Union leaders have warned they are willing to fight with the government over cuts after being invited to a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street yesterday.
Fifteen bosses from the UK’s largest unions went to Ten Downing Street to discuss topics ranging from equality, banking policy, and pensions to the environmental agenda. But it was the coalition’s spending cuts that dominated, with the unions vowing to make the government’s life difficult throughout 2011.
Speaking after the meeting, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber bemoaned: “The UK is currently in the grips of a bleak midwinter. Today we warned the Prime Minister that next year promises to be even bleaker for millions of families and their communities as the spending cuts bite hard and hit jobs and services.
“We made clear to the Prime Minister our strong view that the spending cuts would both be socially divisive and economically dangerous.
“We urged him to do more to raise money from the banks as a sector that had done the most to take us into the current crisis and which had received enormous help from government.”
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) added: “We’ll not be drawn into accepting cuts with the occasional promise of tea and a cosy chat in Downing Street… if this government will not agree to full and meaningful negotiations then these meetings and fine words are pointless, and simply invite industrial and legal action.”
What a surprise. At a time when the entire country needs to rally round and work together to create the recovery we so desperately need it seems the unions still stick to the only answer they have, fighting and striking.
We had it in the 70’s and the 80’s and the 90’s and now it seems they will do it all over again. Will they never grow up? At what point will they realise that the public voted for this action or are they still the type of organisation which ignores public decisions?
The trades Unions and others must soon run out of expressions of horror to describe the actions being taken to tackle the deficit.I for one are heartily sick of the illusion that any political party in Government at this time would have entirely preserved the outrageous levels of public expenditure under the pevious administration. When asked the about cuts the last Chancellor of the exchequer in the televised debate admitted that if elected the cuts to be imposed by Labour would be more severe than those experienced during theThatcher era.
This country had to experience a major cultural shift in the eighties, and the reaction of the trades unions was often not constructive, and in some instances added to the suffering experienced by many. It is sad that there still exists an almost childlike adherence to an outdated and failed political dogma amongst some trade unionists. It all too often has little to do with service provision or safeguarding amenities for the most disadvataged in this country which will only be achieved by the creation of a thriving and growing private sector.
The unions are seeking to protect jobs and services. Seeking to prevent job loses and swelling the unemployed figures and prevent the reduction in services for the public – not just the disadvantaged. Many services will not be picked up by the private sector because there is no profit.
Let’s be quite clear about this. The coalition (Tory) government started this confrontation not the trades unions. The deficit caused by bankers provided a pretext for an attack on the public sector and welfare benefits. The word ‘opportunism’ comes to mind as with 9/11 providing a pretext for George Bush to invade Iraq. It’s written into the political DNA for conservatives (and the New labor variant) to do this in favour of privatisation which in the recent past has proved to be a disaster from the railways to cleaning services. The government has even had to renationalise several banks to save them from collapse.
I’m sorry but we are not ‘all in this together’. It’s quite clear that this government of millionaires has favoured bankers and financial institutions over those who are the most vulnerable. Those on welfare have enough problems making ends meet and, despite negative propaganda, most workers in the public sector are poorly paid and have to claim various benefits. If you add to this the deferred retirement age and the attack on state pensions etc. it is clear that ordinary workers and the poor are being penalised for a disaster that is not of our making. Bankers can live off their bonuses for the rest of their lives and will never have to be inconvenienced about making edns meet.
We don’t need cuts to public spending or jobs. After the wreckage of world war II, when the Brtisih economy was in a much worse state than it is now, far from making cuts they built the NHS and created millions of jobs which lifted the economy out of depression.
The trades unions are right to defend workers’ jobs and if that includes strike action – so be it. This Thatcherite government has made it quite clear whose side it is on – the bankers and the rich. I am with the trades unions on the side of workers and the poor for a more human-faced regime.
Ian Townson
I left a comment on my home email address whic is::
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Is this accptable or do I have to use my PCT address above. If so can you include my contribution in that address so that I don’t have to write it all again.
Thank you.