Ed Balls warns unions of George Osborne's 'strike trap'

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/19/ed-balls-unions-strike-trap

Ed Balls has warned trade unions not to fall into George Osborne's "trap" by striking over plans to reform public sector pensions.

The chancellor was hoping for the unions to embark on industrial action, Balls said, so that he could blame any weak economic recovery on mass walkouts.

The government and unions have been at loggerheads since unions felt ministers pre-empted negotiations by going public towards the end of last week with plans to extend the retirement age and increase pension contributions for millions of public sector workers.

On Sunday, Unison leader Dave Prentis, whose union represents 1.4 million state employees, said the government had "scuppered" the talks by appearing unwilling to compromise.






what the fuck are they supposed to do then?
they didn't break it -- but they will be 'asked to compromise' to fix it.
fuck that.

[leftyohiolib]

1. what the fuck are they supposed to do then? strike now! and

hire a p.r. person to craft public opinion. maybe they're not as stupid as some americans can be.

[xchrom]

2. Warning on pension strikes angers unions

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/17/uk-britain-pensions-idUKTRE75F7R920110617

(Reuters) - Public sector workers will not stop the government from reforming their pensions by going on strike, Treasury Minister Danny Alexander said on Friday, comments that unions said threatened to undermine talks on the issue.

The coalition is making changes to public sector pensions as part of efforts to cut Britain's debt burden and adjust to a population that is living longer.

About 750,000 workers, including teachers and job centre staff, have vowed to stage coordinated action later this month in what would be Britain's worst labour stoppages for decades as anger over the coalition's spending cuts grows.

"It may be that those who oppose change think they can force the government to change its mind," Alexander said in a speech to a think-tank in London.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Update on desperate Dan and his comments..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jun/18/pensions-reform-unions-public-sector-treasury

(Thanks to non-sociopath-skin of the UK forum for discovering this)

Danny Alexander is a particularly treacherous, right-wing so-called LibDem, who is in cahoots with the vile Tory George Osborne, seems to want to be more Tory than the Tories, and is bloody incompetent with it!

[xchrom]

4. ah! a blow hard and incompetent.

i swear to god -- when historian write about the start of this century -- you're gonna see the word incompetent -- a lot.

[Dawson Leery]

5. So they are to sit around take another unjust beating?

[xchrom]

6. exactly. they didn't break it -- but they have to pay for it. nt