14.09.11
Public sector threatens mass strikes
Public sector workers may hold mass walkouts in November over the increased contributions to pensions the Government is asking for. At the TUC conference, Unison’s leader Dave Prentis announced that his members would be balloted on strike action.
Prentis said: “We've had enough. We've been patient, co-operative and we must say enough is enough. If we don't say it now, they [the Government] will be back for more and more and more again.
“We will engage with them...but if they impose change by diktat, we will take industrial action. It's the fight of our lives. I know it's an over-used cliché, but make no mistake, this is it.”
A number of other union representatives backed the action, including Gail Cartmail, assistant general secretary of Unite. Cartmail said: “When the Coalition came to power we knew we faced the fight of our lives.
“We knew they would seek to weaken and divide us. While we will never walk away from talks, neither can we sit on our hands. We will support days of action and tactical selective action.”
The Government urged the unionists to consider the public in their actions. Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude is leading the pension negotiations for the Government, which have been taking place all year.
Maude said: “The unions’ own members want to be going to work. They don't want to give up a day's pay at a time when we are all of us working under constraints. Unions need to think about the effect on the public and the damage that will be done to public sympathy for the public sector.”
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