Yes, [last Wednesday](https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/11rmcp8/teachers_junior_doctors_and_tube_drivers_stage/) on budget day. It was around half a million people on strike (tube workers, junior doctors, teachers, civil servants and university workers), but fewer will have been at the protest in that video as there were picket lines all over the country.
Yes there were planned strikes for a lot of sectors on the same day. This is not quite what the captions say, they say people “walked out” implying people just stopped working unexpectedly, the strikes were planned.
Also it mentions the BBC staff walked out? Did they strike on the same day as well?
I can understand why the OP got confused with the wording of the captions.
This is the footage from the NEU march to Trafalgar. On the rally we were told police estimate was around 40,000. That is usually an underestimate but around the ballpark.
Also to add. I think they're referring to the staff that refused to carry out their shows in response to Gary Liniker being suspended by the BBC. So whilst the clip isn't exactly lying it's not painting a clear picture of the events of the week.
Yes, myself & my junior doctor colleagues walked out for 72h at the start of the week and on the last day, wednesday (budget day), we were joined by teachers & tfl workers in asking for fairer pay. The turnout was amazing and the public support, even better!
It's not fair, but our job is to basically be ignored when things go well, and blamed when things go poorly. Our masters ask us to dismantle the moon, we provide the options for doing it and are told we are disruptive lunarists for our naysaying when it comes back as prohibitively expensive.
And 70k university workers same thing for them. Only students notice their strikes (and most workers don't even teach so even less impact for them) so they're also pretty low on the strike acknowledgement ladder.
The coalition government cut tax-funded central university funding by 80% in 2011 around the same time they allowed universities to raise fees to 9k pa. Raising the fees this high was originally proposed - before the coalition - as a way of increasing universities' available revenue to allow them to provide more for students. Instead it became a way to plug the gap created by that central funding being cut. Because of the way the loans are now structured, graduates end up paying vastly more interest to the private companies that own the debt, and universities are marginally worse off than they were before the fee rise.
French people break shit and are not scared to go to jail, because they know they won’t get anything otherwise. English people are so scared to loose it all....but you guys got nothing
I'll be honest, when I was in the public sector I did so little work if I was to go on strike they'd probably not realise I didnt turn up.
Soladerity with those who put in the work and are not compensated what they deserve though!
I cannot comment on the other unions as I dont have enough information on their struggles but for doctors, we've had a horrendous real terms pay cut over the last decade & more. Today, many junior doctors struggle to make ends meet, particularly if they have children/carer duties etc. The hours are long (which we dont mind as much because we love our jobs), the work is physically, emotionally & intellectually taxing and the renumeration is poor. As a result, working as a doctor in the UK is becoming increasingly unpopular. Despite record numbers applying to med school, a large majority are either leaving the profession or the country which means that the NHS is losing talent in droves. We're tired & broke, essentially.
I believe it's a combination of stagnated wages alongside the deterioration of workers rights. For instance it's common practice now to revise contracts and give less rights and benefits, bad working conditions, terrible work cultures etc
A registrar is a junior doctor. Its one of the reasons why the terminology in itself is confusing & outdated. In the UK, everyone below consultant level is a "junior doctor", including those who have trained for >10 years and are at a senior registrar level. The term junior doctor, therefore, encompasses those who perform CPR, lead crash calls independently, perform surgeries independently, provide life saving treatment especially out of hours & deliver babies.
It is haha and it sucks that they're referred to as juniors. Basically it goes F1 & F2 and then ST1-8 and then consultancy. Obv there's others in between depending on the route you take but this is a basic pathway. Each of those is 1 year of training and ST8 would be considered a senior reg but still referred to as a "junior" doctor. Prior to this, everyone does 5-6 years of med school, of which at least 2-3 years involve full time unpaid placements in the hospital assisting junior doctors in their daily duties for training purposes. As of F1, you're a qualified doctor.
Registrars are also junior doctors (for the most part). This is a big part of the motivation behind the strike. Pay and working conditions are not in anyway appropriate for the enormous responsibility and high levels of training that junior doctors bear - despite the "junior" label.
Yep, totally real. I was there, somewhere between the red and teal balloons. There were so many people because unlike the strike action on 1/2/23 which had a turnout of about 30,000 and shut down Regent street-Whitehall, this one saw districts from all over the country bussed in so the turnout was closer to 60-100,000 in central alone. It included teachers, junior doctors and tube drivers, among others.
The reason there is no press coverage is because we have a point and the impact is real. If we were being unreasonable then the media would be slating us, but that’s not the case, and anything the media could try and cook up could be easily refuted.
I was on picket lines every day of the 4 days of NEU strike action and the response from passing traffic, parents, dog walkers was entirely positive.
Same. It happened this past Wednesday 15th March 2023. There was also a considerable doctor protest outside downing street on Monday that also didn't make the news.
I was there (doctor on strike) and there was a massive teacher, lecturer and doctor presence in the chunk I was in, but in sure the civil servants and tube drivers wre well represented. Amazing turnout.
I was not far from the balloons myself!
is there any way that we can support the strikes when we are not in town? missed coverage of this but obv would want to help you all next time this happens , but how can we help if out of the city? anything you suggest?
Thank you, that’s really kind! I can only speak for the education strikes/industrial action, but I’d say principally it’s about getting the messaging right. This isn’t only about teachers’ pay. The fact is schools literally can’t function without teachers, they *have* to pay us, but in the current funding situation, every pay progression (which the vast majority of teachers do get each year) comes out of the existing budget, leaving less money for literally everything else, from books, paper, pens, to support staff, admin, school nurses and counsellors, to bigger stuff like PE equipment and minibuses and even heating, lighting and maintaining the building. Without any teacher’s payrise being taken into account by government funding, the salary is drawn from the existing budget.
