By Sachin Ravikumar and Farouq Suleiman

LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) – British railway employees began the new year with a week-long strike on Tuesday, disrupting the return to work of millions of commuters in the latest episode of labor unrest in the country.

Britain is in the midst of its worst labor unrest since Margaret Thatcher came to power in the 1980s, amid rising inflation after more than 10 years of stagnant wage growth, leaving many workers unable to make ends meet on a monthly basis.

Repeated rail strikes have crippled Britain’s grid in recent months, while nurses, airport staff, paramedics and postal workers have also joined the struggle, demanding higher wages to offset inflation, a high in about 40 years, of 10.7% in November.

Teachers are going on strike in Scotland next week.

“As a result of the strike, rail services will be significantly reduced until Sunday 8 January,” said Network Rail, a UK rail infrastructure management company.

“Trains will be busier and will likely start later and finish earlier, and in some places there will be no service at all.”

The British government has stated that it cannot afford to provide public sector workers with inflation-equivalent wage increases, meaning there is no end in sight for the so-called new ‘winter of discontent’, in reference to the union struggles that devastated Britain in the late 1970s. -an.

According to a YouGov poll published in December, two-thirds of Britons support the nurses’ strike. Most of those surveyed believe the government is the main culprit in the situation, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could suffer if disruptions continue into 2023.

Mick Lynch, head of the RMT rail union, said the government appeared to be satisfied with the strike continuing.

“All parties involved know what needs to be done to reach an agreement, but the government is standing in the way,” Lynch told the BBC.

The UK government has called on unions to return to the negotiating table, recognizing that the strike is deeply affecting businesses that depend on workers, such as cafes and bars in the city centre.

“The only way to reach an agreement is for unions and employers to sit at the negotiating table and not on the picket line, and that’s what I want to see happen,” UK Transport Secretary Mark told Harper’s Times Radio.

(Writing by Kate Holton; Editing by Janet Lawrence; Editing in Spanish by Darío Fernández)