NRSC, Helmed By John Cornyn, Fakes Twitter Posts To Make Democrats Look Bad
June 22, 2011 No Comment
Thanks to Allen at the indomitable Angry Black Lady Chronicles for curating this list: enlarge Credit: AngryBlackLadyChronicles For those not on the Twitter, it’s a little complicated to follow this story, but bear with me. These are the tweets from the National Senate Republican Committee account . Now in Twitter parlance, “RT” refers to “retweet” and is customarily used at the head of someone else’s tweet that you wish to amplify to your followers. It does not necessarily connote approval or agreement with the original tweet, but simply a desire to share it with your followers. Got that? Well, here’s the thing with all those RTs on behalf of the Sen. John Cornyn-headed NRSC: they’re all fakes. They wrote them themselves and crafted them to look like they were merely re-tweeting something written by prominent Democrats and Democratic groups. And this goes out to the more than 14,000 followers of the NRSC twitter account. The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s getting blowback today from both the left and right for a series of fake re-tweets sent from the NRSC’s official @nrsc Twitter account . The bogus RTs each make reference to Democrats failing to produce a budget, and include a link to a webpage, www.demsplanforamerica.com , that is–wait for it– a blank page .[..] And surprise–nobody’s laughing. Even Andy Levy , who helps bring the funny to Fox News Channel’s overnight Red Eye , was quick to blast the NRSC via Twitter, “@NRSC What the hell is wrong with you? How do you not realize it’s unethical to make up fake tweets from people?” Klassy with a K, non ? The NRSC is willfully impersonating tweets from the President of the United States in order to smear him. Twitter itself is an interesting phenomena…it’s like a cocktail party with a 1000s of conversations taking place simultaneously, and one weaves around, jumping from conversation to conversation, overhearing stories and new items and you choose how much or how little you want to add to the conversations. At its best, Twitter is an incredible platform to broadcast your messages to your self-selected followers. But at its worst, it’s a cesspool of sock puppetry, harassment and cyber-bullying. And the Twitter gods simply have not figured out a way to deal with this kind of hackery. Calls to both Cornyn’s office and the NRSC to defend this have as yet not been returned. Allen at ABLC imagines if this kind of behavior is considered fair play what fun could be had retweeting faked tweets from Cornyn’s account . They are definitely not safe for work, but hilarious.
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Ancient community discovered after small forest clearings detected on satellite images Brazilian authorities say they have pinpointed the location of a community of ancient and uncontacted tribespeople in one of the remotest corners of the Amazon rainforest. Fabricio Amorim, a regional co-ordinator for Brazil’s indigenous foundation, Funai , said the indigenous community had been found after three small forest clearings were detected on satellite images. Flyovers were carried out in April, confirming the community’s existence. Four straw-roofed huts, flanked by banana trees and encircled by thick jungle, can be seen in photographs taken during the flyover. The community is likely to be home to about 200 people, probably from the Pano linguistic group which straddles the border between Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, according to Funai. Amorim said the region — known as the Vale do Javari — contained “the greatest concentration of isolated groups in the Amazon and the world” but warned of growing threats to their survival. “Among the main threats to the well-being of these groups are illegal fishing, hunting, logging, mining, cattle ranching, missionary actions… and drug trafficking,” he said. Oil exploration over the border in Peru could also have a negative impact on indigenous tribes in region. Officially, Funai recognises the existence of 14 uncontacted tribes in the Vale do Javari, making up a total of at least 2,000 people. But that number is likely to rise as expeditions to this region of the western Amazon continue. Government officials currently seek to avoid direct contact with Brazil’s uncontacted tribes, instead working to identify and protect their lands from afar. But many believe limited contact may become necessary in order to protect the groups from external threats. José Carlos Meirelles, a veteran Funai official who has spent more than two decades working in the Javari region, said in 2009: ” If this situation continues, contact will become inevitable, and it is better that it happens with us than with loggers or goldpanners .” Indigenous peoples Brazil Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Gov. Tom “Secret Agent Man” Corbett is pursuing many of the same draconian budget and union-busting measures as more high-profile Republican governors, but since he so rarely holds unscripted press conferences or answers questions, I suppose the state’s media gang figures there’s nothing to cover! Since taking office in January, Gov. Tom Corbett and his allied Republican majorities in the state House and Senate have been guided by two principles as they approach crafting a new budget: no proposal may exceed the $27.3 billion originally proposed by Corbett regardless of specific spending; any revenue derived from the booming natural gas industry must be dedicated to specific purposes rather than deposited in the general fund. Corbett and legislative leaders view the general fund as a swirling, voracious black hole. Once public money enters the vortex, it is lost forever. So any new revenue must be put in funds dedicated to specific purposes. Curiously, however, the rule does not seem to apply to existing funds with dedicated revenue streams. One of the first acts of the administration, with tacit approval from the legislative majorities, was to eliminate state subsidized health insurance coverage for more than 40,000 low-income working adults under the adultBasic program. Instead, the state directed those needy workers to far less affordable skeletal plans offered by private insurances. Far fewer than 10 percent of the newly uninsured workers opted for the private plans, for which premiums range up to 500 percent of the premium under adultBasic. Yet, a major part of the funding for adultBasic came from a dedicated revenue stream – Pennsylvania’s share of the master settlement that states reached with the tobacco industry. In 2001 the state Legislature passed and Gov. Tom Ridge signed a law creating the Tobacco Settlement fund and dedicating the revenue solely to health-related purposes – including adultBasic. This year the state is scheduled to receive $315 million in settlement funds. But instead of using the money for the dedicated purposes established by law in 2001, the administration plans to divert some of the fund for other purposes, including $220 million for a business loan fund.
