UK Unions on Strike

Earlier in the year, Katie and I watched closely as the unions in Wisconsin fought to maintain a number of their rights.  We watched as the public sector union employees protested at the capital and the state of Wisconsin spent weeks in the national spotlight.  

Striking union workers in Truro

Well today in the UK, as millions of public sector employees (all who belong to unions) are on strike, the news headlines are eerily familiar.  The only difference here is that a large amount of NHS (National Health Service) employees are also on strike, which made today a very interesting day at the hospital.  The doctors and nurses were not allowed to strike, but almost every other employee (including Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists and some Speech Therapists) spent the day picketing throughout the hospital grounds.  Since the hospitals here are all public property, this is very different than when the nurses went on strike in Minnesota a few years ago.  Since the American hospitals are mostly private, those on strike were limited to the "public" sidewalks that surrounded the hospital.  In the UK however, the workers are allowed to physically walk up and down the hospital corridors of with picket signs.  (NOTE: Those who did this remained VERY quite so they did not disrupt the patients.)

To further complicate things, all teachers in the country and almost all airline workers were also on strike.  With an estimated 12-hour wait time for anyone going through customs at the major airports, let's just say we are thankful that we're not traveling today.  

So, what is the strike all about?  This particular strike is essentially about one thing.  The government has proposed to reform the public sector pension plans.  The government is requesting that public employees contribute more out of each paycheck into their pensions, the value of which continues to decrease each year.  To quote my friend Tim, a particular militant physiotherapist I work with, "Today is about all of us being sick of paying more, to get less."  

Similar to the protests and picketing that took place in Wisconsin earlier this year, this strike will be made up of mostly peaceful professionals exercising their right to assemble for something they believe in.  The only difference is that over here, there will likely be more breaks for tea.