[Politics] Do we need a General Strike?

Herr Tubthumper · Dec 16, 2022

Next up, Amazon workers.

Amazon workers in Coventry vote for strike action

More than 98% of them backed strikes after an offer of a 50p per hour pay rise, the GMB union says.

www.bbc.com

Zeberdi · Dec 16, 2022

Herr Tubthumper said:
Next up, Amazon workers.

Amazon workers in Coventry vote for strike action

More than 98% of them backed strikes after an offer of a 50p per hour pay rise, the GMB union says.

www.bbc.com

Thanks - Some background here

‘I just want to live’: how UK Amazon workers came to brink of strike

Worker describes conditions in the Coventry warehouse and why he ended up joining a union

www.theguardian.com

The Coventry strike really will be landmark action in the UK - Amazon has traditionally had a long antipathy to unions and the battle to get unionised is going on in the States too

‘People feel intimidated’: the battle to unionize second US Amazon warehouse

Wages and safety concerns are behind the push but the company is fighting fiercely to defeat the union drive, workers say

www.theguardian.com

This is another group of workers I would heavily support in strike action - the stories of frankly unacceptable levels of Health & Safety infringements in Amazon Warehouses, low rates of pay for sorters and delivery workers and of a high pressured inflexible working environments means for me, Amazon employees are very much in need of unionisation.

These private sector Mega-multinationals crossing national boundaries with, in Amazon’s case, over 1.6 million employees, are vast monolithic organisations with often impenetrable lines of accountability- that‘s a lot of people with flimsy hopes of rectifying workplace injustices.

Amazon was my lifeline during the Pandemic and due to my neurological condition, lack of transport, being in a semi-rural area etc, it is impossible to avoid a dependency on online shopping. Amazon workers, with fast and reliable deliveries have improved the quality of my life immeasurably - I would of course support anything that improves theirs.

warmleyseagull · Dec 16, 2022

We really need a General Striker. TB take note...

Zeberdi · Dec 21, 2022

Poll closes today - thank you everyone for voting. Feel free to crunch the numbers and interpret them as you wish!

Meanwhile this from the picket line today

Don’t let it be said that ambulance crews are ‘trying to harm people’!

beorhthelm · Dec 21, 2022

Zeberdi said:
Poll closes today - thank you everyone for voting. Feel free to crunch the numbers and interpret them as you wish!

Meanwhile this from the picket line today

Don’t let it be said that ambulance crews are ‘trying to harm people’!

raising questions about how ambulances are misused, need for better prioritisation from managment (who send them out) and education for people not to misuse. is there a need for some alternative service that covers low level call outs?

Springal · Dec 21, 2022

beorhthelm said:
raising questions about how ambulances are misused, need for better prioritisation from managment (who send them out) and education for people not to misuse. is there a need for some alternative service that covers low level call outs?

Probably. A large part of it is social services driven - people that just need better care, people with mental health issues etc.

Similar with the Police, often used for things clearly not within their remit

BBassic · Dec 21, 2022

Springal said:
Probably. A large part of it is social services driven - people that just need better care, people with mental health issues etc.

My ex works (possibly worked, we've not spoken in a while) in the library service and she'd often talk about people with obvious mental health needs who would spend all day, every day in the library because they had nowhere else to go. And of course they started shutting the libraries down as well.

rippleman · Dec 21, 2022

beorhthelm said:
raising questions about how ambulances are misused, need for better prioritisation from managment (who send them out) and education for people not to misuse. is there a need for some alternative service that covers low level call outs?

People call ambulances and go to A&E when they get no response from their GPs. Phones aren't answered. Promised callbacks aren't made. We need the GPs to be taking far more responsibility and working longer hours and weekends etc to relieve the burden on the frontline emergency NHS services.

chickens · Dec 21, 2022

rippleman said:
People call ambulances and go to A&E when they get no response from their GPs. Phones aren't answered. Promised callbacks aren't made. We need the GPs to be taking far more responsibility and working longer hours and weekends etc to relieve the burden on the frontline emergency NHS services.

My personal view is the opposite. GP is already a deeply unattractive job for doctors who want any form of work/life balance, and are forced to effectively be business administrators/bean counters as well as highly qualified medics.

Let’s reduce workload and financial admin requirements on GPs, making it an attractive option for newly qualified doctors, and we can then start increasing their numbers. That is how we get back to a sane place with GP services.

Piling an extra pallet of bricks into the arms of an already overburdened labourer is not actually helping them.