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Prime minister insists coalition inherited DNA database ‘that had grown out of control and was without proper rights for people’ Downing Street insisted David Cameron was not going to conduct a U-turn on the retention of DNA in rape cases being required after being put under pressure on the issue by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. The Protection of Freedoms bill requires the removal of DNA profiles from police databases after five years in all cases in which no charges are brought, but rape victims’ groups have called for DNA to be retained in exceptional cases. Speaking at prime minister’s questions, Miliband urged Cameron to make an exception of rape victims. The Labour leader asked: “Around 5,000 people each year are arrested on suspicion of rape and not charged … in certain cases these individuals have gone on to commit further offences and be convicted as a result of the DNA being held on the national database, but his proposal is that for those arrested and not charged the DNA would be disposed of straight away. “I ask him again, why is it right to discard the DNA of those arrested but not charged with rape?” It emerged that the prime minister did not know details of the proposal, which is due to return to the Commons at the bill’s report stage shortly. During rowdy exchanges in which he had to seek advice from the home secretary, Theresa May, Cameron appeared to hint that he would look at the issue again. The prime minister said the government would “look carefully” at the plans and that there was “always room to see where it can be improved”, but insisted the coalition had inherited “an unacceptable situation with a DNA database that had grown out of control and without proper rights for people”. He later said he believed the police could ask for the retention of DNA in exceptional cases, but Labour claimed the category did not apply in rape cases. DNA database PMQs Ed Miliband David Cameron Labour Conservatives House of Commons Liberal-Conservative coalition Rape Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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The MacIver Institute , a Wisconsin-based free-market think tank, has released a new video exploring the essential philosophy that underlies many liberal economic policies of late:the belief that the government, not the individual has the foremost right to the nation's wealth. Check out their new video with commentary by Rep. Paul Ryan after the break, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. Last year, when Congress debated extending the Bush tax cuts, Democrats described the cuts as unaffordable. As the MacIver institute explains, the flawed liberal philosophy is that the government owns the money, not the individuals who earn it, and any money the individuals are allowed to keep after paying taxes is a government expense, especially if they are rich. As Paul Ryan argued, Whose money is this after all? Is all the money that is made in America Washington's money? Government's money? Or is it the people's money who earned it? What do you think of the new video?
