WASHINGTON/LONDON — Strikes are rippling across the U.S. and Europe as workers continue to struggle with inflation and the growing threat of artificial intelligence and other high tech to their jobs. The number of workdays lost to stoppage caused by workers involved in labor disputes has jumped in both the U.S. and the U.K.
“We are so busy dealing with a strike and the Conservative Party convention,” said an employee at a long-distance bus company in Manchester, England on Oct. 4. The train drivers union staged a walkout during the ruling party’s annual conference, halting local train service, while buses were delayed due to traffic jams. It took five hours to get to London by bus, more than double the time for a train ride under normal circumstances.