Is Britain in danger of adopting the French or Greek “strike-at-the-drop-of-a-hat” style of industrial relations? I say this with conscious irony, because those of us who witnessed the bitter disputes of the 1970s and ‘80s will recall that Britain then seemed to be the home of industrial anarchy. One infamous feature of our economic life even had a Mediterranean flavour: the “Spanish practices” that had nothing to do with Spain but were distinctively British.

Temperatures are certainly rising again. Recently People Management has reported on several actual or threatened strikes, including at BA, on the railways, at British Gas and in the civil service. The reasons include proposed job cuts, reduced levels of redundancy pay, even (at British Gas) an alleged culture of bullying. But if it wasn’t for the legal requirement to stage a strike ballot before taking industrial action, I suspect even more bush fires might be breaking out.

Significantly, most of the action is in the public sector, or in once-nationalised transport and utilities sectors that were privatised by the Tories in the 1980s but still retain a strong trade union tradition. These workers are fed up with the tightening of business discipline and gradual erosion of jobs during the recession or, in the public sector, anticipating slashed public spending and job cuts after the general election, whoever wins.

I wonder why all this is happening now. One explanation may be that the unions fear a more hostile political environment under an incoming Tory government. But I suspect the increasing resolution of many trade unionists is fuelled by anger at the “fat cat” behaviour of bankers, MPs and business leaders, including now, many council chief executives with their indefensible “golden goodbye” payments.

When ordinary decent working folk are continually hearing about people in leadership positions, or strategically powerful roles, playing the system to maximise their pay and rewards in sometimes spectacularly selfish ways, “just because they can”, isn’t it only natural that some are inclined to behave in the same way? I imagine that in organisations where there is still a strong public service ethic (in the widest sense) at the top, this grass-roots anger isn’t such a problem.

So some flexing of what used to be called industrial muscle is hardly surprising. And more HR people with an industrial relations remit may also need to exercise unaccustomed muscles. But the three-year deal concluded at Royal Mail – settling the most intractable dispute of recent times – shows that pragmatism is still the watchword of employee relations. British workers may need to let off steam, but they won’t be building Mediterranean-style barricades.