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• Hit refresh or select our auto-refresh button for the latest • Live scoreboard: Follow all of today’s action from SW19 • Full order of play for day three at the All England Club • Email your thoughts to xan.brooks@guardian.co.uk 1.17pm: Out comes Venus Williams for her opening service game, but she’s sloppy and rusty and Date-Krumm breaks her to love. The Japanese player then claws her way out of a 0-30 deficit to hold for 2-0, finishing off with a glorious drive volley into the open court. Kimiko Date-Krumm, incidentally, played her first Wimbledon way back in 1989 – before 36 of the players in this year’s women’s draw had even been born. Back then the men’s trophy went to Boris Becker and the women’s to Steffi Graff. Back then the spectators wore top hats and returned home in horse-drawn handsome carriages and you could pick up a Centre Court ticket for three-shillings-and-sixpence, and still have change left over for a flagon of mead. It was a happier time, an age of innocence. And, so far at least, the times are a-changing back. 1.03pm: While we wait for Venus Williams (recovering from a hip injury) and Kimiko Date-Krumm (40-years-old and still with all her own teeth) to get play underway on Centre Court, here’s Matt Scott on the (alleged) Problem With Mrs Murray: So Judy Murray is more of a hindrance than a help to her son Andy’s career — according to Boris Becker — and sport’s most famous mum has felt the need to justify herself. “Between the Australian Open in January and the Italian Open [on 8 May] I did not attend a tournament,” she said, which is perhaps a reduction in her courtside commitment. But it is nowhere near as light a touch as Andy Roddick’s parents, with the American world No.10 explaining in his USA Today column: “My parents are here [at Wimbledon] with me this year for the first time since 1997. “It’s the first time they’ve ever seen me play here. I thought they might have snuck over for one of my three finals and were just sitting in the stands, but they swear they haven’t. (They never sit in the player box). I haven’t seen much of them, however. I brought them down to get credentialed a couple days ago and got them lined up for some sightseeing, but they give me my space. They know I have to play a tournament.” Number of Wimbledon finals for Roddick: 3. Number of Wimbledon finals for Murray: 0. Just saying. 12.50pm: Raining hard at Wimbledon and this is how it looks . The PA informs us that this is likely to keep up until around 3pm, after which it will be wine and roses and Monte Carlo levels of sunshine and unfettered play on every spare bit of grass. Possibly. In the meantime the roof is drawn on Centre Court, where proceedings start in about 10-minutes. First up is Venus Williams versus Kimiko Date-Krumm, the battle of the golden oldies. We’ll be covering that while also keeping an eye on the covers. What’s going on under those covers? Are the pygmy professionals of the Lilliputian Tennis Academy playing one of their brutal, unseen contests? Or do the covered courts double as a kind of dormitory for the other players, with the likes of Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Jurgen Melzer all slumbering on the lawns, waiting to be roused and called to battle? If this deluge keeps up, we may be forced to crawl under and find out just what’s going on. Until then we’re moseying over to Centre Court. 12.24pm: Here’s more from the great Matt Scott on today’s Elf’n’Safety controversy. Wimbledon has been publicly chastised by the health-and-safety ombudsman over its claims that Murray Mount had to be closed in heavy rain. A letter to the Lawn Tennis Association’s chief executive, Roger Draper, and his All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club counterpart, Ian Ritchie, has been made public by Judith Hackitt, the chair of the Health and Safety Executive, and it does not make for pretty reading for the pair. Hackitt’s beef is that the closure of Murray Mount at so high-profile an international event was nothing more than “an excuse”. And it is illuminating that Hackitt says sports fans are frequently subjected to similarly shabby treatment. “There is nothing in health and safety legislation which prohibits the continued broadcasting of centre court action to the crowds on the hill during the rain,” wrote Hackitt. “People have been walking up and down wet grassy slopes for years without catastrophic consequences. If the LTA was concerned about people slipping and suing for their injuries the message should have made clear the decision was ‘on insurance grounds’. “Health and safety excuses are becoming as much a feature of the British sporting calendar as the rain. You will understand that while we can do nothing about the weather, we will not let the excuses pass unchallenged.” Hackitt believes it undermines genuine interventions by the HSE on safety grounds. Wimbledon’s ill-judged decision, it’s the health & safety executive that’s gone mad. We’re now wondering if the picture above might not be of the notorious Elf and Safety. Elf calls to mind a smirking Andy Murray, while Safety resembles a placid, long-haired Roger Federer. Steer well clear. They’ve both gone utterly mad. 12.13pm: Down in the comments, Sociopol wonders why Britain’s Alex Bogdanovic missed out on a Wimbledon wild-card. I believe this is on account of the organisers refusing him one after he lost something like seven first-round matches on the trot (at least I think it was seven: it may have been fewer, like six, or more, like 15). What they gave him, by way of compensation, was a wild-card into the qualifying tournament. Bogdanovic promptly lost in the first round, in straight sets, to a player called Bastian Knittel, who in turn lost in the second round, in straight sets, to Marc Gicquel. Thanks to the Wimbledon daily report for providing such a window into the subterranean pre-history of this year’s tournament. 