LONDON (Reuters) – Senior U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders joined striking British workers at a union rally in London on Wednesday, saying workers needed to unite to fight back what he called ‘corporate greed’ and billionaires amassing more wealth.
The event is hosted by the RMT union, which has been at the heart of a strike in recent months as workers demand better wages and conditions In response to the impact of soaring energy prices, the union has weakened Britain’s transport network in recent months – driving inflation.
“People around the world need to stand together and tell the oligarchs that they can’t have everything,” Sanders said at a gathering at the union’s headquarters.
“No one can tell me from a moral or economic point of view that it makes perfect sense that few have so much and so many have so little.”
Sanders, a democratic socialist whose progressive campaign helped push the Democratic Party’s agenda sharply to the left, ran for President of the United States at 2020, But ultimately lost the party nomination to eventual election winner Joe Biden.
UK workers from all walks of life, from rubbish collectors to court barristers to postal workers, have decided to strike this summer as double-digit inflation soars ahead of wage hikes.
Britain’s industrial unrest shows few signs of ending as the government urges employers to exercise restraint, companies facing rising costs and workers focus on forecasts that show inflation will continue into next year.
Earlier Wednesday, a transport workers union announced a hourly strike next month , while workers at telecommunications group BT, private delivery services Royal Mail (London: RMG) and journalists from the media company Reach each staged separate strikes.
During 2020 US presidential campaign and unsuccessful 2016 campaign for the Democratic nomination, Sander SW’s message of anti-establishment, pro-health care and labor rights has drawn the attention of grassroots activists in left-wing movements at home and abroad.
2016
