The latest labour market conflict this summer as double-digit inflation nibbles away at salaries caused London's transportation system to come to a complete standstill on Friday as train and bus workers held strikes over pay and conditions.
According to Transport for London (TfL), numerous bus routes in the city's west have been interrupted, and all London Underground and Overground train lines have been suspended or partially suspended.
Tens of thousands of employees from the larger national rail network went on strike on Thursday and will do the same again on Saturday.
This year has already seen a number of train strikes organised by unions who want to see their members' wages and working conditions reflect the skyrocketing cost of living brought on by oil price inflation. These strikes have created disruption for commuters across the nation.
Data showed inflation at 10.1% in July, the highest since February 1982, as rising energy costs resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hit consumers directly through their household bills, and indirectly through rising food prices.
That has led to a standoff between firms, who say rising costs and falling demand limit their room to negotiate, unions who say their workers cannot afford to live and the government, which is worried that big wage increases may fuel inflation.
“We don’t want to be in a 1970s vicious circle where you end up with salaries increasing, inflation increasing and so on and so forth. You never get out of this,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the BBC.
The RMT said the underground strike was in response to a lack of assurances about jobs and pensions from TfL. In a letter to Shapps, the union accused him of waging ideological war against rail workers.
TfL is itself in prolonged negotiations with the government after the expiration of an emergency state funding deal, in part necessitated by a post-pandemic fall in passengers.
Workers in other British industries are also planning future strikes or moving towards industrial action. These include port workers, lawyers, teachers, nurses, firefighters, and waste collection, airport and postal staff.