Lawyers, longshoremen, railway and subway employees, postal workers and garbage men announce walkouts during the election process of Johnson’s replacement
The Criminal Lawyers Association has placed the next Government of the United Kingdom in the target of its protests demanding better wages and working conditions. Yesterday he chose the date of the selection of, quite possibly, Boris Johnson’s successor as prime minister to intensify the strike that its members have supported since the end of June. The strike will be total, permanent and, in principle, indefinite from September 5, when Liz Truss is expected to pick up the keys to 10 Downing Street, the official residence and office of the British chief executives.
Except for an unexpected turnaround, the Foreign Minister will defeat her opponent, Rishi Rusnak, that day and will take over the reins of a country mired in labor disputes and with a social and media environment of concern in the face of the growing cost of living. Employees of the railways and the London Underground, stevedores of the most important container unloading port, postal and garbage collection workers form picket lines at the entrance of their jobs in an intense schedule of action that the rest of the population raffles without serious disorders for now. Other essential groups, from nurses to teachers, finalize their union action programs in this autumn of discontent.
Truss tweeted days ago that she will not allow “militant unionists to take the country hostage.” And, before the umpteenth blockade of train transport in the wave of strikes in protection of pensions, jobs and security measures, the favorite candidate threatened to process legislative union restrictions as soon as her victory in the conservative primaries is confirmed. .
The criminal collegiate decided to “escalate the action” of protest by a majority of 79.54% of votes. Of the two remaining options, 9.11% preferred to stop the protest and 11.35% supported continuing with the current series of intermittent strikes, in alternate weeks, which began in June. It was the first time that lawyers with colorful headdresses had taken to the streets since 2014. That year, the so-called ‘barristers’ (defend defendants in trials) staged their first strike in protest at the poor level of state legal fees.
broken negotiations
Justice Minister Dominic Raab refuses to meet with the bar association. The negotiation was cut off weeks ago due to the rejection of a 15% rate increase offered by the outgoing government. The lawyers ask for a minimum of 25% in order, according to him, to be able to compensate for decades of disinvestment in the public judicial system. A court-appointed criminal lawyer earns a net annual average of 14,000 euros in the first three years after graduation, with an hourly wage below the basic 11 euros.
The association criticizes that the suspension of the trials due to the strike is costing more money to the taxpayer than the increase in rates that it asks for its affiliates. In the 19 days of revolt up to the 5th, 6,235 legal proceedings, including 1,415 trials, were interrupted in England and Wales. In some cases, the members of the popular jury were dismissed on the second day of hearings, other trials did not even start due to the lack of a legal representative for the defense. “It is an irresponsible decision that will only cause more victims to face delays and anguish,” Secretary of State Sarah Dines denounced, in response to the lawyers’ hardening position.
Meanwhile, the commercial sector grappled with union action at the port of Felixstowe, which moves some four million containers a year. With anchorages for the largest cargo ships, this facility in south-east England controls 40% of Britain’s seaborne trade in driverless containers. The unionized workforce of almost 2,000 employees began a strike on Sunday until the 29th that puts the UK commercial distribution chain at risk.
The Russell advisory group estimates the volume of trade to be affected by the union action in Felixstowe at more than €800m, with clothing and electronic components among the hardest hit sectors.
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