Major events
Today’s strike, in numbers
Archie Bland
The scale of the strike
475,000 Estimated number of workers It is expected to go on strike on Wednesday – The biggest day of industrial action for more than a decade. 200,000 teachers – Sally Weale has a useful explainer about school closures here – and 100,000 civil servants, including Border Force personnel, will join university lecturers, security guards and train drivers when they walk out today. Although the disruption is significant, it seems to fall short of a “de facto general strike”. As claimed by the government.
467,000 The estimated total number of work days lost to strike action by 197,000 workers in November, According to the Office for National Statistics – The most recent set of full-month statistics available.
1 m Association estimation The number of work days lost in December, the worst one-month disruption since 1989.
£1.7 billion A low estimate of the total direct and indirect cost of strikes to UK GDP in the eight months to January this year, according to Analysis by the Center for Economics and Business Research. This is around 0.1% of the UK’s expected GDP over the same period, with the value of the UK economy as a whole standing at around £2.5 trillion.
The effect of real pay cuts
33% Growth in real wages – the value of wages after inflation is factored in for all workers between 1970 and 2007, according to Sankalp Foundation.
4.3% Last July, a Guardian analysis of ONS data showed that public sector pay fell in real terms between 2009 and 2022.
3% Real wages fall in 2022, the biggest drop since 1977; According to the Trade Union Congress. Public sector pay has been the worst affected, with the average key worker £180 a month worse than a year ago. In the three months to November, private sector wage growth adjusted for inflation was 7.2%, compared to 3.3% in the public sector. This was against the headline inflation rate of 10.7% in January, amounting to a real-terms cut for both groups.
Public opinion on the strike
34% 26% of people say unions play a negative role in society in November In the same YouGov poll in June. In November, 35% said they played a positive role, against 32% in June, with the number either not knowing or unions neither positive nor negative falling.
28% The proportion of unions playing a negative role In the same poll Held this month – a 6% decline. Meanwhile, the proportion of those who play a positive role has increased by two points to 34 percent.
65% The proportion of people who strongly or “somewhat” supported striking nurses in the January poll. Ambulance workers, firefighters, teachers and postal workers all enjoy the majority of public support after excluding the “don’t know”. Transport is less popular for driving examiners, baggage handlers, London workers and university staff. YouGov says The answers are strongly related to the extent to which respondents believe that each group contributes to society, but do not appear to be related to the perceived level of disruption caused.
The general secretary of the UK Trade Union Congress said he hoped the government would take the strike seriously and “listen to the voice of working people”.
Speaking to Sky News, Paul NovakAdded:
I hope any employer has the good grace and sense to listen to an employee when the employee tells them they have a problem, and there clearly is a problem.
Earlier this morning, Education Secretary Dr Gillian Keegan He said, ‘Our aim this year is to get rid of the problem of inflation.
Speaking to Times Radio Keegan She said she was “disappointed” that the strike by teachers in England and Wales had gone ahead.
Keegan He said industrial action was unnecessary as discussions with the union were ongoing.
I am disappointed that it has come to this, that the unions have made this decision. This is not a last resort. We are still in discussions. Obviously there is a lot of strike action today but this strike was not necessary to go ahead.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of today’s strike involving half a million people – the single biggest day of UK industrial action for more than a decade.
The coordinated series of strikes includes teachers, civil servants, Border Force personnel and train drivers. Unions said talks to end the strike were “going backwards” and the government warned people to prepare for “significant disruption”.
See who’s hitting today:
Transportation – Aslef and RMT train drivers are on strike, disrupting services across the country
higher education – University staff at 120 universities that are members of the University and College Union (UCU) begin 18 days of strike action in February and March.
Education – Both National Education Union (NEU) teachers are on strike in England and Wales; And in Scotland, teachers who are members of the Educational Institute (EIS) in Clackmannanshire and Aberdeen continue to strike.
Civil Service – More than one lakh civil servants are on strike in 124 government departments