New UK Trade Union Leader Threatens 'Co-Ordinated' Strikes Over Pay

The UK has seen a wave of strikes across both the public and private sector since the summer as bosses' pay offers fail to match soaring inflation rates. Postal and rail workers have been joined by nurses and ambulance staff.

The leader of Britain's main trade union federation has threatened the Conservative government with a coordinated "wave" of strikes if it does not increase wage offers.

Recently-elected Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Paul Nowak, who will officially take over from Frances O'Grady in January, told TV news reporters on Thursday that unions affiliated to his federation could schedule strikes on the same days for maximum disruption.

The strikes "could end tomorrow if the government was prepared for serious and sensible discussions about pay," he said, warning of more strikes if Downing Street did not make concessions.

Unions had a "responsibility" to support striking workers, the trade unionist insisted, "and that means in some circumstances coordinated industrial action."

"Our unions will be continuing to talk in the new year about how we best support and coordinate unions taking that strike action," Nowak said. "In some cases, that might mean unions taking strike action on the same day and in other cases it will be a rolling wave of industrial action."

Workers across diverse sectors have balloted for strike action or walked out since the summer as soaring inflation — fuelled by Western sanctions on Russia — means employers' pay offers of around five per cent add up to an effective wage cut.

The Royal College of Nursing held its first nationwide strike earlier in December in support of its demand for a rise five per cent above the Retail Price Index of inflation, which is currently running at around 16 per cent, which it says is needed to make up for a decade of below-inflation wage rises.

Ambulance paramedics and support staff also walked out this month, while the Rail, Maritime and Transport union held strikes over Christmas at both private train operating companies and state-own infrastructure firm Railtrack over their joint pay offer.

"We want to see public services where workers are properly rewarded and respected," Nowak said. "There is overwhelming support for NHS workers, so it is not good enough for government ministers to continue to put their fingers in their ears."