In 2022-3, the UK witnessed the biggest strike wave for over 30 years.The working class woke from its slumber and began to rub the sleep fromits eyes.fought its way back into the public eye. For three months fromthe end of 2022 into the Spring of 2023, hardly a day passed withoutsome form of strike action.. More often than not,, union leaders struckdeals for inflation pay rises well below inflation - refusing tomobilise their members and take the action as far as it could have gone.---- However the Tories entered into these strikes saying there could beno negotiations or improvements in pay. Yet one by one, they reachedsettlements which went beyond what the government had been prepared toconcede. This has not passed unnoticed among workers.There were some local victories, like at Ash Field Academy in Leicester,and National Express in the West Midlands. Transport for London andSadiq Khan caved in the face of action by railworkers, Khan suddenlydiscovering funds to pay them.In the second half of 2023 there was a lull in struggle, although manylocal strikes broke out. Despite this, the cost of living crisiscontinues. The junior doctors engaged in an historic days long strike atthe beginning of the year.This cost of living crisis will force other workers to engage in furtherstruggles over pay and conditions during this year.Already there areplans for further strikes in education and the NHS.The present scenarioIn the last four years, Britain has had four prime ministers and therehas been a series of crises and scandals punctuating this period, -theCovid pandemic and how it was handled, the general awareness ofcorruption and nepotism within the political establishment, the crisisin Royal Mail, not just the postmasters but the threat to cut outSaturday deliveries and reduce deliveries to three days a week, thecrumbling schools and other buildings, the deterioration of UKinfrastructure, potholes failing to be addressed, the and the appallingstate of rail transport with rising fares, the widening gap between richand poor, a growing disillusionment with political parties and themonarchy, inequality in the UK higher than anywhere else in Europe.Redundancies as a resort for UK capitalism, 638 workers at printing andbusiness services company Communisis in Liverpool, Leeds andCramlington, (Northumberland). 500 proposed job losses at NationwideBuilding Society, threats to 2,800 jobs at Lloyds, 2,000 jobs atBarclays, 800 jobs at Metro Bank, and other job losses planned at Bankof Scotland and Halifax. Advisory services PwC recently announced jobcuts of between 500-600, Deloitte plan 800 job losses, and similarredundancies are happening with EY and KPMG.Tech companies too, which include Netflix, Microsoft, X (Twitter)Shopify and Tesla already made big job cuts in 2023, whilst Amazon andSalesforce announced job cuts at the beginning of this year.Over thecoming year, tech companies globally are expected to make layoffs, atrend begun last year. According to online publisher tech.co, most techcompanies including Netflix, Microsoft, Twitter, Shopify, and Tesla loststaff in 2023. Amazon and Salesforce have begun the new year withredundancies. British Telecom announced it would cut its workforce by55,000 or more than 40% by 2030.Employers are looking to cut costs and increase profits for shareholders.In response to the strike wave of 2022/23 the Bank of England raisedinterest rates to 5.25% to attempt to depress wage demands. This had aneffect on the economy, aiding slowdown and leading to a fall in hiringpermanent staff, and leading to redundancies, as above.As a result, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 % at the beginning ofDecember, that is, 1.4 million unemployed, an increase of 13,000 fromprevious quarter and of 206,000 from the previous year. The effects ofthe Covid pandemic contributed an increase of 77,000 out of work.Unemployment is highest amongst the young, those between 16-24.Social media and AIThe increasing rise of social media has hit newspaper publishing andtheir advertising revenue hard.The publishing business Reach, who ownthe Mirror, Express and Daily Star, and many local papers, laid off 450journalists.Online shopping has forced the collapse of many high street stores,including Debenhams and Wilco. John Lewis is considering cutting 11,000jobs.Computer technology, including AI, have been used to cut jobs, insteadof cutting working hours , as could be the case.An incoming Labour governmentA large part of the British ruling class is now looking to a Starmergovernment to act as a social fire brigade and extinguish working classrevolt. In line with this, they are expecting the leadership of thetrade unions to aid this incoming government and quash strike action.However, the experiences of the past year or so , show that the workingclass is far more willing to take action than it done under the lastBlair and Brown administrations. We saw that most of the strikes of thelast year or so only won limited concessions, but despite this, more andmore workers are seeing that strikes and collective action in generalare effective. Workplace militancy is once again back on the agenda.Coupled with this, many working class people no longer see Labour astheir party. It is only a deep disgust with the Tories and the collapseof the Conservative vote, that will lead to a Labour victory, and thenprobably on a low turnout.Workplace struggle cannot be seen in isolation. Even if the trade unionbureaucrats stymie national strike action, local strikes will continue.Alongside this comes struggles in the neighbourhood againstgentrification, social cleansing and increase in the number of high risebuildings, an increasing tempo of actions around the environment, and awhole host of other struggles in reaction to the social malaise, likecampaigns around free transport etc. Coupled with this are the massiveturnouts around Gaza. There is an orchestrated campaign now emanatingfrom a section of the ruling class, including amongst the NATOleadership and militarists, hyping up war fever including calls forconscription. There will be a reaction to this. In fact, thisorchestrated campaign is itself a reaction to the massive anti-warprotests not just here but globally.The ACG, with its consistentanti-war and internationalist positions and propaganda, is well placedto take advantage of this and should immediately prioritiseantimilitarism and the building of campaigns against conscription.Even before the coming election, there may well be a new wave ofstrikes, including against the new Minimum Service Legislation (MSL) ifit is used against workers threatening to strike.Whatever happens this year, if a government led by Starmer is elected,it will face a working class that has begun to rediscover collectiveaction. Labour's avowal of fiscal austerity will act to keep wages down,and this will bring resistance. It is up to us to help maximise thatopposition.https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2024/02/12/workplace-struggles-in-2024/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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