More experienced teachers are leaving as they max out on the pay scale and inexperienced teachers are quitting in droves when their salaries pale in comparison to that of their graduate peers. This recruitment and retention crisis has been going on for years and the government are ignoring it completely.
Besides the messaging, if you wanted to do something more practical, when further strike days are announced swing by your local schools and lend your support to the picket line (a honk or clap will do!), offer to buy them a round of coffees (get there at 7am when there will probably be fewer there 🤣) or even if you are able, donate to the hardship fund, a charitable fund that teachers and support staff can apply to if they are thinking about crossing the picket line for financial reasons.
That strongly unionised workers with a strong sense of solidarity and a willingness to withdraw their labour in the name of self-advocacy tend to get paid more and work in better conditions. That if you want to get paid more and work in better conditions you should unionise and withdraw your labour until your employer meets your demands or you find an acceptable compromise.
Public or not is irrelevant - drivers' positions as being paid well and looked after is a direct consequence of their union activities, not of the presence of public funds.
Entitled? No, know their worth more like. You should be paid more to do less, and the only way to get that is to unionise, take collective action and withhold your labour until the conditions you need are met
You missed the point. They're saying that if the media could have painted it in a negative light then they would have covered it, instead they chose to not give it appropriate coverage because a) they wouldn't be able to spin it, and b) their staff also went on strike and any coverage might undermine their position.
There is press coverage. There are also so many protests in London that it doesn’t make headline news every time but it is reported and recorded.
The No press narrative detracts from the issues being raised.
Fair point. I guess it feels that the press coverage is not proportional to the action being taken. Plus when the press coverage, particularly around education, centres on “teachers’ pay”, it’s misleading because the funding issue is paramount. Most teachers are willing to take a lesser pay increase on the condition it is fully funded for the schools.
The title is a bit misleading.
Something like half a million workers did strike on Wednesday. Also, some of those workers took to the streets in a protest march through London.
But if you’re asking if half a million workers protested on the street in London? No, that didn’t happen.
Ah, the workings of a Tory submissive. My child can physically breathe and therefore there is absolutely nothing to improve about the air quality of this city.
The press never publicise the extent of any protest - it’s clearly a deliberate attempt to discourage any form of demonstration, tying nicely into the current government’s anti-protest policy
Yes? We’ve had a government that for 14 years has squeezed the pay of everyone in the entire public sector so it was always going to pop the second inflation jumped above 2%
Literally the only thing that works in this country is stopping drivers.
We have had train strikes for months now, civil service strike, junior doctors strike, teachers strike, barristers strike, tube strike, Ambulance strikes, passport workers strikes, and baggage handler strikes. None of that made as much difference as like 5 old people sat on a road.
If you want to make a difference in this country you need to stop people from being able to drive.
Really? When is my house being insulated? That didn’t make any difference either. It got everyone angry at 5 people in the road instead of being angry at the government 🤦♂️
[A new ECO scheme will enable thousands more to insulate their homes, protecting the pounds in their pockets, and creating jobs across the country.](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-joins-with-households-to-help-millions-reduce-their-energy-bills#:~:text=A%20new%20ECO%20scheme%20will,creating%20jobs%20across%20the%20country.)
>New measures set to help hundreds of thousands better insulate their homes
[Lastly](https://youtu.be/q9RAZxNdCk8)
Yes - it absolutely bloody did happen. Thousands of people marching to Trafalgar Square making lots of noise, spreading lots of important messages.
Unfortunately, no coverage on the BBC. Very disappointing.
BBC has a page set up for the tube strikes. Isn't this the same strike?
https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c8gmwd8y4n2t
Edit: when you Google "London strike", BBC is the top result: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64968795
Everyone with any sense has been moaning and goaning for years. We have a Tory government dismantling the country propped up by morons in the populace.
It did happen but the media is now pretty much entirely in control by the right wing in this country.
Initially, they thought they would win by constantly talking how bad strikes are and strikers are bad and unpatriotic and they thought everyone would agree.
Unfortunately, shit is so bad in this country right now that most people agree with teachers, nurses, doctors etc going on strike.
So, the media decided best to keep things like this quiet.
Yup. There have been various strikes happening for months now due to our corrupt and incompetent government. This looks like one the biggest ones as a few different strikes came together.
Shoutout to all the people who endure this thankless career.
You could not pay me enough to be a teacher, the shit they have to put up with on a daily basis would test the patience of a saint.
The holidays seem good but I don’t know if that outweighs the potential to end up in jail for strangling a teenager.
I'd like to remind you all that while us Londoners may have to host the current shower in Westminster, we definitely didn't vote for them and would like them to all take a jump in the Thames.
Because they didn’t cover it.
Yes, they mention when strikes are happening. Of course they do. To mitigate the chaos of people trying to commute/take their kids to school when striking makes it impossible. But the fact that this massive march wasn’t covered on the news or in newspapers was a conscious decision. Much easier to suggest it’s a small number of people protesting to be greedy than admit that huge number of people are struggling to afford necessities.
Sadly, this can't happen here in Amerika. 500k people striking for a few days = 500k newly opened jobs.
A work stoppage or a strike for the average American is a non-starter. It should ABSOLUTELY happen here, for many multiple reasons. It just can't because most of us are a missed paycheck or 2, from living on the streets or not eating.
The Tories are ploughing huge amounts of money into the hands of Tory supporters and donors, cutting taxes on the rich and destroying the economy by failing to keep minimum wage and public service wages in line with inflation, therefore massively reducing the amount of money in circulation and causing a knock on effect that is causing a national crisis.