Herr Tubthumper · Dec 21, 2022

rippleman said:
People call ambulances and go to A&E when they get no response from their GPs. Phones aren't answered. Promised callbacks aren't made. We need the GPs to be taking far more responsibility and working longer hours and weekends etc to relieve the burden on the frontline emergency NHS services.

Or maybe have more GPs?

Machiavelli · Dec 21, 2022

rippleman said:
People call ambulances and go to A&E when they get no response from their GPs. Phones aren't answered. Promised callbacks aren't made. We need the GPs to be taking far more responsibility and working longer hours and weekends etc to relieve the burden on the frontline emergency NHS services.

I'm also going to disagree with you on this. GP has also been dragged down through lack of funds and appropriate oversight of the NHS. Once the NHS is on its knees, nice old Rupert Murdoch can say that the healthcare model in the UK is no longer working, so we need a different model. You might even find such a suggestion in The Times today. You might even find other posters on here calling for a debate on the future of healthcare in the UK, fuelled by dodgy date, and then getting all disappointed when the call for a debate is dismissed.

talk2knighty · Dec 23, 2022

Early days but it seems rather to the detriment of ‘Border Farce’ that travellers arriving into the country today report little disruption and some suggesting a more efficient service

Airports running ‘better than usual’ in ‘embarrassing’ blow to Border Force strikes

Government had been braced for disruption as a week-long strike by 1,000 passport staff at six airports began

www.telegraph.co.uk

HalfaSeatOn · Dec 23, 2022

talk2knighty said:
Early days but it seems rather to the detriment of ‘Border Farce’ that travellers arriving into the country today report little disruption and some suggesting a more efficient service View attachment 154974

Airports running ‘better than usual’ in ‘embarrassing’ blow to Border Force strikes

Government had been braced for disruption as a week-long strike by 1,000 passport staff at six airports began

www.telegraph.co.uk

if I was a passenger arriving back tired after a long flight, I would probably deem a very efficient service as being no one checking my passport so I can get through to baggage quickly.

talk2knighty · Dec 23, 2022

HalfaSeatOn said:
if I was a passenger arriving back tired after a long flight, I would probably deem a very efficient service as being no one checking my passport so I can get through to baggage quickl

Army of stand-in workers quashes fears of Heathrow chaos | Heathrow airport | The Guardian

Passengers report shorter queues than usual despite Border Force strike as military brought in to help

amp.theguardian.com

I’m sure we all would, however it seems those that actually DID arrive back today were met by Army & Navy personal who were extremely efficient and processed people quickly according to the article

Zeberdi · Dec 23, 2022

Border Control - I had 6 relatives arriving from Michigan and New York today, including 2 small children, were supposed to arrive at 0:07 this morning, arrived at 14:00 so a 7 hour delay. When I was told they were delayed, I immediately assumed it was down to border patrol but it wasn’t. The reason was not delays at Heathrow but flying out of New York in one of the worst storms to hit the US in a generation! They were obviously exhausted and fed up so I didn’t dwell on it but will ask in the morning exactly what happened when they went through passport control, however, I got the sense it wasn’t much of an issue.

NHS - Yesterday, I was all day at the hospital - very well staffed and no disruptions and even managed to being forward a CT angiogram that I was booked to have in February! I think the ambulance crews have called off further strikes for now.

Railway - Travelling long distance on trains today - all staff I spoke to, including platform staff and a lovely lady on passenger assist, were more worried about loosing their jobs than pay increases. Lots of cancellations across the network due to staff shortages etc but tomorrow will be worse. I had a long conversation with the female conductor - one of the issues I raised was are If trains end up being unmanned, there are all sorts of security issues for vulnerable people (elderly, disabled, late night lone female travellers etc). She said agreed and she was also very concerned about young lads drinking and harassing other passengers ( that only today had she asked a group of loud disruptive drinkers to to leave the train at the next station) - she said, if the trains were unmanned, these incidents would increase.

Royal Mail - still not received the majority of my normal Christmas cards - my dear old Mum did not get hers from me. However, not going to say anything bad as my neighbours are both postman and one of them stopped to give me a lift this morning when she saw me was walking into the town in torrential rain!

Swansman · Dec 23, 2022

talk2knighty said:
Early days but it seems rather to the detriment of ‘Border Farce’ that travellers arriving into the country today report little disruption and some suggesting a more efficient service View attachment 154974

Airports running ‘better than usual’ in ‘embarrassing’ blow to Border Force strikes

Government had been braced for disruption as a week-long strike by 1,000 passport staff at six airports began

www.telegraph.co.uk

No shit that it gets smoother to get in without Border Force... true for the average Joe, true for the average suicide bomber. Would be a lot easier for me to get into a nuclear power plant if they didn't have any security guards as well. These things are designed to be overdimensioned and pointless in 99.9% of the cases because that 00.1% when border security etc. is needed could sometimes cause a lot of troubles.

