Through such ruthless measures the working class is being made to pay for the massive bailouts of big business during the pandemic and the staggering costs of the imperialist proxy war in Ukraine waged by the NATO powers while the corporations continue to rake in record profits.

Only a combined industrial and political offensive by the working class can defeat the trade unions’ efforts to suppress the growing strike movement and prevent any political challenge to the Tory government and Labour’s right-wing policies.

To expose and defeat the political conspirators in Westminster, the Socialist Equality Party has called on workers to demand an immediate general election.

Our aim is to mobilise the working class in opposition to the ruthless assault on living standards and democratic rights; the relentless escalation of the war against Russia, even to the point of risking a nuclear war; and the criminal refusal to end a pandemic and allow mass infection and death; and to build support for a socialist alternative to capitalism. We are confident that such a fight by the British working class, challenging the right of the parties of big business to rule, will be an inspiration to the struggles of workers throughout the world.

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/BloombergUK/stat...52567121584134

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...source=twitter


Unions Could Ramp Up Pay Demands as UK Inflation Forecasts Rise

Britain at risk of more strikes as price pressures intensify Dockers continue walkout at UK’s largest container ship port

Britain is at risk of even more strikes as inflation forecasts soar, tempting unions to push for bigger pay rises.

Investment bank Citigroup said Monday that UK inflation is on track to rise above 18% next year for the first time in almost half a century.

Spiraling prices have triggered walkouts across the country, including on trains, buses and at ports crucial to the UK’s supply chains.

Workers want raises that at least match inflation, said Bobby Morton, national officer for ports at the Unite union, in a Bloomberg Radio interview Monday.

When asked about predictions that the price cap on energy bills could soar even higher, Morton said: “Well if it’s going to be more than £6,000, maybe I need to ask for more than the inflation rate.”

About 2,000 dockers at the Port of Felixstowe began an eight-day walkout on Sunday, halting the flow of goods through the UK’s largest gateway for containerized imports and exports. The Unite union, which represents dock workers at Felixstowe, is seeking an offer closer to the current retail price index level of inflation, at 12.3%.

Food banks

“People here live week to week,” said Steve Brown, 58, who drives a vehicle at Felixstowe docks and was sitting on the picket line Monday. “Some of them still have to use food banks even though they’re working.”

Brown said that a request for a 10% increase wasn’t unreasonable, and if inflation rose to 18%, he would expect the union to renegotiate any wage deal.

Felixstowe has offered 7.5% and a one-off bonus of £500.

Separately, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, whose members on the rail network went on strike last week, said that an 18% inflation rate would have a “devastating effect” on working people.

“The way to prevent this from happening is for pay packets to increase apace,” Manuel Cortes, the TSSA general secretary, said in an email. “Our union will be doing all it can to protect our members from this looming hardship.”

[Brigantia]

It's ironic that most of those sectors going on strike are on reasonable pay - they can rally to strike though as they have strong union membership.

Union membership is very low in the low-pay retail sector though; retail staff are having their hours cut, having to do far more jobs, are run ragged in addition to constant complaints from the public for the poor service (due to them having far too much to do) and they're also trying to keep tabs on known shoplifters. Staff who can afford to do so are leaving in droves. Without high union membership there will be no strikes in the retail sector.

My employer is a bank that doesn't even recognise any union and our pay is only just above the National Minimum Wage, so with inflation being as it is our wages have devalued and there's nothing we can do about it except go elsewhere.

Edit to add - I've just read the post below - it's the retail staff that will be getting all the grief about that!

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/AZmilitary1/stat...77418448650241

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-shelves.html

Militant unions unleash strikes at Felixstowe that 'will lead to empty supermarket shelves'

Fears are growing that the huge strikes which militant unions have unleashed at Felixstowe - Britain's biggest container port and gateway to global trade - will trigger widespread disruption to the UK supply chain, interrupt £700million worth of trade and lead to shortages until Christmas.

Around 1,900 members of Unite have begun eight days of industrial action at the port in Suffolk as hardline union bosses play chicken with the UK economy and potentially the living standards of millions of households in a dispute over pay.

