VIDEO: New Wave of Strikes Sweeps UK as Educators, Transport Workers and More Walk Out

Workers across nearly every sector of the UK economy have balloted for or held strikes over the past year as management pay offers fail to match the rising cost of living — fuelled by the government's sanctions on Russia.

A fresh wave of strikes has hit the UK as state and private pay offers fail to keep up with double-digit inflation.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said around half a million workers were set to take action on Wednesday.

Train drivers' union ASLEF held its latest nationwide strike, with most train operating companies affected. Another day of action was scheduled for Friday. RMT members also refused to cross picket lines.

An ASLEF spokesman said the strike was "very effective" and that no trains were running in Kent, his local area. He said industry lobby the Rail Delivery Group said they expected 37 per cent of services to run, but that was "disingenuous".

"There are 35 train companies in England Wales and Scotland, and we're only on strike at 15 of them," the spokesman pointed out.

Train drivers have not received a pay rise for "nigh on four years", ASLEF said, adding that it wanted its members "to be able to buy in 2023 what they could buy in 2019".

National Education Union (NEU) members walked out at schools across the country, while the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) held strikes in Clackmannanshire and Aberdeen.

And the University and College Union (UCU) took action at 150 UK universities in their dispute over pensions, pay and working conditions, affecting up to 2.5 million students.

"University vice-chancellors have been given multiple opportunities to use the sector's vast wealth to resolve these disputes," said UCU general secretary Jo Grady. "Instead, they have forced staff back to the picket line and brought disruption to students."

London bus drivers, organised by super-union Unite, also walked out at Abellio, which has an outsourced contract with Transport for London.

Elsewhere, learner drivers had their tests cancelled on Wednesday as strike action by civil servants' union PCS hit some DVSA testing centres.

'Conditions, Not Pay'

Teachers picketing outside one primary school in Plymouth, Devon, said the dispute was "not about the pay, it's about the conditions."

They said management at the privately-run academy trust that runs their school had not yet made a pay offer for 2023, highlighting the fragmented nature of public education in the UK.

The striking teachers said they worked 60 hours a week in real terms as class sizes had grown over the years, and that they had to come in during the school summer holidays to paint their classrooms as there was no budget for redecorating.

By contrast, the academy trusts were hiring more and more high-paid executives who they said had not taken the trouble to get to know staff, parents or pupils.

Workers across multiple sectors have rejected employers' pay offers of around four or five per cent amid the cost-of-living crisis — a result of the COVID-19 shutdown and sanctions on Russian energy exports.

UK inflation stood at at 10.5 per cent for the consumer price index (CPI) in December and 15.2 per cent for the retail price index (RPI).

The government has insisted that it cannot raise taxes further to fund a pay rise for nurses, ambulance staff and other state employees.