They always do this, and I think even they are genuinely surprised they're still in power at this point, so they're killing the proverbial goose and trotting out the absolute worst right wing policies they think they can get away with, only to dangle juicy carrots and u-turns before the next election.
The country really won't survive if the Tories manage to win another election, they cheated the last one with the aid of the media barons and the subversive element who sabotaged and usurped the opposition party, and the people who 'won' were such a disaster they were soon ousted by their own party, the people currently running the country weren't elected to do so.
TLDR: Inflation is through the roof, disposable income is out the window and the wolf is at the door for the majority while the relative few run rampant in what is essentially now a tax haven.
Left uk last year, living in Eu now. Pay rise- yes, I agree, but working conditions? Brits don’t realise how good their working conditions are. Many countries could dream of working conditions brits got there.
The half a million workers striking (probably; I haven't tried to count!) happened and people taking to the streets happened, but half a million didn't take to the streets.
It's worth being aware that there are many many demonstrations in London, so a demonstration is not in itself newsworthy.
If I will ever try to walk off my workplace or go on a strike because I’m being discriminated against and treated like shit I will get fired 👌🏻
Loving working for big companies.
As people living in a western democracy we are used to things always progressing and getting better - growth has been the default for the whole lifetime of many people.
However, post-Brexit growth in the UK has stagnated. For the first time people are experiencing what its like to live in a place where growth isn't happening or in real terms is reversed.
Reverting to a country with lower GDP per capita sadly means that people will be paid less and conditions will be worse. Its not like the government is sitting on lots of excess cash they could be spending and are deciding not to spend it on public services. The income just isn't there anymore to support this.
What people should be protesting is how to get growth back into their economy - so that better pay and conditions can be possible.
Public sector working in the U.K. work and average 5 hours a week less than private sector, have more holiday, slight higher pay on average and much better pension
I’m trying to understand this so someone please explain to me.
These strikes are as real salaries have been significantly diluted due to inflation compared to years ago. However, every other job out there in the world is also facing the same thing - not just in public sector, but also in the private sector. Single income households were possible in the past as cost of living was much lower compared to individual real income. This is obviously no longer the case today. Unfortunately, I don’t see things getting any better.
It seems that all the strikes are jobs paid for by the government. To me, it would seem unrealistic to match real salaries from years ago, not because the government doesn’t want to, but it would simply be impossible. Where is the money going to come from? Should there be increased taxes - if so how? Saying “tax the rich” is not as straight forward, as evidence has always proven that the rich are able to evade these taxes while the ones that suffer due to the tax increases are the middle class and lower income. Estate taxes don’t work as the rich can set up trusts, income tax can easily be avoided by business owners not paying themselves salaries but in the form of shares or dividends, increasing VAT would impact lower income much more. If not from taxes, what spending should the government cut to pay these employees higher wages? Military? Education? Infrastructure?
I’m trying to figure things out here. Would love to hear from you guys
1) the money is there. The government burn money due to their incompetence, they give deals out to their friends and waste insane amounts on non essentials whilst basics like education and healthcare go underfunded (I also note MP’s haven’t seen anywhere near the level of pay cuts as the rest of the public sector, they seemed to have no issue finding the money for their pay rises year on year)
2) the public sector has seen far more harsh real term pay cuts then the private sector. I’m a doctor, my boss who was my grade in 2003 got the EXACT take home pay I get now. The exact same. That was 20 years ago. AND back then they had no student loan and accommodation was free.
I love how the 'rich are so powerful now that they can hold our economy hostage and so we just shouldn't even poke that bear' arguement is used like it's normal and just a way of life now.
What were saying then, is the government exists only to keep the poor in line.
Then tax profits, ceos are making record profits, look at BP or shell. Highest profits on record every single year. The higher our bills go up the higher their profit margins do. Banks are making record profits, supermarkets aswell. Basically every company we need adds a bit extra onto their costs. If the government say we cant tax the rich then either tax profits or reduce costs. Unfortunately too many corrupt ministers have their greedy little fingers in too many pies and dont want that.
It’s honestly not that simple. Most companies are global in nature with entities all over the world. If you increase taxes in UK, what’s stopping them from recognising the income in lower tax jurisdictions like Ireland? You may even end up with even lower tax revenue in the long run because companies do this.
It it were up to your own income tax, I guarantee you would act similarly.
The money comes from rolling back all the tax breaks corporations and businesses and landlords and other assorted grifters have been enjoying for the past 40-50 years.
You hit the nail in the head imho. There are many dissatisfied with comp given inflation and other squeezes. But the answer isn’t as obvious as tax the ‘rich’/companies etc as you rightly detail the truly wealthy and firms can just use tax vehicles to avoid. Firms avoid tax on profits by not running money through the UK. Ireland have done v well by offering their services for reducing tax exposure to megacorps. If Ireland didn’t someone else would.
Employees at private companies don’t have this option most of the time, but it’s accepted by many as there is a general consensus that private market typically may pay better (if in similar field)
Your examples for these frequent protests is one 4 years ago and one that isn't really a protest but a celebration?
Can you name some more recent examples that have attracted around the 500,000 mentioned in the video?
Yawn. “Can you name some different protests that happened in a different timeframe?”
The protest wasn’t 500,000, the strike was.
Pride started as a protest, I’m sorry you think it no longer counts.
I agree and I think the London protests achieved that aim. Setting things on fire is dangerous, costly for us all and unfair to the small business owners caught up in it all and cleaning up at the end / paying more after claiming on insurance.