12.05pm: In other rain-related news, a tweet from Esther Addley: Three hrs of heavy showers, says #wimbledon officials, so no play for foreseeable. How will they stage olympic tennis here next year? 12.00pm: Is here time for an email? It transpires that there is. The courts are covered and the promised midday start rolled back to the afternoon. Wilson Beuys (presumably no relation of Joseph, the avant-garde German artist) has an issue with the Murray mask: Whoever made that Andy Murray mask had a bit of a job on their hands. Where did they find a picture of him where he’s not snarling? I can only assume they altered it in PhotoShop – which explains why it looks nothing like him. Agreed, the image is deeply unsettling. It makes me worry that Murray and Federer have fallen in love, run to seed and are just about to embark on a dead-eyed killing spree, starting at your house, as the rain falls outside. Bolt the windows. Don’t open the door. Then mail to reassure us that all is well. 11.50am: Looking on the bright side, here’s the order of the play for the two main show-courts, where play kicks off at 1pm. First up on Centre is what the tournament’s official “daily report” is dubbing “the Zimmer Frame Special”, pitting 31-year-old Venus Williams against Kimiko Date-Krumm, the Little Miss Methuselah who celebrates her 41st-birthday in September. That’s followed by Nadal versus Sweeting, after which eighth seed Andy Roddick takes on Romania’s Victor Hanescu. Over on uncovered Court One, the 2010 runner-up Thomas Berdych faces France’s Julien Benneteau. Then, all being well, we have Andy Murray battling for a place in the third round against Tobias Kamke of Germany, followed by Britain’s Anne Keothavong versus the talented Petra Kvitova, who sliced and diced her way to last year’s semi-finals. The outside courts, meantime, play host to the likes of Gael Monfils, Francesca Schiavone, Vera Zvonereva, Richard Gasquet and the redoubtable Mardy Fish. It should be a grand day of tennis. But that “should”, it must be pointed out, comes ringed by lowering clouds and trumpeted by an ominous rumble of thunder. 11.35am: Umbrellas at the ready for day three of these Wimbledon championships, where the sky is like porridge and the met office are predicting heavy showers throughout the day. Already the moisture is gathering in the air around Centre Court and the ground-staff seem as nervous and jittery as rescue-centre greyhounds, all set to bolt for the covers at the first sign of a deluge. Undeterred, Rafael Nadal is currently camped on an outside court, warming up for his second round match against Ryan Sweeting, belting topspin forehands with a blithe insouciance. Regardless of the weather, the reigning champion will be OK. He’s due on Centre, most likely beneath the roof and possibly for the benefit of the rear admiral in the royal box. So bully for him and hurrah for the admiral. But what of the other competitors, cast out in the cold of the outside courts? And what of the lowly-born non-rear admirals who have come all this way to watch them? Here at the All England Club, we are battening down for a lengthy, stuttering afternoon. Stay indoors and watch us drown. 11.26am: An early story knocking around SW19 today concerns health and safety bosses, who have criticised Wimbledon organisers for using their legislation to shut down the hill now known as ‘Murray Mount’ when it rains. History was made at SW19 on Monday when the giant screen was turned off for the first time as officials feared fans would slip and injure themselves. Judith Hackitt, chair of the Health and Safety Executive, wrote to Wimbledon and the Lawn Tennis Association complaining about the decision. The HSE clearly feels it is being wrongly scapegoated whenever there is the slightest chance of anyone getting injured. “People have been walking up and down wet grassy slopes for years without catastrophic consequences. If the LTA was concerned about people slipping and suing for their injuries the message should have made clear the decision was ‘on insurance grounds’.” • Xan will be here shortly. In the meantime, check out today’s order of play and catch up with our reports from yesterday’s matches . • Feast your eyes on the best images from day two with our award-winning photographer Tom Jenkins’s picture gallery . • If reading our Wimbledon live blog has made you want to get down and experience the action at SW19 for yourself, why not enter our competition to win VIP tickets to savour this Saturday’s action. It’s a very simple question. • And check out the weather at Wimbledon here … Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Tennis Xan Brooks guardian.co.uk
