Faced with the possibility of an extra hour of commuting each day next week, courtesy of striking train drivers, I had a look at what the longest strike in history might be. It certainly won't be this one - it's been called off before it even got started. Apparently the drivers are happy with the offers on the table to increase their 40k-a-year salary. Man, I've got to get a slice of that pie. Anyway, it's all making Britain look a bit silly - trains are barely running, the glitzy new Terminal 5 can't seem to find a working baggage belt amongst its £3 billion arsenal of futuristic gadgets, and you can't get a bloody Wispa for love nor money. I've been in ten newsagents round here and they're nowhere to be seen. What's this country coming to?!
The two longest recorded strikes in history both lasted for 13 years, each running from 1991 to 2004.
They involve two pretty disparate social groups and, I should probably point out, are entirely unrelated. Teamsters at the Diamond of California plant held out for 13 years to earn new contracts, whilst 370 Fijian miners ignored their employers vetoing the strike after 4 years, and stayed on the picket line until 2004, when the Fijian High Court fired them all. A happy end to that tale then.
This story harks back to an era when strikes seemed to really mean something - putting yourself through intense hardship to secure a fair deal for yourself and your fellow workers. I have to question whether that's what's on the train drivers' minds as they mull over how big a pay rise they can squeeze out of their bosses.
No comments:
Post a Comment