Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
newsJul 10, 202328:17pending

Why are so many workers on strike?

Analysis

About this episode

Will 2023 be known as the summer of discontent? This year, nearly every corner of the country has been affected by some kind of industrial action, and more is coming. Teachers, doctors, nurses, railway workers, airport security, civil servants are among the many professions which have called strikes to protest against, amongst other things, future pay packets during a cost of living crisis. But do labour union tactics really deliver for their members, or does the strong bargaining position of the government come out on top in the end?

In this edition of Analysis, Faisal Islam hears from three top union leaders, along with industrial relations experts, about the challenges of calling and maintaining strike actions and the tolls it can take on members and the public. Where lies the balance of power between a workforce banding together to demand a better deal and the public which has to work around disappearing services?

You can learn more about this topic by watching the BBC 2 documentary Strike: Inside the Unions available on BBC iPlayer.

Contributors: Sharon Graham - General Secretary: Unite Union Mick Lynch - General Secretary: Rail, Maritime and Transport Union Pat Cullen - General Secretary: Royal College of Nursing Jerry Cope - Former Pay Review Body Chair Mark Stuart - Montague Burton Professor of Employment Relations, University of Leeds Lord Richard Balfe - Member, House of Lords

Presenter: Faisal Islam Producer: Sandra Kanthal Editor: Clare Fordham Programme Coordinator: Maria Ogundele

Get every episode summarized

Each time Analysis publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

Hosts & guests

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

Why are so many workers on strike?

Analysis

0:00
28:17

More episodes

More from Analysis

View all episodes →