Unions warn of growing militancy over government's economic 'gamble'
GMB leader Paul Kenny says his normally 'very moderate and quiet' members are very angry while RMT leader Bob Crow raises prospect of general strike
Union leaders warned today of a growing mood of militancy over the government's "gamble" on the economy if the coalition refuses to change course.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, described mounting industrial unrest among normally moderate rank-and-file members across the public and private sectors who are "very angry" at the government's economic plan.
Bob Crow, leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' Union, ramped up the pressure as he warned that there was "no question" that unions would mount co-ordinated action to protect workers' living standards.
But Boris Johnson, the Conservative London mayor, signalled today that the government is planning to hit back by tightening laws against what he described as "vexatious strikes" by workers employed in essential public services.
Kenny issued a broadside against the coalition government as it made clear its intention to stick to its plan of multibillion spending cuts, and rejected calls for a change of economic course in the face of shocking figures that showed the economy contracted by 0.5% in the last quarter of 2010.
The figures, which raise fears of high unemployment and inflation with stagnant growth, mark the first serious challenge to the coalition's political and economic direction.
In an attempt to reassure volatile markets, Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, urged the cabinet to stand firm and warned of many shocks to the economy before it settled down to a consistent pattern of growth.
But Kenny said today that the government's strategy was a "gamble" without a "plan B" to adapt to the situation. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We are seeing, frankly, from areas of our member! ship, ar eas that have traditionally been very, very moderate and quiet, we are seeing calls for industrial action ballots.
"We are seeing people very angry about the fact that there doesn't seem to be a balance of justice in this. They do not see that there is a strategy that says we are going to win this fight."
He said people wanted to see that the government could adapt to the situation. "There's a growing level of concern that there's no light at the end of the tunnel. It's all bad news," he added.
Kenny said that people who have not had a pay rise for two or three years wanted to see King do more about the "rampant, greedy nature" of the banking industry in the country.
"This is a really important point for people in this country," he said.
The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, echoed calls for George Osborne to draw up a plan B in light of the latest figures.
He urged the chancellor to reverse the VAT increase and "call a halt to spending cuts that depress growth and take demand out of the wider economy".
"Ministers are fond of calling their critics deficit-deniers," said Barber. "This is completely untrue. The problem is that the chancellor fails to get the most basic lesson of 20th century economics that the way out of a recession and depressed growth is by increasing demand in the economy. In the words of Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman, he's a demand denier."
Crow, the RMT leader made plain that there was "no question" there will be co-ordinated action "when working people realise that their standards of living are going to be hammered into the ground as inflation lets rip."
He signalled that unions would use King's warning that inflation is likely to top 5% in forthcoming pay talks.
"It's all very well for Mervyn King to tell us that him and his well-heeled banking mates are going to drag us back to the 1920s but he should also remember that that was the era of the general strike over just these kind of attacks on working people," said ! Crow.
But there were suggestions today that the government was in process of drawing up plans to reform trade union laws to make it harder for unions to strike.
Boris Johnson, who has made no progress to date on his 2008 promise to Londoners to secure a no-strike agreement with tube unions, has called on ministers to install a legal threshold that would require 50% of eligible members to take part in a ballot for the result to be valid.
David Cameron and his ministers had initially distanced themselves from such plans to avoid triggering confrontation with the unions, but the prime minister appeared to soften his stance when he told MPs earlier this month that he was prepared to revisit the rules introduced by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s to make it harder for unions to lead walk-outs.
He told the Commons a fortnight ago: "I am very happy to look at the arguments for it because I want to ensure we have a fair body of union law in this country." He added that Johnson was making a "very strong case" for change.
Today, Johnson signalled this was in the pipeline, telling the London assembly: "Clearly there are issues about strikes being called in a way that I think is vexatious and not in the interest of the wider union membership and that is something we are going to address."
Citing the recent spate of strike action by tube unions over ticket office closures, Johnson said: "I do think what we need to do is look seriously at some of the strikes that have been taking place over the last few months. They had been in response to some tough decisions we have had to take about ticket offices and other measures that have all been in the interest of London Underground and the wider travelling public.
"I have to say that most of these strikes would have fallen foul of what I think are essential reforms that need to be brought in to stop vexatio! us and u nnecessary action led by the union leadership which is not in the interest of their members and in many cases not even supported by the majority of their members."
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "There are no current proposals to change the laws as they stand at the moment."
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