Rail workers in Great Britain began a five-day strike today (Tuesday), which is expected to disrupt the way to work and back for millions of passengers.
Britain is witnessing the most turbulent period of labor organizing since Margaret Thatcher took office as Prime Minister in the 1980s.
Rising inflation, which reached 10.7% in November, and a decade of shuffling wage increases, left many workers in financial distress.
Train strikes in recent months are disrupting the network, while the nurses, airport workers, paramedics and postal workers have also joined the strike demanding a wage increase.
Teachers are expected to go on strike in Scotland next week.
"Due to the strikes, train services will be significantly reduced until Sunday, January 8," Network Rail said.
"The trains will be busier than usual, will start operations later than usual and finish earlier than usual. In some areas there will be no train traffic at all."
Nurses' strike (Photo: Reuters)
Subway strike (Photo: Reuters)
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The British government claims that it is unable to give a raise to public sector workers, and this means that the strikes are likely to continue.
A Yougov poll from December found that two-thirds of Britons support the nurses' strike.
Most of those surveyed said that the government is to blame for the disruptions, and if these continue in 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will suffer for it.
Mick Lynch, head of the RMT rail union, said the government did not seem to care about the strikes.
"All parties involved know what needs to be done to reach a settlement, but the government is blocking it," he told the BBC.
Transportation Minister Mark Harper told "Times Radio" that "the only way to solve the issue is for the unions and the workers to come to the negotiating table instead of the streets, and that's what I want to see."
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