The 'Annus horribilis' of the British government may end with the country paralyzed as a result of the confluence of strikes announced by important sectors of health and rail transport, among others, in the days before Christmas. To minimize its effects, the executive headed by Rishi Sunak is considering deploying military personnel, as reported this Sunday by Nadhim Zahawi, a minister without portfolio in the Executive.
"We have a strong emergency team (Cobra) that is studying what we need to minimize the problems for the citizens. We are studying (deploying) the military and the special response force that we formed a few years ago," Zahawi told "Sky News ".
The Government detailed in a statement that its contingency plans include the mobilization of 600 soldiers and 700 officials of the so-called Rapid Response team for disasters and emergencies.
"Decisions about sending troops still have to be made, but that is part of the range of options available if the strikes go ahead as planned," the Executive said.
More than 40,000 workers in the railway sector plan two 48-hour strikes from December 13 and 16, strikes that will paralyze a large part of the country's trains, while the 16th will also be the first of four strikes by security personnel of the Eurostar, who will also go on strike on December 18, 22 and 23.
Thousands of nurses from the public health service will also leave their posts on December 15 and 20, while thousands of ambulance drivers and workers have voted in favor of calling strikes, which will foreseeably be organized in coordination with those of the nurses.
Strikes have also been announced to demand better working conditions by employees of the former public postal company Royal Mail, who will stop delivering letters and packages on December 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24.
