The social unrest continues in the United Kingdom.
After a series of walkouts among railway, postal and dockworkers on Thursday, London's public transport network will be practically paralyzed on Friday August 19 and will remain very disrupted throughout the weekend due to a call for a strike over wages. and working conditions.
This movement, the largest in decades, has continued since the beginning of the summer in reaction to galloping inflation which is devouring the purchasing power of the British.
Severe disruption is expected on all London Underground lines, London Overground rail links will be reduced and dozens of bus routes in the west of the city will not operate normally, Transport for London (TFL) said, the capital's network operator.
Throughout the country, the watchword is the same: employees are demanding increases in their pay in line with inflation, which reached 10.1% in July over one year and could exceed 13% in October.
Prices are notably driven by gas prices, on which the country is very dependent and which are soaring due to the war in Ukraine, but also by disruptions in supply chains and shortages of workers in the wake of Covid-19. and Brexit.
On Sunday, dockers at the port of Felixstowe (east of England) - the largest for freight in the country - will in turn start an eight-day strike, threatening to halt much of the traffic of goods from the country.
Postal workers, employees of the telecom operator BT, Amazon handlers, but also criminal lawyers or garbage collectors have also walked out or plan to do so.
The movements could last beyond the summer, and spread to education or even health officials.
With AFP and Reuters
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