Vince Cable warns unions strikes could spark clampdown on industrial action

Coalition might legislate if national strike action goes ahead, business secretary tells GMB union conference The business secretary, Vince Cable, will issue a warning to the country’s union bosses that if they ratchet up strike action opposing the coalition’s cuts the government could be forced to tighten laws to make it harder for them to embark on industrial action. It is the first explicit acknowledgment by a coalition minister of a wish to legislate to prevent widespread strikes. Other ministers involved have refrained for fear of increasing tensions at a crucial point in talks currently under way to avoid a mass walk out across the public sector. Cable will tell the GMB union annual conference in Brighton that there is currently no reason to reform the laws – action some rightwingers, including London mayor Boris Johnson have called for. But that could change, he will warn. “We are undoubtedly entering a difficult period. Cool heads will be required all round. Despite occasional blips, I know that strike levels remain historically low, especially in the private sector. On that basis, and assuming this pattern continues, the case for changing strike law is not compelling,” he will say. “However, should the position change, and should strikes impose serious damage to our economic and social fabric, the pressure on us to act would ratchet up. That is something which both you, and certainly I, would wish to avoid.” Ministers are locked in talks with the unions to negotiate a new pension deal for state employees – the only issue that all of the public sector unions have in common and therefore the only one in which they could launch joint industrial action. It is understood that those talks are making little headway with ministers refusing to back down on increasing workers’ contributions. Other unions representing up to six million public sector workers could then edge towards industrial action. Cable’s intervention is significant at a delicate stage in that process, and at the peak of the season for union annual conferences. One breakaway group of unions representing 500,000 state employees – including the PCS civil service union and some of the teaching unions – are currently preparing to strike on 30 June. Schools, courts, ports and Whitehall could all come to a standstill. A business department source insisted that Cable was issuing a “subtle” message to the unions. “We hope the unions will see this as quite comforting that the secretary of state says there is no case at the moment. But at the same time if circumstances change, the government’s position will change,” the source said. On Sunday there were reports of a a substantial new round of redundancies in development at the Royal Mail which would see up to 40,000 jobs slashed. It would also trigger a standoff with the unions who have agreed a more moderate reduction over the next two years. This also accompanied warnings about the government’s economic strategy , with a group of leading economists calling for a plan B alternative to the coalition’s spending cuts in a fragile economy. Those voicing concerns include two ex-senior government economists. Treasury sources pointed out that one, Jonathan Portes, the former chief economist to the cabinet office, was a personal appointee of Gordon Brown. The shadow chancellor Ed Balls meanwhile told Sky News: “We were told in the autumn by the chancellor and David Cameron that … the private sector would be spending and investing more, confidence would rise, the economy would do well. I’m afraid the opposite is happening. Confidence is down and we’re now seeing, week by week, more evidence that the economy is stalling.” However, the foreign secretary, William Hague, said that the government was right to stick to its course. “The government strategy is endorsed by the IMF, it is endorsed by the OECD, the G20, by all the major business organisations in this country and the harsh truth is that Gordon Brown did not leave this country with the luxury of a plan B or a different economic strategy,” he said. Balls launched a plan on Sunday in which Labour will attempt to lead a cross-party rebellion to enforce a new £2bn tax on bankers to fund a back-to-work scheme for jobless young people. It would provide £1.2bn for a house-building scheme to provide low-cost homes and create 20,000 new jobs, £600m in payments to employers to take 90,000 more under-25s and £200m for unemployment “blackspots” around the country. Trade unions Vince Cable Liberal-Conservative coalition Public sector cuts Public sector pay Public sector pensions Public finance Public services policy Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.