Today was dubbed in the media as Walkout Wednesday, when several public services including teaching, transport, education and even civil servants working for the government are being disrupted as already-stressed and underpaid staff go out on strike.
In this the winter of discontent, some political commentators think that this could eventually lead to the downfall of the Conservative government, however I don’t think that would happen, at least in the short term. In spite of all this, they still have some significant public support, particularly in England, and most of the mainstream media have, with some exceptions, have persistently reufused to do or say anything that will upset the political establishment.
The UK’s anti-trade union laws, already some of the most restrictive in the western word, will be strengthened even further when the Conservative government introduces the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. It is clear that ministers are not prepared to back down and hope that a lot of public opinion will eventually turn against the strikers. Not surprisingly, the Conservatives have continued to blame Labour for the strikes, despite the fact that the oppostion have repeatedly refused to back them and that some of the trade unions taking this course of action are not financially affliated to the party.
With disruption to public services set to continue, any hopes of seeing this series of crises being resolved seem further away than ever.