Tag Archives: mark serwotka

Opinion: Trade unions, pensions and Labour

I have been following very closely the pensions dispute as it unfolds and one of my concerns is public sector workers could lose a lot of pay through strike action in what I am starting to believe is a political strike which they cannot possibly win.

I am also a little surprised at the way the government have handled things so far and, as a former national union representative, I have been amazed at times by their ineptitude.

Further confirmation I am afraid that the Tories and sadly many in our party don’t understand the real world of industrial relations.

So why do …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 56 Comments

Opinion: Cable’s GMB speech encapsulated coalition tensions

The Business Secretary Vince Cable’s speech to the GMB annual conference last Monday received significant attention. Some media coverage would have us believe that the senior Lib Dem had brazenly threatened trades unions with serious curbs on their strike powers. In fact, Cable had qualified his brief hint of this possibility with the admission that present circumstances merited no government action.

Within the context of unions’ criticism of government cuts to jobs and services, Cable’s introduction to the table of the possibility of changes to strike law may have been a strategic manoeuvre intended to dissuade industrial action planned

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 13 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • David Symonds
    It will be interesting to see what happens in this Parliament. Starmerism appears to be a variation of the old Labour govt from 1974-9 which includes corporate ...
  • Chris Cory
    Surprised you don’t know a lot of people in the party? It’s a national political party with 60-100,000 members (who knows the real figure) not the local go...
  • Peter Martin
    @ Chris Moore, The Tories and Reform don't have to formally unite. They simply do what the Labour Party and Lib Dems have started to do. ie Have a non-aggres...
  • Nom de Plume
    I think for a party like the LibDems, in the UK, with the present demographic, under FPTP, the ceiling is about 100MPs. That is, if London does not get fed up w...
  • Caron LindsayCaron Lindsay
    One thing that should be off limits in a liberal party is questioning someone’s identity. People know who they are and it is not for anyone to disrespect that...