We'll *Do Something" about the strikes

Our problem today are very much tied to Thatcher our strategic industries were destroyed, Coal, Steel, Shipbuilding and didn’t replace them with anything else. Council houses were sold off cheap and not replaced so we have progressive housing shortage.

Everything was done for short term gain, with no thought for the future, successive governments were no different, then 3 large setbacks, Brexit, Covid and Ukraine mean we have a very hard road to any kind of recovery. Internationally our strength is measure in exchange rate, it has fallen from over $2.50 to $1.20 currently.

We must congratulate our polititians for that!.

Just been talking to someone in the TA who pointed out that for ambulance and nursing duties, they would need to use qualified soldiers. The vast majority of medical core TAs are drawn from the NHS, so unlikely that striking staff would be called in to replace striking (I.e. themselves) staff. Regardless, there are far fewer medic soldiers than NHS staff, so not clear how that would work.

Callistemon21

^Nah, she's nothing to be blamed for^ ....

Well, not the Three Day Week or Winter of Discontent anyway!

I agreed with you about that. madeline45's memory is a bit shaky...

ALANaV

Those employed in the UK may support the strikes, BUT they tend to forget the extra money all the unions are demanding will come from THEM paying much much higher taxes .....then going on strike again against the soaring cost of living ......no answer ............

Does it never occur to you that pay increases should come out of the profits that are the result of the worker's input? Profits that wouldn't happen if it weren't for them?

Nah, she's nothing to be blamed for ....

Well, not the Three Day Week or Winter of Discontent anyway!

Callistemon21

madeleine45

I remember living through Maggie Thatchers 3 day week and winter of discontent. It looks as though we will get more of the same, but it feels more difficult personally, not just the lack of funds but with this weather feel more vunerable with the situation with the ambulance and nhs. Dont want to risk a fall or need an ambulance but cannot stay stuck inside all the time, and need to buy basics in any case. Dont blame the strikers given the situation . Just have to take each day and fingers crossed that I can get some hot water on monday,

Oh dear, poor Margaret Thatcher!! 😂 she might be to blame for some things but not these.

The Three Day Week was during Ted Heath's premiership.
The Winter of Discontent was when James Callaghan was Prime Minister.

But never mind, let's blame Maggie!

Agreed.

Thatcher only increased unemployment to 3million, presided over increased inflation, sold off public utilities (with results we're seeing now with rivers and beaches covered with sewage...), closed down heavy industries without making plans to develop alternative sources of employment and provoked the poll tax riots. Perpetrated the myth that a nation's economy is like a households and that taxes paid for everything...

Nah, she's nothing to be blamed for....

madeleine45

I remember living through Maggie Thatchers 3 day week and winter of discontent. It looks as though we will get more of the same, but it feels more difficult personally, not just the lack of funds but with this weather feel more vunerable with the situation with the ambulance and nhs. Dont want to risk a fall or need an ambulance but cannot stay stuck inside all the time, and need to buy basics in any case. Dont blame the strikers given the situation . Just have to take each day and fingers crossed that I can get some hot water on monday,

Oh dear, poor Margaret Thatcher!! 😂 she might be to blame for some things but not these.

The Three Day Week was during Ted Heath's premiership.
The Winter of Discontent was when James Callaghan was Prime Minister.

But never mind, let's blame Maggie!

I remember living through Maggie Thatchers 3 day week and winter of discontent. It looks as though we will get more of the same, but it feels more difficult personally, not just the lack of funds but with this weather feel more vunerable with the situation with the ambulance and nhs. Dont want to risk a fall or need an ambulance but cannot stay stuck inside all the time, and need to buy basics in any case. Dont blame the strikers given the situation . Just have to take each day and fingers crossed that I can get some hot water on monday,

Shinamae, you are spot on that carers are being left out of all this. The reason is that so many are working for private firms under contract to the local authorities. They are disgracefully poorly paid and not unionised. So of course there is a shortage which means that when a patient is well enough to be discharged from hospital, there are not the carers available to provide the necessary care package, resulting in bed-blocking.
This is a scandal which no-one is addressing. Pay carers properly and the pressure on hospital staff would be reduced.

We never see MP’s pay pegged so far below inflation do we? There is always enough money to pay shareholders and CEOs.
Restrctions on bankers bonuses have been lifted. The wealthy still avoid tax with offshore accounts. There IS enough money - it is just thst the people we all depend on are not considered worthy enough for decent wages.
Our doctors’ practice lost a skilled and qualfied nurse because she could earn more money at Tesco!

The unions are made up of workers . The workers balloted to strike. The unions cannot call a strike without the members voting in favour.

Those employed in the UK may support the strikes, BUT they tend to forget the extra money all the unions are demanding will come from THEM paying much much higher taxes .....then going on strike again against the soaring cost of living ......no answer ............

Gabrielle56

Guilty? Why? My working life was stuffed with mysogyny/ granite ceilings/ sexism/ loss of rank due to female issues/ embarrassing interrogation about my periods and reproductive intentions?/ Sackings due to refusal to sh*gbthe revolting boss(es)!!!! Guilty? No sodding way! I EARNED my less than a blokes pension! When the moaners have worked non stop for 42 years THEN they can have a say! I've got tights older than the whingers wanting to " retire" at 45!!!!