The unprecedented strike at Felixstowe, which handles nearly half of the containerised freight entering the country, is estimated to disrupt hundreds of millions of pounds in trade and trigger goods shortages, including at supermarkets such as Asda, Tesco and Marks & Spencer.

Experts have warned that shortages could put pressure on the price of goods and fuel already-rampant inflation - perhaps even sending it through the roof by Christmas - as Britons face the most severe cost of living crisis in 60 years.

The strike is taking place from yesterday until Monday, August 29. Manufacturers such as Rolls Royce, Jaguar Land Rover and JCB are also likely to be affected due to delays bringing in parts and exporting goods.

As a result of the industrial action, Maersk, one of the world's largest container shipping groups, has already diverted three ships to alternative ports in Europe - and fears are growing that Britain could miss out on even more shipping to the Continent.

The firm is monitoring a further 11 vessels that could be affected by the strikes. But a port source said the strikes will be an 'inconvenience not a catastrophe', claiming that the supply chain was used to disruption following the pandemic.

It is the latest outbreak of industrial action to hit a growing number of sectors of the economy, as rail workers go on strike and teachers and NHS staff threaten mass walkouts unless they can secure higher pay amid the cost of living crisis - a demand which Boris Johnson's Government fears could trigger a wage-inflation spiral that would hurt households even more.

[Spiral]

Huge numbers of people on crap wages have no unions, they have no one to speak out for them, not that the gov are interested anyway, they have zero interest in UK citizens.


Actually that's BS, they have being doing their level best to kill them all off via the clot shots.

Meanwhile gazillions of fighting age males arrive over the channel with no passports or any thing else except brand new iphones .

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/sta...54947365163008

https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1562397822380417025

https://twitter.com/timperceval/stat...88449447645184

https://twitter.com/toluogunlesi/sta...36889864691712

[Ravenlocke]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...box=1661346910

Cost of living crisis UK: How to get the government £650 payment

Millions of households will be eligible for the support measure to help with soaring inflation.


Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a new package of support worth £15 billion to help the country through the cost of living crisis.

Among them, is a one-off payment of £650 for eight million families on benefits to ease the pressure of rising energy bills.

The sum will be applied to those on Universal Credit, Tax Credits, Pension Credit, and legacy benefits from July.

Those eligible won’t need to apply, but will receive two direct payments - the first in July and the second in autumn - from the Department of Work and Pensions straight to their bank accounts.

One-off payments of £300 to pensioners and £150 for those receiving disability benefits were also announced.

“We need to make sure that for those whom the struggle is too hard, and for those whom the risks are too great, they are supported,’’ Mr Sunak said in the House of Commons while unveiling the new support package.

The chancellor vowed to provide support to those across the country by revising his previous energy bill loan of £200 which he announced in March.

Cost of living: how to get help
The cost of living crisis has touched every corner of the UK, pushing families to the brink with rising food and fuel prices.
The Independent has asked experts to explain small ways you can stretch your money, including managing debt and obtaining items for free.
If you need to access a food bank, find your local council’s website, and then use the local authority’s site to locate your nearest centre.
The Trussell Trust, which runs many foodbanks, has a similar tool.
Citizens Advice provides free help to people in need. The organisation can help you find grants or benefits, or advise on rent, debt and budgeting.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.
“We are meeting our responsibility to provide the most help to those on the lowest incomes. I believe that is fair, and I’m confident the House will agree,” he told MPs.

“But there are many families who do not require state support in normal times, they are also facing challenging times. Is it fair to leave them unsupported? The answer must surely be no.

“While it is impossible for the government to solve every problem, we can and will ease the burden as we help the entire country through the worst of the crisis.”

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Anyone in the UK remember the 'Winter of Discontent', 1978-79?

Maybe a repeat is on the cards.

I recognise the chaos this will cause, and will have to put up with the inconveniences along with every one else, but having been a private sector worker for many years, and through a great deal of it suffering at the whim of greedy company owners, I have to throw in my lot with the workforce. I just hope it doesn't drag out, and all grievances can be resolved peacefully.