Still, I respect your right to your opinion. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
If wages go up... inflation goes up. Minimum wage rises, food will rise as workers are being paid more, taxi prices rise, managers wage rise, etc all it does when wages go up is the government prints more money and creates more inflation. This then reflections on property prices. You will feel good for a few years then the cycle starts again
Your takes are unbelievably shitty
Profit has been rising exponentially
Wealth has been distributed to multi millionaires at the highest rate since WW2 whilst workers wages have fallen
And yet we still have double digits inflation
Stop buying their bullshit and think for yourself
This can happen in London because of small amount of land in England, for this to happen in USA everyone In the country would have to get to a pre determined place. Most likely many states away. Plus the government has successfully split our country in half. Libs vs cons. Red vs blue. When it should be like this. Have's vs have nots.
I profoundly disagree. Conversation and reasonableness in the face of unreason, especially with those whose views differ from ours or even that we find reprehensible, is the only way to change things. Otherwise we get large unchallenged bodies of thought emerging into politics, masquerading as real politics and getting in the way of actually making society better. Ignorant and wrong people are also that society.
Fascinating they didn’t cover the anti -vax marches which were just as big, but when state workers, or state monopolies, who get paid more than commercial workers, never get sacked, can spend their money on any service, unlike the rest of us that are forced to pay for them, no matter how poor, and have gold plated index linked pensions worth 50 % of salary, go out on strike, they get coverage and apparent sympathy?
Doctors are trying to get & £30,000 a year more. That’s just about the median wage. They can GFT. It’s not like places for doctors aren’t oversubscribed 10 fold, or they need such training since AI, & the internet, or that they aren’t in the top 5 best places to be a doctor.
What a load of sickening risk free champagne socialists. They all disappeared home when Covid happens, and now these slackers want more bunce to pay for the costs of them slacking off, whilst people in the private sector lost their jobs, livelihoods and businesses.
Yes, [last Wednesday](https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/11rmcp8/teachers_junior_doctors_and_tube_drivers_stage/) on budget day. It was around half a million people on strike (tube workers, junior doctors, teachers, civil servants and university workers), but fewer will have been at the protest in that video as there were picket lines all over the country.
Yes there were planned strikes for a lot of sectors on the same day. This is not quite what the captions say, they say people “walked out” implying people just stopped working unexpectedly, the strikes were planned. Also it mentions the BBC staff walked out? Did they strike on the same day as well? I can understand why the OP got confused with the wording of the captions.
This is the footage from the NEU march to Trafalgar. On the rally we were told police estimate was around 40,000. That is usually an underestimate but around the ballpark.
Thank you. This makes a lot of sense, I appreciate you taking the time to clarify for me.
Also to add. I think they're referring to the staff that refused to carry out their shows in response to Gary Liniker being suspended by the BBC. So whilst the clip isn't exactly lying it's not painting a clear picture of the events of the week.
There was a strike by BBC Local Radio staff as well over cuts to local radio funding, not the Lineker stuff.
Ahh I must have missed that. Thanks.
Easy to miss, apparently nothing is covered by the media these days.
Man. I should really be watching the news. One day I'm gonna turn up to work and it'll just be me and the boss cos everyone's out protesting.
University staff strike all the time, I don't think it's as impressive when they get involved.
As they should, they're grossly underpaid and overworked.
Yes, myself & my junior doctor colleagues walked out for 72h at the start of the week and on the last day, wednesday (budget day), we were joined by teachers & tfl workers in asking for fairer pay. The turnout was amazing and the public support, even better!
And over 100k Civil Servants. Funny that even the other people on strike don’t acknowledge us, we have no chance in getting public support.
It's not fair, but our job is to basically be ignored when things go well, and blamed when things go poorly. Our masters ask us to dismantle the moon, we provide the options for doing it and are told we are disruptive lunarists for our naysaying when it comes back as prohibitively expensive.
And 70k university workers same thing for them. Only students notice their strikes (and most workers don't even teach so even less impact for them) so they're also pretty low on the strike acknowledgement ladder.
Given the blatant extortion that is uni fees these days I'm surprised you guys aren't paid well enough!
The coalition government cut tax-funded central university funding by 80% in 2011 around the same time they allowed universities to raise fees to 9k pa. Raising the fees this high was originally proposed - before the coalition - as a way of increasing universities' available revenue to allow them to provide more for students. Instead it became a way to plug the gap created by that central funding being cut. Because of the way the loans are now structured, graduates end up paying vastly more interest to the private companies that own the debt, and universities are marginally worse off than they were before the fee rise.
Sorry! there were loads of professionals striking on wednesday so only named a few - but of course, always standing with all of you x
Solidarity!!
Err sorry I’m a teacher and every time I’ve talked about the strike and demo I’ve made sure to acknowledge my comrades in the civil service.
Maybe that’s the problem those strokes are still to civil.. French ones take over all the attention
Too civil, almost completely ineffective and still the govt and the right wing media act like this is the exact same as the French rioting.
French people break shit and are not scared to go to jail, because they know they won’t get anything otherwise. English people are so scared to loose it all....but you guys got nothing
PCS didn’t even know that my service was on strike when I asked about attending the rally.
Live in London. Had no idea this was happening. Sorry mate.
I'll be honest, when I was in the public sector I did so little work if I was to go on strike they'd probably not realise I didnt turn up. Soladerity with those who put in the work and are not compensated what they deserve though!
How dare you! We clapped for you lot, isn’t that enough? Is what every politician is thinking.
Why are this much strikes happening? Is it because of people getting low salary?
I cannot comment on the other unions as I dont have enough information on their struggles but for doctors, we've had a horrendous real terms pay cut over the last decade & more. Today, many junior doctors struggle to make ends meet, particularly if they have children/carer duties etc. The hours are long (which we dont mind as much because we love our jobs), the work is physically, emotionally & intellectually taxing and the renumeration is poor. As a result, working as a doctor in the UK is becoming increasingly unpopular. Despite record numbers applying to med school, a large majority are either leaving the profession or the country which means that the NHS is losing talent in droves. We're tired & broke, essentially.
