There is political upheaval, an economic crisis and the potential for mass industrial action in Britain.
Wages are falling and workers are becoming more disgruntled as U.K. inflation came in at a 40-year high of 9.4% in June.
In the three months to the end of May, total pay increases in the private and public sectors were reported by the Office for National Statistics.
The decline in real wages, those adjusted for inflation, was the worst on record.
Transport workers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, teachers, postal workers, civil servants, lawyers and British Telecoms engineers are some of the workers who have voted for industrial action.
Fire fighters are at the forefront of the climate emergency after the busiest day for London's fire service since World War II.
The demands of the job are increasing but our resources have been attacked by government cuts for over a decade.
With and without bonuses, public sector pay increases were at their lowest level in over a year. The base salaries went up. According to the Bank of England, inflation is expected to peak at around 9% by the end of the year.
There are more job vacancies than unemployed people. If everyone was matched up with a job, there would still be a shortage.
Businesses are willing to pay more to get new staff and keep existing employees.
The number of vacancies fell on the last reading, indicating that the labor market may be getting back to normal.
The concern is that the higher wages paid by the private sector will serve to entrench inflation, while the small pay rises witnessed in the public sector will continue to stoke industrial tensions.
Rail workers went on strike several weeks ago in a dispute over working conditions. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union will go on strike again on July 27.
More than 115,000 Royal Mail workers, members of the Communication Workers Union, overwhelmingly voted to go on strike in a dispute over pay.
The U.K. business of Royal Mail lost over a hundred million dollars in the first three months of the year. Consumers reduced online shopping as a result of inflation and parcel volumes were down.
Terry Pullinger said that the vote in favor of industrial action was a way for Royal Mail workers to vent their anger.
Royal Mail workers have always had 2% pay increases imposed on them.
When shareholders are being given millions of pounds off the back of what those workers have done over the past year or so, and also the leaders of the company and members of the board are giving themselves huge wages, they're giving themselves huge bonuses, but there's not much imposed on
The U.K. energy regulator Ofgem raised its price cap by 50% in April to cope with surging wholesale prices, and analysts expect a further increase to the cap in October, which could drive inflation well above its current levels.
The country is facing a tale of two economies because of falling real wages and a red-hot labor market.
The number of payrolled employees and job vacancies in face-to-face industries are historically high. The growth of vacancies has begun to slow.
The cost of living crisis may have caused people to re-enter the workforce. Those working didn't see relief with regular pay and total pay down
In 1978-79, almost 30 million working days were lost to strikes in the U.K. due to high inflation.
Conservative politicians tried to sway public opinion by saying that union leaders were greedy, which led to a decline in union membership.
In light of an unprecedented squeeze on working households, recent efforts from the major unions have begun to gather steam.
Boris Johnson's Conservative government passed a law last week that would allow companies to replace striking workers with agency staff in order to undermine unions.
Speaking at his final Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Johnson accused Keir Starmer of having union barons pulling his strings from beneath him and vowed to "outlaw wildcat strikes"
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