How more strikes could work for the Tories

John Richardson

The Pink Conservatives 'challenge' for power is so weak and unconvincing that even the Nation's most hated Union could call strikes in the weeks preceding the vote.

This is politically quiet interesting Mr Forsyth.
Why not ask around your politically minded friends and ask for their views on this situation ?

You could write up their response.
Could be interesting.
Might be worth a read.

djw2009

What an odd policy! A minimum turnout for a strike ballot? I would prefer to see all unions working in the public sector or privatised infrastructure monopolies closed down. It should simply be illegal to organise unions in those sectors. And it should be illegal for management in those sectors to deal with unions. Their "right to strike" to prevent job losses amounts to a right for their members to live off the public purse. Just close down the unions and seize their assets. Tell the members to accept a 25% cross the board pay cut and abolition of their pensions and sign an agreement never to join a union - and sack any of them who refuse to, and ban them from the benefits system for 5 years for voluntarily leaving a job. Put the wind up them!

Naomi Muse

djw2009 has a good point.

Ronald Reagan did the heavy thing by sacking airport workers who did not return to work. So make it illegal for any essential workers including transport workers to strike.

Chuck Unsworth

Crow is a tremendous asset to the Conservatives. He must be allowed free rein - for a couple of months.

Richard Manns

@ John Richardson

Strikes just before the Tories come into power proves how "pink" the Tories are? You should tell Mrs T that.

ajs

Poor Mr Richardson: you must be colour-blind. Go take a test, lad.

toco

The brothers are back with their Soviet style socialism and the Labour Party can do nothing about it as it is 95% funded by Charlie Whelan and his ilk.This just ensures an even larger majority for David Cameron.Membership of trades unions is shrinking by the minute and reckless behaviour such as we are currently experiencing in the lead up to the election hastens this process.The unions now represent the minority not the majority of the electorate and job losing tactics evoke anger and disdain rather than any positive reaction from 90% of the population.The principal losers both in terms of jobs lost and financial deprivation are,of course,union members themselves.Suicidal behaviour which also affects strikers' partners and children for the sake of egotistical,ignorant and thuggish union bosses who earn in most cases well in excess of £100,000 per annum.The hapless and alarmingly erratic Gordon Brown should be ashamed of what is done by his lords and masters.

David Lindsay

The Tories are crowing about the recruitment of John Marek, for 18 years the Labour MP for Wrexham. Marek is fiercely anti-hunting, but, more to the point, is a close associate of Tommy Sheridan's, and founded and led Forward Wales as a counterpart to Sheridan's Scottish Socialist Party, the basis on which it secured funding from Bob Crow's RMT.

It was only wound up in January of this year. But Marek has clearly wasted no time in finding an alternative vehicle for a programme such as can warrant Trotskyist endorsement and cod-Stalinist, neo-Scargillite funding. Yes, I voted for No2EU - Yes To Democracy, but for the sake of Peter Shore's old agent and the leaders of the Visteon and the Lindsey oil refinery workers. I drew the line at applying to be a candidate, because, purely personally, I could not bring myself to line up in that way with many of the others involved. More than anything, it impressed on me the need to eschew such involvement, as well as abstentionism and silly names, at the next stage of our movement's re-emergence. But David Cameron clearly has no such scruples.

And the key proposals of Forward Wales specifically, rather than as part of any wider Sheridan or Crow movement, are now manifestly the policy of the Conservative Party: Wales to have at least the same level of devolution as Scotland currently enjoys, and drastic government action to be taken to enforce the public use of Welsh even in the most Anglophone of areas. After all, why else would Marek have signed on the dotted line?

Will Marek be joined as a New Tory by the other founders of Forward Wales? By Ron Davies, one of the very few former Cabinet Ministers without a seat in either House, and a noted campaigner both against shooting and for the abolition of the monarchy, recalling Marek's own parliamentary question to Tony Blair requesting that the Oath of Allegiance be replaced with something acceptable to anti-monarchists? By Graeme Beard (not the Australian cricketer), a former Plaid Cymru councillor in Caerphilly? Or by Klaus Armstrong-Braun, who in his time on Flintshire County Council was the only Green Party member ever elected at county level in Wales?

oldtimer

Raising the threshold to validate strike ballots seems a good idea. Meantime employers are still able (I believe) to rely on invoking breach of contract of employment to terminate the employment of strikers if they are so minded and so bold. It is rarely used. But it has been used; and, to my knowledge, the threat can and has been a powerful incentive for a union not to call a strike.

Snowman

not so sure that many of the great unwashed will run to the Tories because of the strikes; many see Griffin as the more natural ally.

John Richardson

'aja'

"David Cameron has said that teaching children about equality for gay people and the importance of civil partnerships should be "embedded" in Britain's schooling."
The Grundian 28th January

Two things.
1) Do you realise I had to visit the 'Grundian' to get the above quote ?