Safety thing, really. I'm not a big "safety first"-person (shit happens) but I do understand the point of it.

Pevenseagull · Dec 23, 2022

At Kings there are hospital workers cycling in all weather 10 miles in and out of work not knowing when their shift will end, working until they drop and often sleeping in store rooms because they are too knackered to cycle home ... and having to use foodbanks in the hospital.

Last time I was up there one of the specialist nurses was in tears because they couldn't afford to do a job that they were brilliant at.

5th largest economy in the world.

And the Tory solution is to deregulate banking.

attila · Dec 24, 2022

Yes. Co-ordinate all strikes. Tories wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on poor quality PPE "outsourced' to their friends. The 'Britannia Unchained' budget (lauded by their Daily Mail sycophants as 'at last, a real Tory budget') cost the taxpayer £40 billion - with no apology from the Mail. And after all this, and 2008, no cap for bankers' bonuses but a cap for essential workers' wages. And the Tories DARE to suggest there's 'not enough money' for decent wage increases as the number of billionaires hits record levels due to stock market shenanigans during Covid.

General strike now, with one demand: a general election. This government of 3 prime ministers and a mandate to 'get Brexit done' in the distant past has no legitimacy and no credibility. And the Tories' desperate, Trumplike attempts to steal the next election with a voter ID system that makes it easy for my credulous, servile, benighted, brainwashed generation - not all, but 65% as the Tories know - to vote and sticks obstacles in the way of the young (pensioner bus pass OK: over 18 student pass not) needs to be confronted. Any legitimate voter turned away at a polling station for 'wrong ID' should refuse to leave the queue. Direct action works. We did it, we know it. Build a bonfire. Stick the Tories on the top. End this disgusting nonsense.

pastafarian · Dec 24, 2022

talk2knighty said:
Army of stand-in workers quashes fears of Heathrow chaos | Heathrow airport | The Guardian

Passengers report shorter queues than usual despite Border Force strike as military brought in to help

amp.theguardian.com

I’m sure we all would, however it seems those that actually DID arrive back today were met by Army & Navy personal who were extremely efficient and processed people quickly according to the article

My brother and family flew in this morning, quickest he has ever got through Gatwick and he is hoping border force go on strike next time he flies in.
And yes he was fully checked as usual and not just waved through to clear queues

Pevenseagull · Dec 24, 2022

attila said:
Yes. Co-ordinate all strikes. Tories wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on poor quality PPE "outsourced' to their friends. The 'Britannia Unchained' budget (lauded by their Daily Mail sycophants as 'at last, a real Tory budget') cost the taxpayer £40 billion - with no apology from the Mail. And after all this, and 2008, no cap for bankers' bonuses but a cap for essential workers' wages. And the Tories DARE to suggest there's 'not enough money' for decent wage increases as the number of billionaires hits record levels due to stock market shenanigans during Covid.

General strike now, with one demand: a general election. This government of 3 prime ministers and a mandate to 'get Brexit done' in the distant past has no legitimacy and no credibility. And the Tories' desperate, Trumplike attempts to steal the next election with a voter ID system that makes it easy for my credulous, servile, benighted, brainwashed generation - not all, but 65% as the Tories know - to vote and sticks obstacles in the way of the young (pensioner bus pass OK: over 18 student pass not) needs to be confronted. Any legitimate voter turned away at a polling station for 'wrong ID' should refuse to leave the queue. Direct action works. We did it, we know it. Build a bonfire. Stick the Tories on the top. End this disgusting nonsense.

Absolutely .... How did we get here?

Started with breaking the unions and selling off social housing with no replacements.

Sell

Privatise

Sell

Privatise

Fail

Socialise the cost of failure to pay for it.

Sell again

Deregulate

Fail

Socialise the cost of greed

Institute of economic affairs (a f***ing charity) get all their ducks in a row

Crash the economy

Socialise the cost

Fail

(Nothing against punks ... Don't want to offend them)

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[Politics] Do we need a General Strike?

Do we need a General Strike and force a General Election?

Yes, we need a General Strike to force a General Election

Yes, we need a General Strike but just to force resolutions with this Government

No, keep strikes limited to just the existing ones

End all strikes now

A General Election ASAP

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