Unions in at least four European countries carry out strikes on Wednesday (9) and Thursday (10), demanding better wages to face the drop in purchasing power due to strong inflation.
There have been major strikes in Belgium and Greece and on Thursday there are plans to take place in France and the UK, where nurses also voted for the first time in more than a century in favor of a still undated strike.
The entire region faces an exponential increase in energy costs, as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, in addition to living with persistent inflation of 10%, in an explosive scenario that generates impatience and concern in the population.
Thus, the trade union centrals that call for these measures of force agree in affirming that the salaries currently do not allow to face the increase in the cost of living.
On Wednesday, Belgian unions called for a nationwide strike to protect the purchasing power of wages, with rail service suspended and supermarkets closed.
At the capital’s main airport, Brussels-Zaventem, 60% of scheduled flights were canceled due to lack of personnel on operational platforms.
Meanwhile, Charleroi airport (the main hub of Ryanair on the European continent) remained closed, with all its departures cancelled.
The national strike was called by the largest trade union confederation in the country, the General Federation of Labor of Belgium (FGTB, socialist), with the support of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (CSC).
François Reman, a spokesperson for the CSC, said unions demand “to be able to negotiate salary increases when possible.”
In Brussels, only 25% of the rail service was running.
Claims in Greece
In the morning, Athens, a city where traffic is often heavy, felt like an abandoned place, with the total suspension of bus, tram, subway, train and taxi service.
Maritime connections between mainland Greece and the islands of the Aegean and Ionian seas were also suspended, as the union that operates these lines also joined the strike.
Convened by the GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers), around 20,000 people gathered in the capital to protest the dramatic effect these combined crises have on wages.
According to Greek police, agents dispersed protests in Athens, where protesters threw red paint at the Central Bank, and in Salonica.
“The increase in the cost of living is unbearable”, denounced the GSEE, which also called for “increase in wages and social protection for all”.
The Greek government has announced that it has prepared an aid plan so that the population can face high energy tariffs, but unions say it is just a pre-election measure, eight months before the general elections.
British nurses vote on unprecedented national strike
Simultaneously, in the United Kingdom, the RNC (Royal College of Nursing), which represents almost half a million nurses, announced the approval of the first national strike in its 106-year history. The movement does not yet have a start date.
The strike “is expected to start before the end of the year”, the RCN said, without further details, adding that “many of England’s biggest hospitals will be affected”.
“The result of our biggest strike vote shows that a record number of ward personnel are prepared to join the strikes this winter (summer in Brazil),” the union said.
British Health Secretary Steve Barclay called the decision “disappointing”.
The strike will take place in the context of a growing crisis over the rising cost of living that, according to the RCN.
“This is a defining moment in our history, and our fight will continue with strikes and other actions for as long as it takes to get justice for the nursing profession and our patients,” said union secretary general Pat Cullen, in a statement.
“Anger has turned into action: our members say ‘enough’,” he added.
The RCN claims a 5% salary increase above inflation.
Other public health workers — such as ambulance teams or hospital porters and even cleaning staff — also participate in an RNC consultation that can lead to a stoppage.
The British government said it had emergency plans in place in the event of a paramedics strike, but the announcement did not allay fears about the strike’s impact on a sector still struggling to recover from the chaos caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
general dissatisfaction
In France, trade unions called for a one-day national strike on Thursday that is expected to paralyze transport in the capital, Paris, in protest against rising prices.
At first, seven subway lines will have the service interrupted and another seven will work only during peak hours. Only two lines that do not use conductors will work normally.
This long-planned, planned strike is being combined with a call for national mobilization by the most influential of unions, the CGT (General Confederation of Labor).
This union core asks for an increase in the minimum wage and the indexation of wages to inflation.
In Spain, the Platform in Defense of Transport, a group of self-employed and small freight transport companies, asked for the suspension of activities for next Monday (14). This sector had staged a harsh 20-day strike in March.
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