>

Squeezenomics where they crush the life out of everything to grab every drip of profit even if it means starving kids on food banks or chopping down every inch of the rainforest
People have been asked to live on too little for too long. Nurses shouldn't need foodbanks to feed themselves and their families. We need to stop trying to build our economy from the top down, we don't need a handful of billionaire CEO's, we need a working class with a good quality of life. >

Yeah like venezuela >

In what regard would that be like Venezuela? >

Because the assumption that ending with the rich people will end up poverty is all wrong and all countries who do that (socialism) have a poor class bigger and with less opportunities. >

What are you on about? >

Economy dude >

That doesn't really narrow it down. >

Im sorry you think that >

You don't think 'economy' is an incredibly broad topic? Okay. >

You want me to explain socialism vs free market in a reddit comment? You just said something that everybody thinks (end with billionaires) but is all wrong. There are more billionaires in USA and poor people all around latin america are risking their lives to go there. In Venezuela they ended up with all megarich and now the country has no business, no employment and is basically a hell on earth. >

I will be on strike tomorrow. I'm not a Nurse or a Teacher, a Police officer or a Firefighter; I don't drive an Ambulance, however, I'm a Civil Servant working for the Scottish Government with over 30 years of service. This is the first time I will have gone on strike in relation to Pay despite being a Union Member (and previously official) for each one of those 31 years. We haven't had a meaningful payrise in over 10 years, roughly speaking we are effectively earning in real terms something like 25-30% less than we were in 2010. Enough is enough. >

Because whilst Ukraine and Corona hurt everyone, we also votes to be a shit-ton poorer by going for Brexit.
People who voted Brexit should be legally forbidden from striking, because lower wages is exactly their fault. >

Well.... Inflation is around 10% all over Europe too, as well as the other parts of the world. We also haven't had a meaningful pay rise since 2010, a full six years before the referendum and around 10 years before actual Brexit. So hard to really blame it all on Brexit to be fair... >

The trouble is the government would argue it can't afford to give civil servants, nhs, teachers, firefighters, train drivers and bus drivers, customs workers, driving instructors and everyone else 15%+ pay rises.
I guess tax rises for all could cover it?  Or we could just put it all on the countries' credit card and let our kids sort it out?  Can't think of any other way?  Maybe take the wages off nurses or firefighter's  pay-packets to fund it?   Massive bond sales would just screw everyone's pensions.
Also, of course, chucking extra money around completely buggers up yer inflation aspirations.
It's a dilemma and I haven't really heard a proposed answer yet from anyone.  I personally think we all have to learn to be poorer, as simply put it's obviously going to be a poorer country here on out now we're on our own.... I don't think anyone could argue with that..
(ps. I hate to be that guy, but I suspect the unions literally don't care or even think about where the money's gonna actually come from  :(   ) >

It's amazing how all the arguments of "Giving you a pay rise will worsen inflation" never count if you're a CEO. Or an MP. Or anyone else making more than £50K a year.
And we pay for it by borrowing.  Borrowing has never been an issue. Debt in government has never been an issue so long as it is invested in the health of the nation, such that it causes economic growth and ultimately increases tax returns above the cost of the debt. We built this country on borrowing. The entire modern world was built on borrowing. The lie that borrowing and debt are negatives in need of "fixing" is just a tool used by the right to grab votes from the uneducated. >

I think Sunak and the torries need to be reminded that, unions and organized striking was the compromise we all agreed on, rather than the old way we was just dragging the factory bosses out of their houses in the night and beating them to death on the lawn. >

Sadly tories had beaten strikers down and changed strike laws after to feel confident. 70s brick layers strike where the strikers got jailed on false reports. 80s Miners strike while not as big as the 1920s general strike was still a major worker’s movement that got close to shaking up workers rights (it went beyond the miners concerns). 
Labour Party has lost most of its socialist working class MPs for more middle class career politicians since new labour.
It’s a hard fight the strikers are up against a lot and history of crushing strikes down >

This is essentially a general strike now, not a bunch of individuals.  The government can't cow the teachers, nurse, ambulance drivers, firefighters and rail workers.  They will lose. >

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 94%. (I'm a bot)


