Since the pandemic and cost of living crisis hit, the UK’s working people have been demanding better. Staff in industries right across the economy – such as healthcare, rail travel and education – walked out of their workplaces to strike for better conditions and pay that keeps pace with inflation.
For some, last year was the most significant period of industrial action in memory. Britain has had enough, and the received idea of unions as exclusively white, middle aged and male is changing.
Now the government is trying to introduce ‘anti-strike’ legislation in the form of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which would force workers in public sectors to maintain a skeleton staff and keep services going during strikes.
Paul Nowak, general secretary for the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which supports more than 5.5 million people across 48 member unions, spoke
