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Britain lost nearly 4 million days to strikes over the past year – most since the 1980s: study

  • Many strikes have been fuelled by real-terms falls in pay of more than 9 per cent in the highly unionised public sector. But it’s not all about pay
  • Working conditions, exhaustion and stress are also front of mind for the doctors, teachers, postal workers and others on the picket lines

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Members of the Society of Radiographers,  a professional body for diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy workers, on the picket line outside a hospital in south London last month. Photo: PA Wire/dpa
dpa
Around 3.9 million working days in Britain have been lost to industrial action in the past year, more than at any point since the 1980s, according to new research.

Many of the strikes have been fuelled by real-terms falls in pay of more than 9 per cent in the highly unionised public sector, said the Resolution Foundation.

Sectors including health, education, the postal services and railways have been responsible for 96 per cent of all days lost to strike action since 2021, said the think tank.

Junior doctors gather to protest outside Downing Street in London on Friday in support of a four-day strike as part of their industrial action over pay. Photo: EPA-EFE
Junior doctors gather to protest outside Downing Street in London on Friday in support of a four-day strike as part of their industrial action over pay. Photo: EPA-EFE
Its report, released as junior doctors continue a four-day walkout, said high inflation meant average weekly pay for all workers was 4.1 per cent lower in real terms in the three months to May than it was in the same quarter in 2021.
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But real-terms pay for public sector workers fell by 9.2 per cent over the same period and for those in health and social care it fell by 9.8 per cent, the study indicated.

The foundation said the strikes were not just about pay, warning that working conditions, exhaustion and stress also played an important part.

The public-sector pay squeeze also appears to have contributed to an increase in vacancies, with those in health, education and public administration 33 per cent higher in March than in December 2019, compared with 23 per cent higher across the rest of the economy, the report said.

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