Sunak has so far attempted to cast himself as Mr Reasonable, stressing that his "Door is always open" to workers but warning that the right to strike must be "Balanced" with the provision of services.
More than half of people back strike action by nurses, according to new research by Public First, while for teachers the figure is 43 percent, postal workers 41 percent and rail workers 36 percent.
A former Cabinet minister said the most pressing issue in their constituency is the state of public services, and strike action signaled political danger for the government.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: strike^#1 Public^#2 government^#3 Sunak^#4 union^#5 >

In my experience when someone says 'door is open' the door is actually closed. >


But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard. - hitchhikers guide >

"Beware the léopard" >

15 fucking years of austerity. People getting poorer year on year. Credit card debts rising and multiple warnings being made that this safety net has a limit.
The limit has been reached. 
You can't blow a foot off with Brexit, then blow the other foot off with Trussonomics, and not expect people to finally snap, either.
Don't worry though! The Tories are introducing laws to sack strikers and sue the unions! 
Strikes already ongoing have seen ministers openly admit they've now cost the country more than it would have been if they had just given the workers a pay rise. 
The evidence of the mismanagement and corruption is plain for all to see in the stats. We're on for a lost two decades at this point. My entire adult life has seen me trying desperately to climb the ladder and increase my wages, and every step taken sees two steps back as I continue to get poorer. 
Fuck the Tories. >

Fuck the voters. >

I remember when I was starting my apprenticeship, the entirety of the class besides me and the other two older students had voted tory. It is seriously baffling and saddening that they had actually been brainwashed by this rubbish when they're exactly the sort of people who benefit from voting for literally anyone apart from tories. >

Same exact thing happens in the American south. The poor conservatives vote party lines and then suffer the consequences of less public services. It simply doesn’t make sense. >

It's almost like these groups are heavily propagandized. >

They should fuckin do it.
Revolt you bastards! >

Americans should too >

Americans are already revolting >

By voting for Republicans? Yeah… good job Americans 😆 >

Oh yeah because the dems will surely lead the Marxist revolt… >

So because the dems aren't good enough, you decide to vote for the worst choice possible ? >

Who said anything about voting? >

My partner is a teacher & she's out with her colleagues on Wednesday, I work in the NHS & we were out a couple weeks back & my postman has been out 3 times since December.never in my whole adult life have I seen soo many institution's taking so much action at the same time
This government is in denial & the Russian money tied bastards need to be voted out. 
Fuck the Tories & fuck anyone in Britain who backs or votes for them >

With the way things are going comparisons to 70s Britain are extremely apt. Sunak will not concede anything while transit workers are likely to see a major part of their workforce retire over the next 2-3 years due to age. Because there is no program to rapidly train new operators, or retain them, or convince them to stop striking without police, this is going to spiral into something much bigger. Which means less trains, longer trains, service cutbacks to mainlines and station elimination. The public won't like it but won't have a choice. Downsizing of public operations for imported cars, sold at a premium from the EU, will hurt badly in the next election.
And if the police choose to strike or sickout, this could seriously destabilize the government as there isn't enough military to preform day-to-day policing. It'd be similar conditions that forced the US to legalize Unions a century ago. >

The police in the UK are expressly forbidden to strike.
But like any rule, you need enough people to enforce it.
If things get bad enough, good luck trying to do so when everyone either works to rule, calls in sick or just quits in large enough numbers. >


The police in the UK are expressly forbidden to strike. But like any rule, you need enough people to enforce it.

- But what if they strike?  
- They get arrested.  
- By whom?  
- By the poli... uh... >

The army >

A google search suggests there are 164,000 police in the UK and 79,000 in the army. >

How many howitzers does Scotland Yard have? >

I'm not sure how relevant howitzers are when it comes to arresting people. >

Not an effective arresting tool, but very effective in crowd control situations. >

Because shelling an angry populace will get them to calm down. >

Highly effective at getting them to calm down. Less effective at making them less angry. Realistically, this is what using the army instead of police would look like, so I don’t favor this course of action. >

They could just listen to the workers but I guess they want to take the hard way. >

You are making too much sense >

I'm not saying they shouldn't make more money, we just went through it in Canada with the teaching support staff. 
If all these public sectors want raises, where is that money coming from? Taxes. So not only inflation is fucked, now your taxes go up. It's a lose lose for everyone here unfortunately. >

How about closing tax loopholes and making big multinationals actually pay their UK tax?
Naaaaah just squeeze the workers some more /s >

That's the problem with millionaire/billionaire leaders, especially born rich one's, they are truly alien to a commoners life. >

Current Tories wrote a book stating British people were lazy and need to be forced to work harder and to do that is to strip away more benefits and safety nets and increase work hours. It’s like Thatcher’s stuff but more extreme.

