Today close to 400,000 public sector workers took part in a 24-hour nationwide strike against the government’s pension changes. The government’s proposals mean workers will have to pay higher contributions and work longer hours and yet get lower pensions at the end of their working life. Civil servants, health workers, border force staff and lecturers were among the sections involved in the strike.
The Prison Officers Association (POA) also participated in the protest action by providing only minimum cover in jails in England and Wales. The Ministry of Justice threatened the Prison Officers with an injunction. In spite of this 80% of POA members took part.
Meanwhile, on the same day in a separate protest up to 40,000 off-duty police officers marched through the streets of London, organized by the Police Federation. The protest was against a cut in jobs, wages and pensions. [See also British police seeking the right to strike – a sign of the times for more on the demands of the police officers].
The action of hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, the “illegal” action of the Prison Officers and the protest of police officers is an indication of the growing militant mood of British workers. The fact that it is also affecting prison officers and police officers is an indication of how severe the crisis in Britain has become.
We could ask this Tory/Lib Dem government a very simple question: When the workers of Britain return to the militant traditions of the Miners’ strike in the 1980s who is going to police such action and who is going to guard the arrested striking workers’?
It reminds us of the Berthold Brecht’s poem:
General your tank is a powerful vehicle.
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.
General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.
General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.