Episode description

Will 2023 be known as the summer of discontent? This year, nearly every corner of the country has been affected by some kind of industrial action, and more is coming. Teachers, doctors, nurses, railway workers, airport security, civil servants are among the many professions which have called strikes to protest against, amongst other things, future pay packets during a cost of living crisis. But do labour union tactics really deliver for their members, or does the strong bargaining position of the government come out on top in the end?

In this edition of Analysis, Faisal Islam hears from three top union leaders, along with industrial relations experts, about the challenges of calling and maintaining strike actions and the tolls it can take on members and the public. Where lies the balance of power between a workforce banding together to demand a better deal and the public which has to work around disappearing services?

You can learn more about this topic by watching the BBC 2 documentary Strike: Inside the Unions available on BBC iPlayer.

Contributors: Sharon Graham - General Secretary: Unite Union Mick Lynch - General Secretary: Rail, Maritime and Transport Union Pat Cullen - General Secretary: Royal College of Nursing Jerry Cope - Former Pay Review Body Chair Mark Stuart - Montague Burton Professor of Employment Relations, University of Leeds Lord Richard Balfe - Member, House of Lords

Presenter: Faisal Islam Producer: Sandra Kanthal Editor: Clare Fordham Programme Coordinator: Maria Ogundele