[avid]

Was talking to my neighbour today, we are all over 60, and struggling to manage our energy bills. We shut off all electric items except fridges/freezers, as ‘job lot’ cooking to freeze is economical. Freeze bread and only take slices out for toast. No central heating on unless desperate, wear cardigans/jumpers.
Buying cheapest stuff in supermarket, and our larders are almost bare, even though we have decent pensions which should make us okay. Barely use water as on a meter, hardly ever go out in my car, laundry done carefully, hang washing out to dry. No treats. We are the lucky ones….

[Ravenlocke]

The UK Government has made an ad about the deepening cost of living crisis and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.

(It’s a satire but quite true)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qyt3Op2dTc0

[jaybee]

.

The irrepressible George Galloway speaks on his mid week show about Britain 'going to the dogs' with no one at the helm to help the population - no political leadership from either of the two main parties - inflation steadily rising and predicted to be 18% in January... most of the population facing a dramatic fall in the quality of life - unrest growing on a scale not seen for many decades....

the observations on the general state of Britain start around 23 mins.... the video begins discussing Imran Khan and Pakistan, onto the Zelensky/Ukraine situation, then onto the invasion of the bogus refugees, 60% of them young male Albanians being put up in hotels at £80 a night... George pulls no punches and rips into the useless politicians who are not doing their job + are letting everyone down... providing no proper leadership what so ever... he touches on the uselessness of Western leaders and other related things - including the assassination of Darya Dugina -

(the quality of the video drops dramatically after a while and I think this is one of YouTube's little tricks that they use for commentary 'they' disapprove of... the sound and visuals goes out of synch but you can still follow it ok...) -

The Galloway Show #19

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=q4IvmKbBvSc

[norman]

An orchestrated train crash. The unions can always be relied upon when their controllers snap their fingers.

Instead of a steadily rising and focused outrage ( that could potentially carry a completely alternative government into power ), we're going to get a fractious mess that only the 'steady hands' of the establishment can make convincing promises to carry us through to Valhalla.

[Brigantia]

Posted by Mark (Star Mariner) (here)
Anyone in the UK remember the 'Winter of Discontent', 1978-79?

Maybe a repeat is on the cards.

I recognise the chaos this will cause, and will have to put up with the inconveniences along with every one else, but having been a private sector worker for many years, and through a great deal of it suffering at the whim of greedy company owners, I have to throw in my lot with the workforce. I just hope it doesn't drag out, and all grievances can be resolved peacefully.

Oh yes, I remember the Winter of Discontent very well; also the strikes in the early to mid-1970s when we had to spend the evenings by candlelight because there were power cuts. I remember a good telling-off for running round the room and nearly blowing out the candles with the draught that I caused.

The difference was that the populace was mainly the wartime generation. They knew how to live on less, had a lot of practical skills (there was a bread shortage, so my mum made soda bread) and budgeted carefully. A lot of those skills have been greatly eroded in subsequent generations so a lot of people now will not be able to cope with reduced supplies.

Norman - I agree that it's an orchestrated train crash by the unions. We've seen that with their lockstep with the Coronacircus and also "stand with Ukraine".

[norman]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
The UK Government has made an ad about the deepening cost of living crisis and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.

(It’s a satire but quite true)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qyt3Op2dTc0

In amongst the funnies she touched a nerve. I've heard of these "warm Bank" or "warm Room" places. Germany is talking about them too.

If that doesn't tell you we are going to get very cold this winter, what does.

But, here's the nerve that she touched.

Are these warm rooms going to be set up like some people expect FEMA camps will be in the US. That is, with strict conditions, like, in their case, no guns.

In our case, it's more likely to be Vaxxed only, Not last year's old model vaxxed, but the new model they are working on right now.

It's a congregational thing, the opposite of what they did in 2020. It's bound to be the most unnatural congregation you can imagine, else why would they do it. Expect 24 hour propaganda on screens all over the place and not a moment to think.

Oh, and check the ceilings and walls for gas nozzles

[Ravenlocke]

How can anyone still believe, accept this?


https://twitter.com/EspiritV1/status...21716577239040