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Labour leader calls for ‘meaningful negotiation to prevent further confrontation’ in address to union delegates Ed Miliband was heckled by delegates at the TUC conference as he triggered trade union anger by describing strikes over public sector pension reforms as “a mistake”. In his first speech to the TUC as the Labour leader, Miliband stood firm on his position despite widespread unhappiness with his criticism of the industrial action on 30 June, when three education unions and one civil servants’ union joined forces in a mass walkout. Unions are gearing up for more industrial action in the autumn, which could involve huge numbers of public sector workers. The head of Unison, Dave Prentis, warned that a ballot of more than 1 million public sector workers was becoming inevitable because negotiators could not meet government deadline for reforming pensions. Some unions – possibly led by Unison – are widely expected to declare their intention to ballot when they take part in a debate on public sector pensions at the conference on Wednesday. But in a a speech later described as “brave” by the leader of one of the major unions, Miliband stuck to his guns, saying strikes were the wrong response to talks with the government which, unions say, are close to collapse. The Labour leader said the government had set about reform “in completely the wrong way” and he understood why millions of public sector workers felt angry. However, he added: “While negotiations were going on, I do believe it was a mistake for strikes to happen. I continue to believe that. But what we need now is meaningful negotiation to prevent further confrontation over the autumn.” Miliband faced further dissent from the floor during a 20-minute question-and-answer session with delegates after Janice Godrich, the president of the Public and Commercial Services Union, challenged him to “stand up on the side of hundreds and thousands of workers whose pensions are under attack”. Godrich reminded Miliband that the former Labour cabinet minister Alan Johnson, who struck a pensions deal with public sector unions in 2005, had said the outcome was “fair and reasonable” and the National Audit Office had recently concluded that public sector pensions “are affordable”. To applause, she challenged him to back further industrial action, saying: “Will you defend the negotiated settlement we agreed, and will you support trade unionists taking industrial action to defend that deal?” Miliband agreed that the Johnson deal “was a good agreement”, but went on to say that, “while this may not be popular with everybody in the room”, the John Hutton report on pensions was a “decent report” that looked at important issues. This included its call for the government to engage in meaningful negotiations with the unions. “That is what should be happening,” Miliband said to jeers. “What I’m going to say is that the best thing that can be done is to avoid industrial action happening by a government willing to properly negotiate. That is what needs to happen.” Mary Bousted, the leader of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers – one of three education unions that took strike action in June – told Miliband: “Just for information, the government are not prepared to negotiate. “All they are prepared to do is negotiate how to implement the changes they have decided. There are no real negotiations going on. We can give you chapter and verse about that.” The Labour party’s biggest donor, the Unite union, played down the impact of Miliband’s “mistake” line. Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, said: “I thought we saw a man there who was demonstrating that he wants to be on our side.” Nonetheless, McCluskey said Unite was preparing for mass strike action featuring more than 1 million workers, with the prospect that industrial action by a “community of resistance” will also take place next year. Asked whether Unite, which has 250,000 public sector members, would ballot workers, he said: “I think it is inevitable.” And questioned on whether strikes would take place next year, he said: “Without a shadow of a doubt. We are planning for it to be a long dispute.” Miliband also drew shouts of “shame” and disagreement when he defended academy schools in his constituency, which he said had made a big difference to education standards. The Labour leader also used his speech to urge unions to raise their game and show their relevance in meeting future challenges. Highlighting the fact that just 15% of the private sector workforce is unionised, compared with over half of the public sector workforce, he told unions they needed to change “if that is to change”. He said: “Unions can offer businesses the prospect of better management, better relationships, as you did during the recession. Of course the right to industrial action will be necessary, as a last resort. “But in truth, strikes are always the consequence of failure. Failure on all sides. Failure we cannot afford as a nation. Instead, your real role is as partners in the new economy.” Miliband drew applause for other parts of his speech, including his insistence that he would “resist” any attempt to break the link between the trade union movement and the Labour party. The three million trade union levy payers were a “huge asset” to the party, he said, adding: “They should never ever feel like passive or unwanted members of our movement. I want them to feel part of it.” Miliband made clear that a Labour government, committed to halving the deficit in four years, would also make cuts. “Like our plans for a 12% cut in the police budget – not the 20% being implemented by this government,” he said. “Like cuts to the road programme. And, yes, reforms of some benefits, too.” Miliband also called for a living wage for young people, and attacked the high level of executive pay. Union leaders gave a mixed reaction to his performance. Paul Kenny, the leader of the GMB, said: “I have to give him credit for his courage in coming here and speaking frankly to us. What comes across is that he is not ashamed of the trade union links to the Labour party.” But Bob Crow, the general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: “Ed Miliband needs to decide just whose side he is on. “Criticising teachers and other workers taking strike action to defend jobs, services and pensions alienates core Labour supporters in their hundreds of thousands and is a political suicide mission. “You can’t play political games when workers are facing the biggest all-out attack on their rights and their livelihoods since the war. A Labour leader who doesn’t stand by the workers is on a one-way ticket to oblivion.” Asked about the prospect of Labour considering public ownership of the railways, Miliband said “all options”, including mutual, public and private ownership, should be considered. Miliband won the biggest applause when he attacked the “closed circle” of people who sit on company remuneration committees handing out pay and bonuses. Ed Miliband TUC Trade unions Labour Public sector pensions Public services policy Bob Crow Teaching Schools Hélène Mulholland Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk