Professor Mark Stuart comments on the current wave of rail strike action in the UK

Professor Mark Stuart explains why he thinks that autumn can be quite shaky on the labour market.

Founding Director of CERIC and the Business School’s Pro Dean for Research, Professor Mark Stuart, was quoted in leading Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter in relation to a wave of rail strikes in the United Kingdom.

Professor Stuart believes that the situation today is completely different compared to the end of the 1970s, as British trade union membership has halved. He asserts that the Unions are not nearly as strong and inflation has not been caused by large wage increases, but by rising energy prices, Brexit and the effects of the war on trade.

Professor Stuart comments:

What is happening now is that many workers have simply had enough. We had a long period in the last ten years or so with no wage increases at all, and now when they do come they are often below the rate of inflation, while many companies are making big profits.

Read the full article - original article in Swedish.