If you were planning to take the kids to cheer on the junior doctors today, you might want to pack a raincoat and dust off the bikes. In case the school and doctor strikes weren’t enough to be getting your head around this week, Wednesday will also see the entire Tube network grind to a halt. Oh, and university staff and civil servants will be back on picket lines around the capital to add to the chaos, too. We would call it Walkout Wednesday, but we’ve had one of those already just last month — and it’s unlikely to be the last.
What’s notable about this particular Walkout Wednesday is that it coincides with Budget Day. So far, the Government has stuck to its line that the current economic crisis means it doesn’t have the money to meet public sector workers’ demands, but union leaders are standing firm, deliberately coordinating their plans for industrial action to cause maximum disruption on the day chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveils his economic plan. Proposed legislation designed to restrict their right to strike is only adding fuel to the mass frustration.
