As strikes escalate, Britain faces another 'winter of discontent'

In the 1970s, Margaret Thatcher accused the Labor government of losing control. Today, the same accusation is leveled by Labor against the Tories.

LONDON – With a triple hit of freezing weather, early snowfall and crippling strikes in several industries, Britain appears to be heading for what the London tabloids are calling, perhaps inevitably, another winter of discontent.

Postal workers and clerks railroads rolled out, delaying Christmas parcels and disrupting the travel plans of millions two weeks before the holidays. On Thursday they will be joined by as many as 100,000 nurses in a one-day work stoppage that could slow treatment in hospitals and clinics across England. in automobile departments are on strike, as well as baggage handlers, bus drivers, road crews and employees of energy companies. Newspapers have started publishing color-coded calendars to help readers know which services will be cut on which date.

The proliferation of labor unrest has drawn comparisons with the original winter of discontent, in 1978 and 1979, when public and private strikes paralyzed the country. It cemented the feeling that Labor Prime Minister James Callaghan had lost control and eventually toppled his government.

A lot has changed since then, of course , notably the power of the trade unions in Great Britain, which has been greatly diminished since the 1970s. But the political danger for the conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is still acute. Critics have taken the opportunity to blame him for a country that seems broken.

"History is a very big warning sign for Sunak and company", said Matthew Goodwin, a professor of politics at the University of Kent. "It was the industrial chaos of the late 1970s that paved the way for a decade of Thatcher. It is deepening the feeling in the country that no one is really in control. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced on Wednesday to harsh Labor criticism for its failure to deal effectively with strike threats in Britain.Credit...Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament, via Associated Press

M Sunak was already struggling with a glut of other problems: double-digit inflation, rising interest rates and a recession.On Wednesday, he surpassed the number of days his ill-fated predecessor, Liz Truss, survived in office - a period marked by less drama than Ms. Truss' tenure but only slightly less challenging.

Growing labor unrest dominated Ms. Sunak of the Year at Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament. t its main antagonist, Labor leader Keir Starmer, recycled lines that could have been used by Mr Callaghan and his rival, Margaret Thatcher. But this time the roles were reversed.

"After 12 years of Conservative failure, winter has arrived for our public services, and we have a Prime Minister who curled up in a ball and went into hibernation,” Mr Starmer said in a virulent attack on Mr Sunak for what he called the government’s failure to strike deals with major public sector unions.

Mr Sunak countered that the government had made good faith wage offers to workers in several sectors and accused the Labor Party of "protecting their paymasters" in the unions. Prime Minister claimed, somewhat implausibly, that the strikes were "Labour's pre-Christmas nightmare".

The government hopes public opinion will turn against unions, and that when this is the case, the Labor Party will pay a political prize, just as it did in 1979. Pro-conservative tabloids like Rupert Murdoch's Sun push the idea that support for the st...