Only 33,000 workers went on strike in 2017 (Number of workers striking at lowest since 1893, 31 May). Even now, critics of trade unions still refer to the 1978-79 “winter of discontent”. But that was decades ago and post-Thatcher industrial relations are radically different. Less than 25% of employees are now trade union members. The draconian Trade Union Act 2016 further restricts strikes and should be scrapped.
Attacks on the right to strike are undemocratic, especially when too many workers already have so little collective bargaining power, evidenced by falling wages and even by the rising food bank use by the low-paid. The power pendulum has swung too sharply towards employers. Many non-unionised workers are largely unprotected from exploitation, with worrying echoes of Victorian Britain in today’s “modern, flexible labour market”.
It would be incorrect to imply from the decline in strikes that workplaces are now bastions of harmony. Conflict at work remains widespread, but is often driven underground and less visibly manifests itself through grievances, absence, turnover, the withdrawing of commitment, sickness, and new forms of protest.
Compared with 276,000 working days lost to strikes last year, 137.3m working days were lost to sickness and injury in 2016.
Professor Tony Dobbins
University of Birmingham
• As an active trade unionist, I would suggest that there is a complex story behind the fact that 2017 saw some of the lowest strike days since records began in 1893.
Firstly, many issues in the world of work can seem individualised. Grievances around working practices, workplace cultures and working hours are common. Unions can and do pursue such matters collectively but individual representation is often required. The hard work of unions is not reflected simply in strike statistics.
Secondly, many feel that problems at work have causes elsewhere, and in particular government austerity policies. The 2017 general election saw a Labour vote which surprised many pundits. Workplace union representatives were less surprised.
Keith Flett
London
• When a nation’s workforce has little power, poor conditions and low pay, the “number of workers striking at lowest since 1893” says it all really.
Jude McGowan
London
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