the notice must specifically concern the employees concerned
Written by on February 2, 2023
Like every day, the franceinfo evening news takes a tour of the news broadcast by European television channels. It’s Eurozapping on Wednesday February 2.
On RAI, the pope’s mass in Kinshasa. A vibrant tribute on this second day of the sovereign pontiff’s visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than a million people attended mass in Kinshasa. The opportunity for the Pope to alert to the situation in the country, where armed groups have killed hundreds of thousands of people. “It’s a good time for all of you in this country, who claim to be Christians but indulge in violence, to listen to the lord who tells you ‘lay down your arms, embrace mercy’,” Francis I said.
Spanish Prime Minister in Morocco
In Spain, the visit of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, to Morocco. He came to establish an economic partnership with the country. Spain has recognized the independence of Western Sahara, since then it hopes to normalize its relations and limit the assaults of migrants in Ceuta or Melilla. Its Portuguese neighbor is in the grip of crop thefts. Hundreds of stripped olive trees and 50 people locked up. Portugal has set up special patrols to track down these flights.
France is not the only one to experience strong social mobilization. This is even more the case in the United Kingdom, where strikes and demonstrations are multiplying to demand wage increases. And the response of the Prime Minister is therefore firmness.
Rishi Sunak baptized this bill “minimum service”. Conversely, the Labor opposition dubbed it the “anti-strikes law”. The principle of the text, adopted Monday, January 30 in the House of Commons, is simple: impose in most public administrations, health, education, transport, customs, a minimum number of employees forced to remain at their position in the event of a social conflict. And it is each time the direction which will decide the number of requisitioned. In case of refusal of the interested parties: legal proceedings and risk of dismissal.
This hardening, which has yet to be validated by the upper chamber, the House of Lords, complements already very restrictive legislation on the right to strike in the United Kingdom, since the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher sought to break the miners’ strike. For example, there cannot be a strike without prior consultation by the unions of their members by post. It takes a minimum of 50% of voters and of course, a result in favor of stopping work. Otherwise, there is no strike. Similarly, “solidarity strikes” are prohibited: the notice must specifically concern the employees concerned.
A conflict unprecedented for 12 years
The unions are standing up against this reform. Protect the right to strike. This is precisely one of the slogans of the strike on Wednesday February 1st. The country is indeed affected by an unprecedented movement for 12 years. The entire education system is affected, from kindergarten to university: 80% of the schools concerned according to the unions. And the strike also affects the public service and railway workers on February 1, in total more than half a million strikers. The series of conflicts that have shaken the country since the fall will continue.
The week of February 6, health personnel will go on strike: nurses and paramedics. Then it will again be the transport, the postal workers, and also the customs officers. Be careful, if you want to go to the United Kingdom during the next holidays, you have to expect disruptions. Whatever the categories of staff, the demand is always the same: salary increases, to cope with inflation which exceeds 10%.
20 points ahead for the opposition
Opposite the power says no. There is no question of raising salaries, replies the Sunak government. The coffers are empty and in any case this would fuel inflation. As for the limitation of the right to strike, the government is betting on support from public opinion and on the discontent that could end up being aroused by the series of conflicts. For the moment, we are not there. The British rather support the movement. It is above all the government that remains terribly unpopular: the Conservatives are still 20 points behind in the polls on the Labor opposition. Twenty points, it hasn’t moved for months.
Rishi Sunak will celebrate his 100th day on Thursday February 2 at 10 Downing Street. Aside from congratulating himself for holding out longer than the short-lived Liz Truss before him, he doesn’t have much cause for satisfaction. And the British economy continues to plunge: it is announced in recession this year. The only one in this case in the entire western world.