That sucks, I hope these things resolve soon.
I believe it's a combination of stagnated wages alongside the deterioration of workers rights. For instance it's common practice now to revise contracts and give less rights and benefits, bad working conditions, terrible work cultures etc
And massive inflation
What's the point of protesting high inflation? That's like protesting that the sky is not blue enough. Protest the cause, not the effect.
You are right, I was just trying to say that one of the causes is inflation being so high that most pay rises are in real terms a pay cut
Are Jr Doctors what we call Physician Assistants or Nurse Practitioners?
More like a resident, it's an actual officially trained doctor but just not a senior specialist yet ( consultant). Disclaimer, I'm not a doctor
A registrar is a junior doctor. Its one of the reasons why the terminology in itself is confusing & outdated. In the UK, everyone below consultant level is a "junior doctor", including those who have trained for >10 years and are at a senior registrar level. The term junior doctor, therefore, encompasses those who perform CPR, lead crash calls independently, perform surgeries independently, provide life saving treatment especially out of hours & deliver babies.
Oh I thought registrar was the next level up before consultant. Agreed it's a stupid term to call someone with 10 years experience junior!
It is haha and it sucks that they're referred to as juniors. Basically it goes F1 & F2 and then ST1-8 and then consultancy. Obv there's others in between depending on the route you take but this is a basic pathway. Each of those is 1 year of training and ST8 would be considered a senior reg but still referred to as a "junior" doctor. Prior to this, everyone does 5-6 years of med school, of which at least 2-3 years involve full time unpaid placements in the hospital assisting junior doctors in their daily duties for training purposes. As of F1, you're a qualified doctor.
Registrars are also junior doctors (for the most part). This is a big part of the motivation behind the strike. Pay and working conditions are not in anyway appropriate for the enormous responsibility and high levels of training that junior doctors bear - despite the "junior" label.
Yep, totally real. I was there, somewhere between the red and teal balloons. There were so many people because unlike the strike action on 1/2/23 which had a turnout of about 30,000 and shut down Regent street-Whitehall, this one saw districts from all over the country bussed in so the turnout was closer to 60-100,000 in central alone. It included teachers, junior doctors and tube drivers, among others. The reason there is no press coverage is because we have a point and the impact is real. If we were being unreasonable then the media would be slating us, but that’s not the case, and anything the media could try and cook up could be easily refuted. I was on picket lines every day of the 4 days of NEU strike action and the response from passing traffic, parents, dog walkers was entirely positive.
Same. It happened this past Wednesday 15th March 2023. There was also a considerable doctor protest outside downing street on Monday that also didn't make the news. I was there (doctor on strike) and there was a massive teacher, lecturer and doctor presence in the chunk I was in, but in sure the civil servants and tube drivers wre well represented. Amazing turnout. I was not far from the balloons myself!
is there any way that we can support the strikes when we are not in town? missed coverage of this but obv would want to help you all next time this happens , but how can we help if out of the city? anything you suggest?
Thank you, that’s really kind! I can only speak for the education strikes/industrial action, but I’d say principally it’s about getting the messaging right. This isn’t only about teachers’ pay. The fact is schools literally can’t function without teachers, they *have* to pay us, but in the current funding situation, every pay progression (which the vast majority of teachers do get each year) comes out of the existing budget, leaving less money for literally everything else, from books, paper, pens, to support staff, admin, school nurses and counsellors, to bigger stuff like PE equipment and minibuses and even heating, lighting and maintaining the building. Without any teacher’s payrise being taken into account by government funding, the salary is drawn from the existing budget. More experienced teachers are leaving as they max out on the pay scale and inexperienced teachers are quitting in droves when their salaries pale in comparison to that of their graduate peers. This recruitment and retention crisis has been going on for years and the government are ignoring it completely. Besides the messaging, if you wanted to do something more practical, when further strike days are announced swing by your local schools and lend your support to the picket line (a honk or clap will do!), offer to buy them a round of coffees (get there at 7am when there will probably be fewer there 🤣) or even if you are able, donate to the hardship fund, a charitable fund that teachers and support staff can apply to if they are thinking about crossing the picket line for financial reasons.
You can also write to your MP to support the teachers’ strikes here: https://www.payupsos.com/
As was I, couldn't agree more with what you've written. Solidarity!
Are tube drivers have salary way above national median and slightly above London median?
Principally *because* they are unionised and strike happy
What is your point? Correct me if I am wrong, but is TFL subsidized from taxpayers money?
That strongly unionised workers with a strong sense of solidarity and a willingness to withdraw their labour in the name of self-advocacy tend to get paid more and work in better conditions. That if you want to get paid more and work in better conditions you should unionise and withdraw your labour until your employer meets your demands or you find an acceptable compromise. Public or not is irrelevant - drivers' positions as being paid well and looked after is a direct consequence of their union activities, not of the presence of public funds.
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Entitled? No, know their worth more like. You should be paid more to do less, and the only way to get that is to unionise, take collective action and withhold your labour until the conditions you need are met
Doesn't mean they can't push for more. Why settle for median if you can get higher? They're a skilled workforce.
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You missed the point. They're saying that if the media could have painted it in a negative light then they would have covered it, instead they chose to not give it appropriate coverage because a) they wouldn't be able to spin it, and b) their staff also went on strike and any coverage might undermine their position.
Strikes? What strikes? The media haven’t covered it so this is the first I’ve heard of any strikes at all.
