This week’s strike by public service workers over pensions has highlighted how at risk in-house services are from union action.
Residents in the north of England, Scotland and Wales faced the worst transport disruption because there are many bus services, car parks, and tunnels not outsourced to private contractors. As Unison pledged to hold further strikes, there were calls to make greater use of the private sector in order to avoid further industrial action.
Tyne and Wear commuters suffered more than most in the 24-hour action on Tuesday, as the Metro system, Tyne tunnel, and six council-run, multi-storey car parks were all closed. The impact was exacerbated by the closure of two Tyne bridges, one due to a suicide attempt, and the other because of ongoing long-term maintenance work. Bus operators in the city were forced to halt services for more than two hours.
A spokesman for Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive Nexus acknowledged the fact that having a locally-owned and operated transport system left it ‘in a unique position’. But he stressed that ‘overall, local ownership has been good for Tyne and Wear in the past 25 years’.
The line ‘probably would not have been extended to Sunderland’ without public ownership. An estimated 200,000 local government employees took action in Scotland, forcing closure of Glasgow’s underground system and halting council-run Lothian Buses services in Edinburgh and council-run ferry services in the Shetlands. While in Northern Ireland 50,000 workers for Translink – which includes Ulsterbus, Citybus and Northern Ireland railways – closed down the public transport network. Commuters and freight operators were also hit by the closure of the two Mersey tunnels, forcing a 65km diversion to the single-lane crossing at Runcorn.
The Freight Transport Association estimated that the day’s strikes cost the industry at least £1M due to delays, assuming lorry operating costs of £30-40 per hour. ‘We hope that the strike will not be repeated,’ said Geoff Dossetter, external affairs director. Relatively few workers took strike action in southern England, with only 1% of employees joining the picket line in counties such as Hampshire and Buckinghamshire. Unison hailed the participation of 1.4M public sector workers across the country over the plan to stop them retiring on a full pension at 60. General secretary Dave Prentis said: ‘More than one million workers caught the Local Government Association and employers on the hop today. They never expected the majority of council offices, refuse depots, trains, buses, tunnels and ferries across the country to shut down.
‘We welcome the fact that the Government has called a tripartite meeting, and hope we can resolve this unfair situation.’ Members of Unison were prepared to take further action if necessary. This could involve separate regions or different services. Commenting on the strike, Dr Neil Bentley, CBI director of public services, said: ‘This action has been enormously disruptive and is not well timed, with council tax bills landing on people’s doormats. ‘Business has a much better track record in employee relations. The Government needs to make greater use of private sector skills to avoid such damaging industrial action in future.’
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