Timetable of trouble: the wave of strikes set to hit the Tories this winter

Rampant inflation and government policy has brought matters to a head: so where is disruption going to hit and what are the unions asking for?

Strikes are not something most managers think about. The oft-mentioned winter of discontent" and year-long miners' strike were features of the late 1970s and mid-1980s. Since then, industrial action in the private and public sectors has fallen to a level so low that academics have given up studying it.

When pay talks began a year ago for the current financial year, inflation was rising, but the Bank of England was reasonably certain it would be temporary. Union leaders prepared for a post-pandemic battle over pay, but not one that would probably end in strike action.