AS 2022 limps to a close, almost every aspect of our lives has been affected by the wave of strikes. Hospitals, schools, universities, trains … all have been disrupted by disputes which look to become worse in the early weeks of 2023.

We’ve seen industrial disputes before, of course, but rarely have so many unions been involved in struggles over wages and conditions simultaneously.

Watching daytime TV last week, it seemed to me that the public reaction has been noticeably different than we’ve seen before, despite the fact that the effect of the strikes has been more widespread than we’ve seen for years and has involved workers who have traditionally been reluctant to withdraw their labour.

In such circumstances, morning TV shows routinely open their phone lines to give those affected by the disruption a chance to vent their anger at those they perceive to be causing the problem.

One show last week focused particularly on the nurses’ strike when presenters obviously expected viewers to blame those taking part in industrial action for “abandoning” their patients.

Yet at times it seemed they were struggling to find enough callers eager to line up to have a go at the strikers. Far from depicting them as callous and selfish, caller after caller expressed sympathy and solidarity with those NHS workers we not so very long ago applauded from our doorsteps during the peak of the pandemic.

The usual right-wing rhetoric seemed to be falling on deaf ears. Sure, there were the odd voices in favour of knee-jerk suggestions that the right to strike should be stripped from those employed in emergency services but the majority of callers understood what had pushed the nurses to reluctantly take such action for the first time.

A YouGov UK poll just days ago revealed that two-thirds of those interviewed supported the nurses’ strike and 45% “strongly supported” it. Nurses attracted the greatest level of public support but other disputes also showed the public are behind the strikers. Ambulance workers have 63% backing, firefighters have 58% backing and teachers 50%.

READ MORE: Alister Jack threatens to block Royal Assent of gender reforms

The question of who is to blame for the strikes is particularly interesting; most respondents said the UK Government had caused most of the industrial action.

Public support for striking NHS workers has taken physical form in different parts of the country. In Nottingham, for example, so much food has been donated to those on strike a lot of it has had to be donated to food banks. There has simply been too much for those on strike to eat.

It’s not hard to understand why NHS staff in particular have the support of the public. The stench of hypocrisy surrounds the treatment of those who were heroes during the Covid outbreak but who are not now deemed worthy of a decent pay rise in the face of an almost unprecedented cost of living crisis.

Nothing sums up the state of modern Britain quite as succinctly as the sight of NHS workers on the picket line contrasting with headlines about government ministers and their pals benefitting from pandemic contracts.

It has taken almost a year for the Westminster government to act on the £122 million paid to a firm linked to Baroness Michelle Mone for PPE equipment that never made it to hospital wards.

The Tory peer took a leave of absence from the House of Lords when the scandal broke at the beginning of the month and she

was last seen at a £6000-a-night exclusive ski resort in France just hours after the UK Government eventually announced it was suing the firm involved.

The UK Government’s default position as it is beset by scandal after scandal is to ignore everything in the hope that the fuss will all go away. It has adopted similar tactics to the industrial action which is bringing chaos to so many industries.

READ MORE: Tory MSP breaks rules after failing to fully declare Israel trip

Rather than talk to unions to seek a solution to the problems facing their members, ministers such as Tory Health Minister at Westminster Steve Barclay, prefer instead to inflame the situation. If Barclay had really wanted to ease the tensions he would have kept his mouth shut rather than accuse union leaders and healthcare workers of making a “conscious decision” to “inflict harm” on patients.

The huge and widening gap between the elite in power in Britain and the rest of us is now so blatant that it is unsustainable … which is why public support is draining from the Tories and growing for the strikes.

The situation in Scotland is different. Here, our First Minister aligns herself with the workers struggling to pay spiralling bills.

Nicola Sturgeon and STUC general secret Roz Foyer this week combined forces with a rare joint statement urging Westminster to engage in more constructive talks with unions.

The focus of their statement was the rail dispute which will see thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), employed by the UK Government-owned Network Rail, walk out from 6pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on December 27.

The Scottish Government has already reached a deal with rail workers to avert strike action but cannot do the same with employees of Network Rail. So Scottish passengers will face disruption later this month and again on January 3, 4, 6 and 7 because of what unions describe as the “combative approach” of Westminster.

An independent Scotland would give our own government the power to negotiate and settle disputes in a reasonable way. That’s not an idle boast … it’s actually happening where it’s possible under devolution.

Scottish ambulance drivers earlier this month called off strikes when they and members of two unions accepted a new Scottish pay deal.

READ MORE: Ireland inspired by Scotland with launch of baby box trial

That deal, accepted by Unite and Unison members, will see NHS workers in Scotland remain the best paid in the UK and receive pay rises ranging from £2205 to £2751.

But Scotland can’t find a solution by itself to all the problems caused by Westminster. It can’t solve the rail dispute when Network Rail is owned and controlled by the UK Government.

And it cannot find the money needed to increase the offer to NHS workers when its hands are tied by Westminster spending rules.

The Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives have voted not to accept the Scottish Government’s pay offer and are planning strikes early next year. And teachers are set to walk out on strike in January.

The Scottish Government is limited in the financial steps it can take because under the devolution settlement it MUST balance its budget each year. It is denied the borrowing powers Westminster has access to and has only limited tax-raising powers rather than control over all the financial powers needed to reprioritise our economy.

The difference between the Westminster government and the Scottish Government could be seen in stark contrast yesterday. While Rishi Sunak and Barclay maintained their refusal to talk to the unions, Scotland’s Health Minister Humza Yousaf was taking discussions with nursing unions to the wire.

In this tale of two governments, one is arrogantly refusing to even countenance negotiations with workers who laid their lives on the line to protect the public from the ravages of a global pandemic. The other acknowledges the merits of the workers’ case for extra help and takes constructive steps to take those steps within its powers to seek a solution.

One is in tune with the public mood, the other is hopelessly out of step.

There will be a price to be paid for this misjudgement and the day when the payment is due cannot come quickly enough.