Explainer-in-brief: The domino effect driving unions to strike over pay
As this week begins, we come back to the railways with a sigh of relief. Yet the rail strikes of last week are unlikely to be a one-off, as RMT leader Mick Lynch has already warned more could come if the talks between the unions and the rail bosses keep on failing.
Someplace else in the world of transport, 700 British Airways workers at Heathrow Airport have voted to strike over pay this summer. Strikes will be taking place in the courts too, starting today. Criminal barristers are walking out as the government refuses to increase their fees by 15 per cent for legal aid.
Teachers and nurses are likely to get balloted if they don’t get the pay rises they’re asking for, and could take industrial action in autumn. This domino effect is the result of an increasing dissatisfaction with the government’s refusal to increase salaries amidst a biting cost-of-living crisis.