back when the unions ruled and people got p1ssed off with all the strikes, before the tories had a long time in power and ruined the production side of our industries while taking out the unions (after a very succesful smear campaign in the media) those who went on strike really needed to get food on the table and pay the rent/mortgage although family and friends helped with the food and councils/building societies were willing to wait...these days they need the food and still need to pay rent/mortgage but also the majority have a mobile phone contract (must have a contract for the free minutes they get so they can use the phone a lot more than they need to because they HAVE to use those minutes up by making calls they dont need to) plus the phone contracts for their kids, most will also have prime, netflix, sky, bt and a few other subscription channels, a lot will also have xbox/playstation accounts for each kid, they will have the fastest internet they can get, many will have a new(ish) car that costs them each month, most likely will have started to pay for the next holiday abroad.
going on strike now for most will mean having to get rid of all of lifes 'extras' which, strangely enough, none of us had back in the late 70's and early 80's...my own opinion is that it will do a lot of them good to get rid of most of all that crap anyway...the problem is that 'we' allowed that government to basically destroy the working mans one means of standing up for themselves all because of the 'winter of discontent' and that is why we now sit here watching people get mega rich and giving themselves and their family/mates plenty while denying the rest a livable wage.