13/09/2010

Unions Call For Co-Ordinated Action On Cuts

Trade unions are calling for co-ordinated strike action against the Government's planned spending cuts.

Delegates at the TUC's annual congress in Manchester have backed plans for "joint industrial action", if the scale of planned Govenrment cuts is not reduced.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said that the cuts were a "savage and opportunistic attack on public services" and said that although no-one took strike action lightly: "Where members, faced with attacks on jobs, pay or pensions take a democratic decision for industrial action, they will have the support of unions and the TUC stands ready to co-ordinate that."

Bob Crow, the leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' union, has called for a campaign of "civil disobedience". He accused the Coalition Government of unleashing "all out class warfare through their unprecedented attack on our communities, public services, welfare state and transport system".

However, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he though such an idea would be "counter productive".

The Coalition Government's spending review, which aims to tackle the £155 billion budget deficit, is due to be published on October 20.

Speaking to the BBC, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said the Government would like to what the unions had to say, but stressed that it had inherited a "terrible budget deficit" and that it was "absolutely necessary" to eradicate it.

(KMcA/BMcC)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

08 September 2008
Unions To Debate Public Pay Protest
Delegates at the TUC Congress in Brighton have voted in favour of co-ordinated industrial action against the government's public sector pay policy. A motion pressing for days of action has following Westminster minister's attempts to limit pay rises to 2% in the public sector in order to "stem inflation".
23 October 2013
Post Office Managers Announce First Industrial Action For 34 Years
New dispute has erupted at the Post Office, with managers now announcing that they will take their first industrial action in 34 years. Representing 900 Post Office managers, the Unite unions said that a 24 hour industrial action will be taken on Friday, with a ban on overtime and work to rule.
11 May 2005
Unions vote to take action over BBC cuts
Members of BBC staff unions have voted in favour of industrial action in protest against plans for cuts and further privatisation at the corporation. In a series of ballots which closed today (May 11), Bectu announced that almost 78% of those voting had supported strike action.
23 March 2005
BBC unions to ballot on strike action over job cuts
Bectu, Amicus and the NUJ have announced plans to ballot BBC members over possible strike action if plans to axe thousands of jobs go ahead. The unions have requested a three month 'pause' before 4000 jobs are cut, under Director General Mark Thompson's plans to free up more money for programming.
20 September 2013
Postal Workers To Be Balloted Over Strike Action
Some 115,000 postal workers are to be balloted over possibly strike against in a dispute over the privatisation of the Royal Mail.