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Strike Threats Leave Next UK Leader Facing Winter of Discontent

Echoes of the 1970s with pay falling in real terms, growth slowing and workers angry

Workers demonstrate over proposals to introduce night shift work at a Solihull assembly plant, in Coventry, UK, in Oct. 1977.

Workers demonstrate over proposals to introduce night shift work at a Solihull assembly plant, in Coventry, UK, in Oct. 1977.

Source: Coventry Telegraph Archive/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

This is the second story in a six-part series on the political and economic landscape facing Britain's new prime minister.

Britain’s next prime minister will inherit the worst relations with unions and workers since the 1970s, with millions of public sector employees angry their pay is slipping further behind inflation.