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President has gone uncharacteristically quiet as he recovers from surgery in Cuba, prompting rumours over his health and warnings of instability He is famed as one of the most verbose leaders on earth, a media-obsessed commander-in-chief whose adrenaline-filled speeches often stretch deep into the night. But recent weeks have seen Hugo Chávez fall silent, as the Venezuelan president recovers from emergency hip surgery in Cuba. His uncharacteristic quietness has fuelled a flurry of speculation and criticism back home. Since being admitted to hospital in Cuba on 10 June, Chávez has made just two public appearances, showing up last Friday in four photographs alongside the Cuban president, Raúl Castro, and his brother Fidel, and popping up on 12 June for a telephone interview with Venezuela’s Telesur television network. Normally a prolific tweeter, Chávez’s Twitter profile – @chavezcandanga – has not been used since 4 June. More than 1.6m Chávez followers are missing the president’s 140-character musings on anything from football results to the activities of Venezuela’s state-controlled oil firm, “the most revolutionary oil company in the world”. Even an explosive outbreak of prison violence and a growing power crisis have failed to stir Venezuela’s convalescing president, prompting criticism from the opposition, a spate of online rumours and a fierce reaction from supporters who accuse detractors of launching opportunistic attacks on a sick man. “Such poor, scarce and ambiguous medical updates inevitably trigger rumours that go from liposuction to improve his figure to a back problem that will hinder his ability to campaign, or even a more serious illness,” wrote Luis Vicente León, a columnist for the opposition El Universal, on Sunday. León rejected the idea that Chávez’s absence had created a “power vacuum”, but complained of a “vacuum of respect for Venezuelans, their traditions and their symbols”. Mystery around Chávez’s extended absence briefly thickened on Monday night when one international news agency picked up on a supposed Chávez tweet, in which the Venezuelan leader apparently admitted: “My illness is more complicated than we thought.” Fifteen minutes later, however, the agency retracted its story; the Twitter account was a fake. Supporters of Chávez, who will run for a third presidential term in elections next year, have reacted angrily to criticism of their hospitalised leader. Cilia Flores, an MP from Chávez’s United Socialist party, last week accused opponents of acting “like vampires and vultures trying to see what they can fish from troubled waters”. In a text message to the Guardian on Wednesday, Venezuela’s information minister, Andrés Izarra, said Chávez was “recovering well” but denied rumours that he would return to Caracas in the coming days. Since taking power in 1999, the president has reportedly interrupted normal television programming 2,135 times to address his nation. A briefing by London-based thinktank Latin News said: “In the glaring absence of any official comment, there is wild speculation as to what exactly is afflicting President Chávez. The government’s silence about the president’s condition and his expected return date is … bad form.” “It is absurd that the president can sign documents from Cuba,” said Robert Bottome, from the Caracas-based consultancy VenEconomy, warning that Chávez’s absence could trigger a messy scramble for power in Venezuela. “By disrespecting the constitution,we are leaving the door open to serious turmoil,” he said. Leopoldo Lopez, a prominent Chávez opponent and leader of the Popular Will party, said the furore over the president’s stay in Havana was a distraction from more pressing issues. “The discussion should centre on the key problems that affect millions of Venezuelans with regard to security, the high cost of living, employment and public services. For me, this should be the debate,” he said. Hugo Chávez Venezuela Raúl Castro Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
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The “Yeas & Nays” gossip column at the Washington Examiner captured the latest Ann Coulter fighting with the media “mainstream” on Tuesday: When Ann Coulter stopped by the Heritage Foundation Friday, Yeas & Nays reported that she called CNN's Piers Morgan “stupid.” “But I don't mind stupid people,” she added. (Coulter was annoyed that Morgan asked her about her personal life during an appearance on “Piers Morgan Tonight” in early June.) On Monday, Morgan caught wind of the story and shot back at the acid-tongued blond via Twitter. “Ann Coulter calls ME 'stupid,'” he wrote, followed by the sarcastic hashtag #LikeBeingCalledRecklesslyLustfulByWeiner. Three hours later, the Brit tweeted that he had booked Coulter to appear on his show for round two. “In boxing parlance, I'm gonna whip her sorry reactionary a–. Again,” the CNN host wrote. Morgan gave no official date for the rematch, but said it would take place in three weeks time. CNN has confirmed the interview, while Coulter says she is waiting for approval from Morgan's timeslot competitor Sean Hannity . “Must check with Hannity first,” Coulter told us in an email. “I'm his b—-.” Morgan's latest acerbic tweet : “Looking forward to our rematch in LA on July 13 @AnnCoulter – you getting nervous? #intellectualparamedicsonstandby”
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Alec Ross says ‘dictatorships are now more vulnerable than ever’ due to protest movements on Facebook and Twitter Hillary Clinton’s senior adviser for innovation at the US state department has lauded the way the internet has become “the Che Guevara of the 21st century” in the Arab Spring uprisings. Speaking at the Guardian’s Activate summit in London on Wednesday , Alec Ross said “dictatorships are now more vulnerable than ever” as disaffected citizens organise influential protest movements on Facebook and Twitter. The US has pledged to back the pro-democracy movements that have swept the Middle East and north Africa since January. Ross welcomed the “redistribution of power” from autocratic regimes to individuals, describing the internet as “wildly disruptive” during the protests in Egypt and Tunisia. “Dictatorships are now more vulnerable than they have ever been before, in part – but not entirely – because of the devolution of power from the nation state to the individual,” he said. “One thesis statement I want to emphasise is how networks disrupt the exercise of power. They