A further factor undermining the British work ethic is the rise of welfare dependency. The postwar welfare state was designed as a safety net to help the poorest and most vulnerable. It has ballooned beyond all recognition, corroding the UK work ethic. -Britain unchained 

To note post war mines and construction sites saw hundreds of deaths and very low wages. Welfare claimed increases when they shut mines or blacklisted brickies for striking over pay and work conditions and have them no alternatives for work >

It's sick that "social welfare makes people lazy" and "whipping people harder means everything works" are so widely accepted as truths when every piece of actual facts points to the opposite.
There's tons and tons of real world examples of the impact of social safety and productivity and it's absolutely positive. Turns out if people can try to do what they want and aren't forced into shit jobs because they die without being constantly employed they are happier and more productive.
Also turns out that people being supported when they are at a low in their life overwhelmingly get back on their feet instead of leeching forever 
But the rich have successfully implanted the thought that it's better to have 999999 people in a group of a million suffer if it means that the one person left can't abuse the system for a minor benefit. >


"social welfare makes people lazy"

You'd think this concept would be completely alien to anybody who believes in capitalism and that people want to improve their own quality of life. >

He can take his anti-strike legislation and shove it. What’s he going to do - put half a million public servants in jail? Or worse yet, fire them?
I’ve worked in ambulance and hospitals in Australia, and I can guarantee you, if we lost an equivalent amount of staff overnight, you’d never be able to hire enough replacements to restart the service. You’d have to rebuild from the ground up. 
If this many staff strike, you’ve got no choice but to negotiate. You literally cannot provide government services without them. >


You literally cannot provide government services without them.

Careful now, you'll make the UK's conservative readers blow their loads. >

The fact that you can work full time and not have enough is criminal >

I’m a full time carer (currently on maternity leave). My salary per month doesn’t even cover the rent for a one bedroom flat, let alone bills etc. when I return to work I’ll be trying out a course in a completely different sector so I can get a better paid job. Then, maybe, I can afford a house by the time my kid is six. >

I've got a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Forensic Biology. Jobs in my sector (as a whole, I'd take anything tangential to Biology at this point) don't exist where I live. >

I’ve a Bsc in psychology, and I’m pretty much in the same boat :/ I’m hoping that by doing an online course in coding, something will open up for me, ideally where I can work from home. It’s a shame because I love the residents I work with, I just cannot support my family on this money. Once I get a better job I’ll still visit them. >

I took a remote position for a real-estate company that pays above average for my area (because they're based in another county, but still very modest earnings, not enough to move out, just enough to support my folks) but to be honest it's soul-crushing work. Not a day goes by I don't look for something else or try to come up with some business idea but I'm ill suited for this kind of thing, I'm a lab rat, I do field work.
Stay strong. >

Thank you, you too. >

Tories: maybe we should improve living standards so there’s less protests and strikes? Lol nah let’s create new rules to make striking and protesting even harder and illegal >

What's the point of a voting system that gives you absolute majority power on 43% of the vote if you can't use that power to force others to make you money???! >

Union leaders : "walk out to help out" >

Solidarity forever. >

We’ve lived on too little for too long 
Wages are piss poor and the current financial system relies on these poor wages to sustain its current output
Travel costs into London are ridiculous and with the added council tax rise and ulez rise it’ll get even worse
To top it all of, brexit and a party that seem to not actually stand for anything anymore besides pure unadulterated neo liberal growth 
Fuck rishi >

I stand with the unions! People have had enough and are not going to take Tory lies sitting down any longer. >

I'm in the UK. I'm not one of the striking workers.
I hope they grind the country to a fucking halt. They should walk out and stay out till the government buckles. >

Bout time for the elites to stop squeezing the poor. Before the elites get squeezed themseves.