Railway and postal staff, dockers too. Britain’s workers are striking in vast numbers as decades-high inflation erodes the value of wages at a record pace.
London’s underground railway, the Tube, will be hit by a strike Saturday, ahead of an eight-day stoppage starting Sunday by dockers at Felixstowe, Britain’s largest freight port that is situated in eastern England. The Bank of England has forecast inflation to top 13 percent this year, tipping the British economy into a deep and long-lasting recession.
Inflation has soared worldwide this year also on surging energy prices, fuelled by the invasion of Ukraine by major oil and gas producer Russia.Some proposed strikes planned for the British summer have been halted after unions and companies agreed pay deals at the eleventh hour. Telecoms giant BT will face its first stoppage in 35 years and walkouts have recently taken place or are soon to occur by Amazon warehouse staff, criminal lawyers and refuse collectors.
Regarding the part-privatised British railway sector, unions accuse Transport Secretary Grant Shapps of not helping to resolve the impasse.