British public sector employees announced a series of strikes in April in several administrations, in particular to demand better wages in the face of the crisis in the cost of living, which will culminate at the end of the month with a “total”
walkout
.
Employees of the administration responsible for issuing passports will notably be on strike for 5 weeks in several cities of the country from Monday, in the middle of the Easter holidays, recalled Tuesday in a press release PCS, the first union in the public sector.
On April 28, "
more than 130,000 members of the PCS will be on strike (...) to increase pressure on the government on the issue of wages, pensions and job security
", indicated the union in a another press release published on Monday evening.
The strikes planned throughout April will also concern employees of the British Museum and the British Library, the national roads service, driving license inspectors and border police.
“
Our members will not back down in this conflict.
Ministers must take note that we are stepping up our action and that they must resolve the dispute by putting money on the table
,” assured PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka, quoted in the press release.
Better wages and working conditions
The United Kingdom has been rocked for months by repeated strikes in many sectors for better wages, in the face of price increases that exceed 10%.
Inflation rebounded in February, to 10.4% over one year.
In mid-March, hundreds of thousands of people, teachers, London Underground drivers, doctors, civil servants, were on strike in the United Kingdom, the very day the Conservative government presented its budget.
A 10-day pay strike, starting Friday, by security staff at London's Heathrow airport led British Airways to announce the cancellation of several hundred flights on Monday.
Oil and gas companies operating on the UK continental shelf are also facing a series of worker strikes demanding better pay and working conditions.
An offer of wage increases in health, currently put to a vote by their members by the unions, could end several months of strikes in the sector, while teachers could on the contrary announce new walkouts after an offer deemed "
insulting
" by their union NEU.
The RMT union, largely a driving force in the rail strikes in the United Kingdom, for its part announced on Wednesday that it would suspend a strike scheduled for March 30 and April 1, as part of its negotiations with rail operators.
