Already this year, we’ve seen strikes by train drivers, the London underground, barristers, postal workers, doctors, British Telecom, teachers, and refuse collectors, among others. Currently, December 2022, we’re seeing strikes by paramedics, railway workers, border staff, civil servants and Royal Mail staff. Just yesterday (Thurs), in an unprecedented move, up to 100,000 nurses took part in a one-day walkout across the UK.
In normal times, it would be hard not to have sympathy with workers facing a large real terms pay cut and striking to get a better deal. Especially since some claimed to be using all their monthly earnings to pay the mortgage or rent, the bills, the food, with little, if anything, left over.
Downward spiral
Yet it is harder to feel sympathy when their actions will mean that everyone else – who may be in a similar or worse position – suffers even more. In any case, much of the pay increases demanded will have to come from other taxpayers (or customers) who are in no position to strike.
The government are caught in a bind; if they allow wages to go up too much, inflation becomes not just a transient affair, dissipating once the current exacerbating factors are over, but one that sets off a downward cycle that we will struggle to get out of, causing more strike action year upon year.
The government are caught in a bind; if they allow wages to go up too much, inflation becomes not just a transient affair, but one that sets off a downward cycle, causing more strike action year upon year.
The strikes by Royal Mail staff and RMT union members both have the potential to destroy the organisations they work for, as customers look elsewhere (I’m sending e-cards this Christmas!). If Mick Lynch gets his way, the strikes could destroy the whole country (his demands seem to be based on ideological, political grounds rather than purely practical ones – and the strikes seem to have a level of co-ordination that hints at a political, even revolutionary motive.)
Common enemy?
The government could evoke a ‘Blitz spirit’ – telling us we are all in it together, and we should help each other out (and many people are already doing that). Telling us we are up against a common enemy.
But as the implications of the war in Ukraine, sanctions, energy price-hikes and world-wide food shortages are the main reasons things have got so bad (there are other, longer-term reasons, not least the huge post-lockdown hangover), then our leaders would have to imply that we are directly at war with Russia. This is something they would not want to admit, as it would put the UK more firmly at risk of direct action by Putin, who already sees Britain as the main European supporter of Kiev’s efforts to thwart his plans.
But although costs have indeed spiked due to the war, many people were struggling even before this. Young people are now beginning to realise that they will never make the same level of income or property as their parents, for the first time in living memory.
Causes economic and spiritual
Why should this be? People often ask why people are using foodbanks in 21st century Britain – as if we should have a God-given right to prosperity, just because, historically, we have enjoyed an extended season of plenty.
People often ask why people are using foodbanks in 21st century Britain – as if we should have a God-given right to prosperity.
There are a whole host of reasons. One of Britain’s main economic concerns in recent years has been poor productivity, even when compared with similar countries. Productivity – the value of goods and services produced in relation to the hours worked – has failed to increase in the way expected.
Economists and politicians look to investment, or lack of it, as a reason – and that has a part to play. Good technology, for example, can help workers achieve, produce, or serve much more than they would without it, and this has formed a sound basis for the increased wages that over decades we were seeing, but has lessened significantly. House prices form another significant factor.
We can look at spiritual reasons – God has removed His protection from our land, as has been proclaimed many times in Prophecy Today. The nation is being shaken, particularly its principal institutions, to which list – perhaps topped by the NHS –we can now add Royal Mail, the railways, and the Bank of England.
Sunday working
I wonder if we can add another – one based on Biblical values. Some union demands are unreasonable and unrealistic in the current context. But one sound reason for striking caught my eye. I understand that one of the reasons Royal Mail staff are striking is apparently to do with Sunday working. Currently, they can opt in for working on a Sunday – which also attracts a higher pay rate. But, due in part to pressures from competitors, Royal Mail wishes to include Sunday working in the standard contract.
In 1994, the Sunday Trading Act allowed for much greater commercial trading to take place on a Sunday. This had no initial impact on productivity. Current workers were protected from being forced to work on a Sunday. But as time went on, it became much harder to get a job in a variety of sectors if you were unwilling to work on Sundays.
This, for those affected, has quite an impact on family life. Before, most things would stop on the ‘Sabbath’. Families would spend time together in low-key ways – people would have time to rest. Nowadays, many parents are forced to work; and others (who aren’t in churches) will be shopping, going to the cinema, visiting attractions – in turn forcing others to work. Sunday has become a day like any other.
Before, most things would stop on the ‘Sabbath’. Families would spend time together in low-key ways – people would have time to rest. Nowadays, Sunday has become a day like any other.
All this has a significant impact, in the long term, on the nation’s well-being. People become less productive if they don’t have proper rest time, and families suffer. Everything becomes go-go-go, all the time. Eventually, the prosperity that we were enjoying slows down, then goes into reverse. Britain has been in decline for some time – even before the effects of the pandemic overreaction, the overspending, and now the Ukraine war, took effect.
Day of rest
God instated a day of rest for everyone, dating right back to Moses (and probably before). Yes, it was Shabbat – the Saturday – which perhaps the Church should have stuck with from the start. But, nevertheless, the day of rest has historically served to help our country in good times and in bad, a day which nearly everyone could share in. Yes, emergency services and care-work needed to continue; that much is Biblical. But the time off was a shared experience. A time of worship, rest, and eating together.
The day of rest has historically served to help our country in good times and in bad.
Two examples jump to mind that make this point. In the last economic downturn, toy shops were ones that suffered particularly. But The Entertainer, established and run by a Christian, continued to close on Sundays, allowing all staff the day off with their families. That company continued to thrive, while many that had been open seven days a week collapsed.
It was also interesting to read that following the lockdowns, many restaurants struggled to rehire their staff – and according to one commentator, he had observed that it was because workers had found other jobs which allowed them to spend time with their families, instead of working all weekend.
I put it to Rishi – re-establish a day off each week for the whole country – emergency and essential services excepted. Return to the sound laws that God put in place for our physical and mental well-being, and see if we don’t begin to see a return to the prosperity we once knew. It’s not the only factor, but God gave us these principles not as a burden, but to allow us to thrive.