2) A test for eye sight is only useful if people are prepared to honestly accept what they see in front of them.

Regs.

dave, surrey

a fine example of the metropolitan world vision of British journalists. No thought to how it might play on the station platforms of Bradford, Newcastle or else where.. I suspect in these places and many others you'd find at tad more union sympathy.

Rob C

Unions should be confined to history - they are an outdated dinosaur of the past that serve no purpose for those they purport to represent. It is no longer about the workers but the ego's of the militant fat cats involved. The best thing an incoming Tory government could do would be to pass laws that make the unions culpable for compensation. Thus when the RMT strikes, it is jointly liable (with TfL) for compensation to commuters - this would discourage blackmail of the majority by a minority and ensure negotiation comes before action.

Uri

The solution is not the law change you suggest but another. The law should declare the underground a national utility that is too important to allow strikes on like the police or army they should be made illegal. No self interested group should be allowed to hold londoners to ransom. £40,000 salary and stupid amounts of holiday for a traindriver is a ridiculous amount to pay, it is not a wage subject to market forces and should be.

JohnAnt

Unfortunately London Underground has so fouled up the train service with never-ending multiple weekend line and station closures for 'planned engineering' and 'refurbishment' that proceeds at snail's pace, and entire lines that suddenly stop working during the rush hour, as the Circle Line did yesterday - and a increasingly uncommunicative behaviour by drivers and station staff - that we probably shan't even notice when the strikes start.

Fergus Pickering

John Richardson, what is wrong with the quote from Cameron that you found hidden in The Guardian? Do you think children should learn to persecute homosexuals? Do you think Conservatives approve of the persecution of homosexuals. I am about as Conservative as they get and I don't.

Ronnie

If anyone can explain to me why union leaders think it is a good idea to strike a few weeks before a general election with a Labour government hanging on by its finger nails, I'd be delighted to hear it.

Mike Thomas

How I would love to be the man in charge that said: "You have 48 hours to return to work, fail to do so and you are sacked."

The RMT's crypto-communist leadership could mull that one over as I refused to answer their calls.

Then produce a non-unionised workforce with complusory non-unionised contracts that did the job just as well and actually remembered who pays their salary.

This threat of a strike and the reasons behind it are completely fatuous. Here's my message to them: "Get out of your cosy ticket office, get some customer relations training and actually help your customers."

I've lost count of the number of times I've seen staff stand and watch a mum try to navigate a pushchair with tot up and down the stairs. Usually one of us generous souled passengers help but the staff are worse than useless.

Andy Carpark

David Lindsay, I am a local government jobsworth and we have a vacancy that may be of interest you.

It involves spread-eagling yourself on top of the local refuse tip in order to bore away the seagulls. After interviewing forty shiftless deadbeats in the past fortnight, I think we might finally have found our man.

If interested, please forward your glittering CV to a.carpark@hrpanopticon.noddy.gov.uk.

Richard

Good to see the Tories have finally engaged in the persuit of improved industrial relations.
It would, after all, be treasonable to encourage social unrest for the promotion of political advantage...especially during an election campaign.

John Richardson

Fergus Pickering

'What's wrong with the quote?'

Absolutely everything is wrong with the quote.
It shows a fundamental confusion regarding what schools are for.
It is deeply immoral.
It ignores the wishes of the vast majority of parents AND children.
Other reasons I could give would not be posted so it would be pointless.

'Do you think children should learn to persecute homosexuals ?'

Or learn to be racist I suppose ?

Mr Pickering,
Your question is cowardly, dishonest and illogical. You demonstrate that 'inner Social Worker' that lurks in the dark heart of the inadequate.
Thank God we have nothing in common.
You accuse me of a 'thought crime' while pretending to ask a question. As for your claim to be 'as Conservative as they get' at least you have a self depreciating sense of humour.
Have you not noticed that your 'Conservatives' can hardly replace the most corrupt and damaging Government the country has ever had ?
Pathetic.

Any reply?

Major Plonquer

I live in a real Socialist country - China. In Socialist countries unions are banned. So I don't understand why Socialists are in charge of unions. That's like putting King Herod in charge of babysitting.

David Lindsay

Andy Carpark, I'm glad you think that it's not a story that the Tories have gladly and publicly become the vehicle of choice for the sort of Welsh separatism and Welsh-speaking supremacism that can secure the endorsement of Tommy Sheridan and - now, have you got this? - the funding of the RMT. You are in good company.

But then, no one reported it when the SWP section the Respect Group on Tower Hamlets Council defected to the Tories, either. Among many other such examples.

TGF UKIP

I don't see what's particularly odd about Dave palling up with exteme leftists in this country when so avidly licks the arse of Oabama.