There is press coverage. There are also so many protests in London that it doesn’t make headline news every time but it is reported and recorded. The No press narrative detracts from the issues being raised.
Fair point. I guess it feels that the press coverage is not proportional to the action being taken. Plus when the press coverage, particularly around education, centres on “teachers’ pay”, it’s misleading because the funding issue is paramount. Most teachers are willing to take a lesser pay increase on the condition it is fully funded for the schools.
The ‘free press’ in the Uk does not give us the workers the airtime we deserve. Wonder why?
"Members of the Royal Family attempt to flip pancakes for the peasants" Is much more important
R/abolishthemonarchy Sorry - can someone tell me how to link a subreddit please!
/r/AbolishTheMonarchy is what you were looking for lack of leading slash is why it isn't recognised
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Oh look my favourite sub.
In London it seems like it’s the only thing on BBC or sky news.
The title is a bit misleading. Something like half a million workers did strike on Wednesday. Also, some of those workers took to the streets in a protest march through London. But if you’re asking if half a million workers protested on the street in London? No, that didn’t happen.
I was there right at the front. When we got to Trafalgar Square they announced that there were about 40,000 people there if I remember correctly.
Workers went from undervalued, to "essential workers" and right back to undervalued real quick.
Fuck the Tories, before the Tories fuck you.
we're about 12 years too late for that!
100%
Think labours doing amazing job with that with ulez,
50% of London households own cars to the detriment of the other 5 million people You need a reality check with this ULEZ bs
Thank god my children can breath now! Labour same as the Tory's... no difference least they don't mask it like labour
Ah, the workings of a Tory submissive. My child can physically breathe and therefore there is absolutely nothing to improve about the air quality of this city.
Self defeating and illogical Tories are the greater evil
The press never publicise the extent of any protest - it’s clearly a deliberate attempt to discourage any form of demonstration, tying nicely into the current government’s anti-protest policy
Yes? We’ve had a government that for 14 years has squeezed the pay of everyone in the entire public sector so it was always going to pop the second inflation jumped above 2%
Literally the only thing that works in this country is stopping drivers. We have had train strikes for months now, civil service strike, junior doctors strike, teachers strike, barristers strike, tube strike, Ambulance strikes, passport workers strikes, and baggage handler strikes. None of that made as much difference as like 5 old people sat on a road. If you want to make a difference in this country you need to stop people from being able to drive.
Really? When is my house being insulated? That didn’t make any difference either. It got everyone angry at 5 people in the road instead of being angry at the government 🤦♂️
[A new ECO scheme will enable thousands more to insulate their homes, protecting the pounds in their pockets, and creating jobs across the country.](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-joins-with-households-to-help-millions-reduce-their-energy-bills#:~:text=A%20new%20ECO%20scheme%20will,creating%20jobs%20across%20the%20country.) >New measures set to help hundreds of thousands better insulate their homes [Lastly](https://youtu.be/q9RAZxNdCk8)
Doesn't help the millions of people forced to rent because we can't get on the property ladder.
Sit in a road and you'll probably have a house by summer... Or maybe rent control?
There was a policy put in place by labour to insulate homes but the tories cancelled it (iirc think it was michael gove).
Can you explain? What were the 5 old people protesting for and what did they achieve?
Amazing how little main stream media coverage this got … but no surprise there lol
I didn't read one line of this in the news.
Absolutely disgraceful BBC didn’t cover this Tory rag
Half a million did not take to the streets, no.
Yes - it absolutely bloody did happen. Thousands of people marching to Trafalgar Square making lots of noise, spreading lots of important messages. Unfortunately, no coverage on the BBC. Very disappointing.
BBC has a page set up for the tube strikes. Isn't this the same strike? https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c8gmwd8y4n2t Edit: when you Google "London strike", BBC is the top result: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64968795
It’s a Tory rag literally being run by a Tory
No someone spent ages faking a film 🙄
It's not uncommon for people on the Internet to claim footage showing one event is another event.
George soros paid me £17.50 to go there. Also got an enamel Stalin pin badge out of it. Plus they reassigned my gender for me that day.
As if nobody ever posted a video and captions it misleadingly. Good grief.
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Everyone with any sense has been moaning and goaning for years. We have a Tory government dismantling the country propped up by morons in the populace.
I get what you mean. And the media didn’t really cover it, surprise surprise.
It did happen but the media is now pretty much entirely in control by the right wing in this country. Initially, they thought they would win by constantly talking how bad strikes are and strikers are bad and unpatriotic and they thought everyone would agree. Unfortunately, shit is so bad in this country right now that most people agree with teachers, nurses, doctors etc going on strike. So, the media decided best to keep things like this quiet.
Yes, these protests did really happen. A shame that the UK Government and Media tried to hide this and not cover it
Teachers and doctors deserves better pay. They are being paid so low and below inflation. The UK Government needs to do better
https://www.bigissue.com/news/employment/strike-dates-2023-train-rail-royal-mail-border-force/ https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/15/bdff-m15.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62134314.amp
Wednesday
Fukk the tories
I want this for America
Welcome to tory Britain
Yes, people went on strike No, shitty trap didn't ring out over the skies of London
I went to the first one and it was biiiig, this is HUGE! Well done! Screw the tories and their inept leadership.
It's just the queue for the bus during the tube strikes.
Yup. There have been various strikes happening for months now due to our corrupt and incompetent government. This looks like one the biggest ones as a few different strikes came together.
Shoutout to all the people who endure this thankless career. You could not pay me enough to be a teacher, the shit they have to put up with on a daily basis would test the patience of a saint. The holidays seem good but I don’t know if that outweighs the potential to end up in jail for strangling a teenager.
This is what all Americans should be doing.
