This week saw general strikes in several European countries which represented a powerful trade union response to austerity, finding its most militant expression in Greece where over 20 national stoppages have been called in the last two years. A demand for similar action has surfaced in Britain in recent months and the TUC is reviewing the practicalities of a general strike within the straitjacket of UK labour law. An effective national strike across the whole economy is desirable but not a serious runner in the short term according to Professor Gregor Gall in examining the whys and wherefores of such action: ‘What would make the holding of a general strike much more probable and potent would be if the general level of strike activity was much higher. If there was then there would a more palpable sense that a general strike came out of and feed back into a rising level of more confident struggle by workers where their sectional and class consciousnesses were of a higher order’
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/layout/set/print/content/view/full/125884
