Ed Miliband endures rough ride at TUC after criticism of pension strike action

Labour leader urges talks to prevent confrontation while public sector unions gear up for a long-running battle Ed Miliband survived a smattering of boos and heckles as he told the TUC that Britain cannot afford a round of union strikes over public sector pensions, and admitted he was not going to restore all the coalition’s spending cuts. Referring to the strikes in June, he said: “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.” The speech was important to set the tone, as he seeks to seal a deal with unions affiliated to Labour over the next few days about the role of unions inside the party, including at party conference. Senior figures claim that after recent talks between union leaders, Miliband and Peter Hain, the shadow Welsh secretary, an agreement is possible. The proposals are due to be hammered out at a meeting of the Labour national executive committee next Wednesday. More public sector unions could ratchet up the pressure on government by announcing plans to hold ballots on strikes that will run from November, in what could be a running battle over pensions. “Without a shadow of a doubt. We are planning for it to be a long dispute,” said Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite. Some are eyeing 29 November as a possible strike date – when the chancellor, George Osborne, delivers his autumn statement. But a line-up of leaders will take their turn at the podium on Wednesday to back a motion calling on the TUC to give “full support” to industrial action against pension cuts, including “action planned for this autumn”. After hearing Miliband’s speech, Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, the largest public sector union, said the largest single industrial ballot of modern times appeared inevitable, involving more than a million members. Miliband decided to risk serious barracking by telling the TUC he could not support the strikes, even though industrial action was sometimes a necessary last resort. He repeatedly urged them to make unions relevant by increasing their appeal and membership. He told them: “There are cuts that the Tories will impose that we will not be able to reverse when we return to government. And getting the deficit down means rooting out waste too. We all recognise that not every penny that the last government spent was spent wisely.” But he insisted he was not delivering the unions a simple familiar Blairite “modernise or die” message. “I’m not just going to talk about how people need to change to suit our economy. I’m also going to talk about how we change our economy to suit the needs of people.” He drew applause when he called for there to be more workers on company remuneration committees, condemned the closure of the train manufacturer Bombardier, and called for a living wage for young people. But during a question-and-answer session after his speech, Miliband drew shouts of disagreement when he defended academy schools and after he praised the report into public sector pensions by Lord Hutton, the former Labour peer. To loud applause 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”. Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said she had been “proud” to join a strike in June by tens of thousands of teachers and civil servants, and told Miliband that the government was not prepared to negotiate a deal over its planned pension reforms. Miliband replied: “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.” Union leaders were split over the speech. Paul Kenny, 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.” TUC Trade unions Ed Miliband Unite Pensions Patrick Wintour Hélène Mulholland Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 13, 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.