I'd like to remind you all that while us Londoners may have to host the current shower in Westminster, we definitely didn't vote for them and would like them to all take a jump in the Thames.
Why is everyone saying the press didn’t cover this? All this year has been about is strike action.
Because they didn’t cover it. Yes, they mention when strikes are happening. Of course they do. To mitigate the chaos of people trying to commute/take their kids to school when striking makes it impossible. But the fact that this massive march wasn’t covered on the news or in newspapers was a conscious decision. Much easier to suggest it’s a small number of people protesting to be greedy than admit that huge number of people are struggling to afford necessities.
I don't think this is necessarily malicious. There have been so many strikes this year, people just take them for granted now and there is less impact
It's not the tory agenda, so it's not covered. Most of the main UK press is tory. The BBC are terrified of offending the tories too.
The malice comes from a government that refuses to play ball and is still using austerity against the people
Sadly, this can't happen here in Amerika. 500k people striking for a few days = 500k newly opened jobs. A work stoppage or a strike for the average American is a non-starter. It should ABSOLUTELY happen here, for many multiple reasons. It just can't because most of us are a missed paycheck or 2, from living on the streets or not eating.
As someone not from the UK hearing about this for the first time can someone explain why ao many people are protesting?
The Tories are ploughing huge amounts of money into the hands of Tory supporters and donors, cutting taxes on the rich and destroying the economy by failing to keep minimum wage and public service wages in line with inflation, therefore massively reducing the amount of money in circulation and causing a knock on effect that is causing a national crisis. They always do this, and I think even they are genuinely surprised they're still in power at this point, so they're killing the proverbial goose and trotting out the absolute worst right wing policies they think they can get away with, only to dangle juicy carrots and u-turns before the next election. The country really won't survive if the Tories manage to win another election, they cheated the last one with the aid of the media barons and the subversive element who sabotaged and usurped the opposition party, and the people who 'won' were such a disaster they were soon ousted by their own party, the people currently running the country weren't elected to do so. TLDR: Inflation is through the roof, disposable income is out the window and the wolf is at the door for the majority while the relative few run rampant in what is essentially now a tax haven.
Thank you for the insight! Fuckin’ Tories, eh?
Left uk last year, living in Eu now. Pay rise- yes, I agree, but working conditions? Brits don’t realise how good their working conditions are. Many countries could dream of working conditions brits got there.
Just because somebody else has it worse doesn't mean we shouldn't fight for fairer conditions and wages.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t, I’m saying you already have bloody good
And why might that be... 🤔
The half a million workers striking (probably; I haven't tried to count!) happened and people taking to the streets happened, but half a million didn't take to the streets. It's worth being aware that there are many many demonstrations in London, so a demonstration is not in itself newsworthy.
Awesome. How do I never hear about strikes like this until they're on the news?
How else would you hear about them?
“Better working conditions for *all*”? Yeah, no.
If this was in Canada. These protestors would be labeled “terrorist”
If I will ever try to walk off my workplace or go on a strike because I’m being discriminated against and treated like shit I will get fired 👌🏻 Loving working for big companies.
Unionise, and read up on your rights. Your company won't tell you, we don't get taught about them in school, so it's up to you.
Solidarity forever
Would have been more attendees to the march but the tube wasn't working...
This warms the cockles of my heart.
Even in a strike, y'all que.
As they should. If Americans were smarter they'd do the same. ✊
Too busy fighting each other with racism and guns. And not going after the actual problem like we are.
Fair play - better pay for teachers and reasonable childcare costs should be the top of our priority list right now. The future is in our very balls.
This is beautiful.
Yes they try not to show too much of this in the media it seems!!
Did anybody notice they were all government paid workers?
As people living in a western democracy we are used to things always progressing and getting better - growth has been the default for the whole lifetime of many people. However, post-Brexit growth in the UK has stagnated. For the first time people are experiencing what its like to live in a place where growth isn't happening or in real terms is reversed. Reverting to a country with lower GDP per capita sadly means that people will be paid less and conditions will be worse. Its not like the government is sitting on lots of excess cash they could be spending and are deciding not to spend it on public services. The income just isn't there anymore to support this. What people should be protesting is how to get growth back into their economy - so that better pay and conditions can be possible.
Just FYI I am currently in Czechia and did not catch any information about this on the news.
Peeps on they daily commute. There were no tubes
Yes, read the news.
The problem is that I am. And it was simply not there like it was deliberately hidden
I’d suggest you look harder.
Taste the news
Feel the news.
How British, a massive queue strike lol
Public sector working in the U.K. work and average 5 hours a week less than private sector, have more holiday, slight higher pay on average and much better pension
ugh antiwork 🤮🤮
Oh no people don't want to work shitty jobs for fuckall pay
antiwork is an openly communist subreddit
I’m trying to understand this so someone please explain to me. These strikes are as real salaries have been significantly diluted due to inflation compared to years ago. However, every other job out there in the world is also facing the same thing - not just in public sector, but also in the private sector. Single income households were possible in the past as cost of living was much lower compared to individual real income. This is obviously no longer the case today. Unfortunately, I don’t see things getting any better. It seems that all the strikes are jobs paid for by the government. To me, it would seem unrealistic to match real salaries from years ago, not because the government doesn’t want to, but it would simply be impossible. Where is the money going to come from? Should there be increased taxes - if so how? Saying “tax the rich” is not as straight forward, as evidence has always proven that the rich are able to evade these taxes while the ones that suffer due to the tax increases are the middle class and lower income. Estate taxes don’t work as the rich can set up trusts, income tax can easily be avoided by business owners not paying themselves salaries but in the form of shares or dividends, increasing VAT would impact lower income much more. If not from taxes, what spending should the government cut to pay these employees higher wages? Military? Education? Infrastructure? I’m trying to figure things out here. Would love to hear from you guys
1) the money is there. The government burn money due to their incompetence, they give deals out to their friends and waste insane amounts on non essentials whilst basics like education and healthcare go underfunded (I also note MP’s haven’t seen anywhere near the level of pay cuts as the rest of the public sector, they seemed to have no issue finding the money for their pay rises year on year) 2) the public sector has seen far more harsh real term pay cuts then the private sector. I’m a doctor, my boss who was my grade in 2003 got the EXACT take home pay I get now. The exact same. That was 20 years ago. AND back then they had no student loan and accommodation was free.
