A-Infos (en) UK, ACG: Workplace Struggles in 2024 - a discussion document at the recent Coordination Meeting (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

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 from 
its eyes.fought its way back into the public eye. For three months from 
the end of 2022 into the Spring of 2023, hardly a day passed without 
some form of strike action.. More often than not,, union leaders struck 
deals for inflation pay rises well below inflation - refusing to 
mobilise their members and take the action as far as it could have gone. 
---- However the Tories entered into these strikes saying there could be 
no negotiations or improvements in pay. Yet one by one, they reached 
settlements which went beyond what the government had been prepared to 
concede. 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 and 
Sadiq Khan caved in the face of action by railworkers, Khan suddenly 
discovering funds to pay them.

In the second half of 2023 there was a lull in struggle, although many 
local strikes broke out. Despite this, the cost of living crisis 
continues. The junior doctors engaged in an historic days long strike at 
the beginning of the year.

This cost of living crisis will force other workers to engage in further 
struggles over pay and conditions during this year.Already there are 
plans for further strikes in education and the NHS.

The present scenario

In the last four years, Britain has had four prime ministers and there 
has been a series of crises and scandals punctuating this period, -the 
Covid pandemic and how it was handled, the general awareness of 
corruption and nepotism within the political establishment, the crisis 
in Royal Mail, not just the postmasters but the threat to cut out 
Saturday deliveries and reduce deliveries to three days a week, the 
crumbling schools and other buildings, the deterioration of UK 
infrastructure, potholes failing to be addressed, the and the appalling 
state of rail transport with rising fares, the widening gap between rich 
and poor, a growing disillusionment with political parties and the 
monarchy, inequality in the UK higher than anywhere else in Europe.

Redundancies as a resort for UK capitalism, 638 workers at printing and 
business services company Communisis in Liverpool, Leeds and 
Cramlington, (Northumberland). 500 proposed job losses at Nationwide 
Building Society, threats to 2,800 jobs at Lloyds, 2,000 jobs at 
Barclays, 800 jobs at Metro Bank, and other job losses planned at Bank 
of Scotland and Halifax. Advisory services PwC recently announced job 
cuts of between 500-600, Deloitte plan 800 job losses, and similar 
redundancies 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 and 
Salesforce announced job cuts at the beginning of this year.Over the 
coming year, tech companies globally are expected to make layoffs, a 
trend begun last year. According to online publisher tech.co, most tech 
companies including Netflix, Microsoft, Twitter, Shopify, and Tesla lost 
staff in 2023. Amazon and Salesforce have begun the new year with 
redundancies. British Telecom announced it would cut its workforce by 
55,000 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 raised 
interest rates to 5.25% to attempt to depress wage demands. This had an 
effect on the economy, aiding slowdown and leading to a fall in hiring 
permanent staff, and leading to redundancies, as above.

As a result, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 % at the beginning of 
December, that is, 1.4 million unemployed, an increase of 13,000 from 
previous quarter and of 206,000 from the previous year. The effects of 
the Covid pandemic contributed an increase of 77,000 out of work. 
Unemployment is highest amongst the young, those between 16-24.

Social media and AI

The increasing rise of social media has hit newspaper publishing and 
their advertising revenue hard.The publishing business Reach, who own 
the Mirror, Express and Daily Star, and many local papers, laid off 450 
journalists.

Online shopping has forced the collapse of many high street stores, 
including Debenhams and Wilco. John Lewis is considering cutting 11,000 
jobs.

Computer technology, including AI, have been used to cut jobs, instead 
of cutting working hours , as could be the case.

An incoming Labour government

A large part of the British ruling class is now looking to a Starmer 
government to act as a social fire brigade and extinguish working class 
revolt. In line with this, they are expecting the leadership of the 
trade unions to aid this incoming government and quash strike action.

However, the experiences of the past year or so , show that the working 
class is far more willing to take action than it done under the last 
Blair and Brown administrations. We saw that most of the strikes of the 
last year or so only won limited concessions, but despite this, more and 
more workers are seeing that strikes and collective action in general 
are effective. Workplace militancy is once again back on the agenda.

Coupled with this, many working class people no longer see Labour as 
their party. It is only a deep disgust with the Tories and the collapse 
of the Conservative vote, that will lead to a Labour victory, and then 
probably on a low turnout.

Workplace struggle cannot be seen in isolation. Even if the trade union 
bureaucrats stymie national strike action, local strikes will continue. 
Alongside this comes struggles in the neighbourhood against 
gentrification, social cleansing and increase in the number of high rise 
buildings, an increasing tempo of actions around the environment, and a 
whole host of other struggles in reaction to the social malaise, like 
campaigns around free transport etc. Coupled with this are the massive 
turnouts around Gaza. There is an orchestrated campaign now emanating 
from a section of the ruling class, including amongst the NATO 
leadership and militarists, hyping up war fever including calls for 
conscription. There will be a reaction to this. In fact, this 
orchestrated campaign is itself a reaction to the massive anti-war 
protests not just here but globally.The ACG, with its consistent 
anti-war and internationalist positions and propaganda, is well placed 
to take advantage of this and should immediately prioritise 
antimilitarism and the building of campaigns against conscription.

Even before the coming election, there may well be a new wave of 
strikes, including against the new Minimum Service Legislation (MSL) if 
it 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 collective 
action. 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 that 
opposition.

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 E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en