Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

While inflation & changes in the power of unions have played a part, a steady increase in personal debt is strongly associated with a steep decline in strikes, strike participation, & days lost to strikes in the vast majority of OECD economies.

theconversation.com/strikes-how-ri…

The current wave of strikes is the largest in more than a decade, but it's nowhere near the heights reached in the UK during the 1970s. September 1979 saw more than 11 million working days lost due to strike action. The latest figures for November 2022 show 467,000 days lost.

A rapid increase in personal debt has been a major factor suppressing industrial action over the last four decades. The decline of social housing & deregulation of the financial system in most OECD countries has encouraged workers to borrow heavily. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

Despite the global financial crisis of 2008, caused by neoliberal deregulation which encouraged reckless risk-taking among bankers, the UK is pushing for FURTHER deregulation: could this be to ensure workers live in fear of losing their job - even a shitty low-paid insecure one?

Since at least the early 1980s, household debt-to-income ratios have been increasing dramatically.

Household debt is consistently over 100% of disposable income in most advanced economies – in some OECD countries it’s at least 300%.

academic.oup.com/economicpolicy…

While household debt accumulation stabilised or slightly declined after the 2008 global financial crash, the current #CostOfLivingCrisis & impact of the pandemic on people’s finances caused outstanding debts to start to rise again for most households – particularly the poorest.

Since the main consumer price increases right now relate to fuel consumption, energy-related debts during the coldest months of the year could push lower income households to abandon strike action out of necessity. The Govt won't save the most vulnerable households from poverty.

Since the disruption power of workers varies substantially across sectors, coordination & collective demands for country-wide pay increases & workplace reforms could strengthen the impact of strikes.

Unions should also provide generous strike compensation to striking workers.

Unions could also collaborate with debtor unions to demand reforms or even the cancellation of certain debts.

These measures may mean workers can strike without fear of financial ruin: a short but sharp burst of industrial action - eg a #GeneralStrike - could be the way forward.

This thread uses quotes from the article in @TheConversation by @GGouzoulis, a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in HRM & Future of Work at the University of Bristol, School of Management since 2021.