devolve power from the nation state – from governments and large institutions – to individuals and small institutions. The overarching pattern is the redistribution of power from governments and large institutions to people and small institutions.” Ross said that the internet had “acted as an accelerant” in the Arab spring uprisings, pointing to the dislodging of former Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in little over a month. The internet had facilitated leaderless movements, Ross added, describing it as the “Che Guevara of the 21st century”. However, he said it was a “bridge too far” to describe the Egyptian uprising as a “Facebook revolution”. Ross added: “If hierarchies are being levelled then people at the top of those hierarchies are finding themselves on much shakier ground. What’s remarkable is the speed, this is lightning fast change taking place and I’ve got to be honest, I think this is fun. It’s going to be wildly disruptive in the next few years and net-net I think this is a good thing.” US president Barack Obama, whose 2008 election campaign Ross helped co-ordinate, threw US support behind the pro-democracy movements in a landmark speech in May. “The status quo is not sustainable,” he said, describing the movements as a “historic opportunity”. Ory Okolloh, the manager of government policy and relations at Google Africa, speaking in the Guardian Activate session, said: “A lot of these uprisings underline that young people not only frustrated – they’ve been frustrate for a long time – but the internet brings you closer to what your life could be and should be like. “We have this revolution, but what happens after the revolution? Technology cannot answer that question: it won’t give you jobs or financing, and won’t help rebuild the economy. If we get too caught up in the role of technology we will be missing a huge opportunity.” • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Activate conference Internet Digital media Hillary Clinton Arab and Middle East unrest Facebook Social networking Twitter Blogging US foreign policy Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk
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Union gathering hears appeals for co-ordinated walkouts in first week of October if talks to reform public sector pensions collapse David Cameron faces the threat of industrial action during the Conservative party conference after members of Britain’s largest public sector union called for strikes over proposed pension changes. Delegates at Unison’s annual conference heard appeals for co-ordinated walkouts in the first week of October if talks to reform public sector pensions collapse. Amid defiant warnings that state employees will not be railroaded into changes, one council employee at the Manchester conference urged workers to stage walkouts when Cameron comes to the city for his party’s conference on 2 October. “On 2 October, we should come back to this city, and when Cameron and George Osborne get up to speak they should be met with resistance,” John McLoughlin, a Unison delegate from Tower Hamlets council, in London, said. “Wouldn’t it be better if, in that week as well, they know they are going to face the largest wave of strike action in the public sector that this country has ever seen.” Unison delegates are expected to back a motion that will give the union’s leader, Dave Prentis, the power to launch a strike ballot if the pensions talks fail. Unison represents more than 1 million public sector workers – about one-sixth of the UK total. Those discussions are due to end on Monday, and the talks process was jolted last week when the chief secretary to the treasury, Danny Alexander, sparked a union backlash by unilaterally announcing a deal including plans to increase contributions for public sector workers and raise their pension age to 66 by 2020. Jane Carolan, a member of Unison’s executive, attacked Alexander in a speech that was greeted with loud applause by 2,000 delegates. “There are lies, damned lies and the inventions of the ginger Tory poodle,” she said. “We have to be prepared to fight. A strike would be nationally co-ordinated, smart and potentially prolonged.” Prentis, who is leading the union delegation in the government talks, warned of industrial action on an unprecedented scale if ministers pushed through changes such as raising the retirement age without agreement. “This is our union’s call to arms,” he said. “When you get back to your branches, prepare for action.” Adding to recent rhetoric on historic industrial battles, Tony Phillips, a member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning service, said: “This won’t be the miners’ strike. This won’t be the general strike of 1926. This time, we are going to win.” The Unison motion calls on the union’s leadership to “build unity across Unison and with other unions to oppose current and proposed detrimental changes to pension rights and, acting within Unison rules and the law, to support service groups and sectors seeking to co-ordinate official national industrial action in defence of pensions”. Building a cross-union consensus on walkouts in the autumn will pose significant logistical challenges for Unison and its peers, because trade union legislation requires pinpoint information on voting data including the number of employees who voted and the departments in which they are employed. Unison and other unions have been scouring their membership databases for months in preparation for a major vote. . Trade unions David Cameron Conservatives Danny Alexander Liberal-Conservative coalition Public sector pensions Public services policy guardian.co.uk
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