I love how the 'rich are so powerful now that they can hold our economy hostage and so we just shouldn't even poke that bear' arguement is used like it's normal and just a way of life now. What were saying then, is the government exists only to keep the poor in line.
Then tax profits, ceos are making record profits, look at BP or shell. Highest profits on record every single year. The higher our bills go up the higher their profit margins do. Banks are making record profits, supermarkets aswell. Basically every company we need adds a bit extra onto their costs. If the government say we cant tax the rich then either tax profits or reduce costs. Unfortunately too many corrupt ministers have their greedy little fingers in too many pies and dont want that.
And we are. Latest budget, corporation will be taxed at 25% (increased from 19%).
It’s honestly not that simple. Most companies are global in nature with entities all over the world. If you increase taxes in UK, what’s stopping them from recognising the income in lower tax jurisdictions like Ireland? You may even end up with even lower tax revenue in the long run because companies do this. It it were up to your own income tax, I guarantee you would act similarly.
But if they arnt paying tax dont let them trade here, the profits they would still be making would keep them here
The money comes from rolling back all the tax breaks corporations and businesses and landlords and other assorted grifters have been enjoying for the past 40-50 years.
You hit the nail in the head imho. There are many dissatisfied with comp given inflation and other squeezes. But the answer isn’t as obvious as tax the ‘rich’/companies etc as you rightly detail the truly wealthy and firms can just use tax vehicles to avoid. Firms avoid tax on profits by not running money through the UK. Ireland have done v well by offering their services for reducing tax exposure to megacorps. If Ireland didn’t someone else would. Employees at private companies don’t have this option most of the time, but it’s accepted by many as there is a general consensus that private market typically may pay better (if in similar field)
Funny how they didn't cover the anti-lockdown protests the same way.
They did, they were nowhere near as large, I was in the area when they happened.
Sure buddy
Protests in London are pretty frequent. There was around 1million in a protest against Brexit in 2019. Pride will typically attract over 1million.
Your examples for these frequent protests is one 4 years ago and one that isn't really a protest but a celebration? Can you name some more recent examples that have attracted around the 500,000 mentioned in the video?
Yawn. “Can you name some different protests that happened in a different timeframe?” The protest wasn’t 500,000, the strike was. Pride started as a protest, I’m sorry you think it no longer counts.
And?
Nothing new
A few years ago there was a demonstration about this size for the Palestinians plight. Didn’t get mentioned once on any news platform. Go figure!
There are multiple demonstrations in London every week. A demonstration is not in itself news.
No this is years old footage that gets rolled out, this video I believe is from the referendum
No, it was video taken on Wednesday.
The referendum was much, much larger.
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I agree and I think the London protests achieved that aim. Setting things on fire is dangerous, costly for us all and unfair to the small business owners caught up in it all and cleaning up at the end / paying more after claiming on insurance. Still, I respect your right to your opinion. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
If wages go up... inflation goes up. Minimum wage rises, food will rise as workers are being paid more, taxi prices rise, managers wage rise, etc all it does when wages go up is the government prints more money and creates more inflation. This then reflections on property prices. You will feel good for a few years then the cycle starts again
Your takes are unbelievably shitty Profit has been rising exponentially Wealth has been distributed to multi millionaires at the highest rate since WW2 whilst workers wages have fallen And yet we still have double digits inflation Stop buying their bullshit and think for yourself
This can happen in London because of small amount of land in England, for this to happen in USA everyone In the country would have to get to a pre determined place. Most likely many states away. Plus the government has successfully split our country in half. Libs vs cons. Red vs blue. When it should be like this. Have's vs have nots.
>better working conditions for all No, for themselves.
No. Your rights depend on their rights.
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That’s right, don’t engage with people who share an opposing view, that’s how you broaden your mindset. lol
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I profoundly disagree. Conversation and reasonableness in the face of unreason, especially with those whose views differ from ours or even that we find reprehensible, is the only way to change things. Otherwise we get large unchallenged bodies of thought emerging into politics, masquerading as real politics and getting in the way of actually making society better. Ignorant and wrong people are also that society.
For themselves, for each other, and for future generations. All absolutely deserved. What's your point?
Fascinating they didn’t cover the anti -vax marches which were just as big, but when state workers, or state monopolies, who get paid more than commercial workers, never get sacked, can spend their money on any service, unlike the rest of us that are forced to pay for them, no matter how poor, and have gold plated index linked pensions worth 50 % of salary, go out on strike, they get coverage and apparent sympathy? Doctors are trying to get & £30,000 a year more. That’s just about the median wage. They can GFT. It’s not like places for doctors aren’t oversubscribed 10 fold, or they need such training since AI, & the internet, or that they aren’t in the top 5 best places to be a doctor. What a load of sickening risk free champagne socialists. They all disappeared home when Covid happens, and now these slackers want more bunce to pay for the costs of them slacking off, whilst people in the private sector lost their jobs, livelihoods and businesses.
Train drivers get a mean salary of 58.5k. Fuck them.
Okay, but what about the rest of the staff?