The news that strike days in the UK exceeded half a million in July and August – the highest two-month figure in more than a decade – is good news for everyone interested in justice or social mobility.
When progressive causes are at their weakest, opponents are capable of painting them as dividing the public – tenants but not homeowners, for instance, or ‘just’ students.
By contrast, the UK’s 5.5 million trade union members make up the country’s largest voluntary organisation. Among the many unions that have voted to strike is the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), for the first time in its 106-year history. The three largest hospitals in the UK are in Manchester, Glasgow and Nottingham – a north London clique, they’re not.