AND I've lost £54k+ on the whim of the conservatives being greedy and making me wait another six years than what I was promised and what I PAID FOR!!!!

Guilty? Why? My working life was stuffed with mysogyny/ granite ceilings/ sexism/ loss of rank due to female issues/ embarrassing interrogation about my periods and reproductive intentions?/ Sackings due to refusal to sh*gbthe revolting boss(es)!!!! Guilty? No sodding way! I EARNED my less than a blokes pension! When the moaners have worked non stop for 42 years THEN they can have a say! I've got tights older than the whingers wanting to " retire" at 45!!!!

TiggyW

Is anyone else feeling guilty that we pensioners are getting a pay rise without having to go on strike for it?! 🤔

Still waiting for my pension

Is anyone else feeling guilty that we pensioners are getting a pay rise without having to go on strike for it?! 🤔

Volver
Agree with all your comments. I'm married to a railway worker, not involved in the action this time round, but obviously we know the back story and support them fully.
People need to remember that nobody strikes for the hell of it and the full story behind the strike action is never reported by the mainstream media.

Casdon

vampirequeen

We can change what the government did in the past. We simply renationalise utilities and transport, and close the loopholes that allow the very rich and large companies to avoid paying tax.

We can’t change the past, we can change the future. Unfortunately, not ‘simply’. It will take as long to put right the wrongs of the last twelve years as it took to create them

It is simple. These privatised companies are failing. If/When a utilities/transport company goes bust, instead of spending £billions bailing them out, we simply say, "You're bust and as such your stocks are valueless." Then we take it over and run it as a nationalised company and, as there are no shareholders to pay dividends to, the prices will be cheaper. Most people will go to the cheapest provider and the snowball effect will start.

MyDH ex cop and my DS in job now,have NEVER been allowed to strike! In fact they were never even protected by health and safety laws either!! Only in very late 80/90s were they included! Before that it was " tough " if you came a cropper as a copper!!
After all that , the result is a decimated force filled with mamby pambies who don't want to do nights/ weekends/ don't like wearing uniform footwear/ can't run for toffee ! You wouldn't believe the cr4p allowed in nowadays! All because the job does NOT. Attract decent hard working career people anymore. And no I don't think emergency services should be able to strike,..........unless they're so badly served that it's the ONLY option! ...case rested all those who keep country running/ dockers/ refuse collection/ emergency svcs/ should be the ones paid the big bucks to " attract the very best and keep the talent " as is trudged out when justifying the obscene salaries of those talentless greedy b**gers!

A close relative called me in a panic because his usually quiet train was standing room only , he is autistic and on the verge of a major meltdown. There was nobody to help , no guard on the train and when he got off at the next stop simply to escape there were no station staff. Trying to get him some assistance was impossible , the rail company telephone lines weren’t being answered so I had to call the transport police. Their response took over an hour.
Managing that situation was fraught .
Now think of the risks of travelling alone when such deficiencies become the norm. The government media machine isn’t telling the truth about the reasons for the strike. Conditions of service and passenger safety should be a priority . Saying the strikes are just about pay is terribly misleading but par for the course with this lot in power.

volver and Blondiescot are on the right lines.

The Government could if they wanted to sort out many of these strikes by just being a bit more realistic and less ideological about bloody profit for their damn mates. But of course they won’t and we will all suffer in the short and medium term until they simply have to have a general election when, hopefully, a more sensible and measured approach might allow a decent Government to start to put right the very serious errors of Cameron, Johnson, Truss and Sunak. (In my opinion May was shafted by her own party)

vampirequeen

We can change what the government did in the past. We simply renationalise utilities and transport, and close the loopholes that allow the very rich and large companies to avoid paying tax.

We can’t change the past, we can change the future. Unfortunately, not ‘simply’. It will take as long to put right the wrongs of the last twelve years as it took to create them

GrannyGravy13

This will be unpopular but I do not think emergency services should be allowed to strike.

I am not sure what the solution is though.

Everybody has the right to strike, but you seem to be a little confused as to what actually happens when hospital staff, police, firemen or ambulance staff strike.

Obviously none of these people can all go on strike - casualty and intensive care wards are still staffed, ambulances still sent out and police and firemen are working too. Strikes for these people are either a matter of "Work to rule" or of a skeleton staff providing the most needed services and anything that can safely (meaning you won't die if told to wait your turn) will have to do so.

Oh, and midwives will be working too, as you cannot tell a child who has decided that now is the right time to be born, "Just hang on in there a day or too, love."

At the opposite end of life there may well be difficulties, not on attending the dying, but on the funeral arrangements, but these days the dead don't seem to object to waiting an unreasonable amount of time for their obsequies-

We can change what the government did in the past. We simply renationalise utilities and transport, and close the loopholes that allow the very rich and large companies to avoid paying tax.

We can’t change what the government did in the past but we do need to find a way forward to ensure that emergency services feel valued again and are paid a living wage. I think the gov giving up some of their privileges - eg subsidised food, then this would be a good start.