Some 1,200 soldiers will be mobilized in the United Kingdom to replace striking paramedics and border police personnel, the government announced before another week marked by numerous walkouts. The United Kingdom, where inflation exceeds 10%, is experiencing social unrest on a scale not seen for decades. These strikes affect several sectors, including transport and health.
In an unprecedented move, nurses stopped working on Thursday to demand pay rises and better working conditions. A new strike is announced for Tuesday. The paramedics in turn planned to stop work in England for two days, December 21 and 28, to demand a pay rise. Members of the border police will also go on strike for several days between now and the end of the year.
More than 1,000 civil servants mobilized
Arrangements have been made for 1,200 members of the armed forces to fill shortfalls in health services and border policing, Downing Street said. More than 1,000 civil servants will also be mobilized. “Unions are causing misery for millions, with transport strikes in particular cruelly timed to strike at Christmas,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak criticized in The Sun on Sunday. “Railway workers and border agents have been offered deals that are fair and affordable for taxpayers,” added the Conservative leader. “A growing number of union members want a deal,” he said.
On the mobilization of the army to replace the strikers, the Chief of the Defense Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, reacted in The Telegraph: “We are not a reserve capacity”, has he said. “We are busy and we are doing a lot of things on behalf of the nation, we have to focus on our main role,” added the Admiral.