Mass strikes in the UK

Some 70,000 staff at more than 150 British universities began a three-day strike on Tuesday demanding a pay rise.

The University and College Union (UCU) said workers at higher education institutions in the kingdom would go on strike for 18 years in February and March.

It is expected that the strikes will affect the learning process of about 2.5 million students in the UK. The strikes involve not only teaching staff, but also university administrative staff and librarians. They are demanding pay rises in line with inflation, which has reached a 40-year high of 10.5 per cent year-on-year.

It is worth noting that firefighters were the latest public sector union to vote for a strike. Initially rejecting the five per cent pay proposal, members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) supported the strike with 88 per cent of the vote with 73 per cent turnout. More than 33,000 firefighters and dispatch officers voted on whether or not to take action.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said the "overwhelming" vote gave a "decisive mandate" for the strike.

A major wave of strikes sparked by soaring inflation and falling real incomes and living standards gripped the United Kingdom late last year. Health workers, railway workers, postmen and a number of other professions are taking part in the strikes.

The British authorities have repeatedly stated that they cannot afford to raise the salaries of people employed in the public sector in line with the level of inflation, as such measures would only lead to a further rise in prices in the country and put an excessive burden on the budget.