McCluskey versus the Olympics

Russell

Give the drivers whatever they want. After the Olympics, sack the lot and introduce driverless trains.
Make a point to these greedy overpaid lever operators, and all the other disruptive public sector Unite people.

RPC

"But it is also a reminder that the coalition is going to have to be prepared for a major confrontation with the more militant union leaders."

The coalition has backed down at the merest sign of any major confrontation. There's no one with any backbone in the political elite to stand up to vested interests in the public sector, so the unions are constantly appeased and those of us trying to create wealth in the private sector bear the heavy cost.

Maurice Gosfield

We really are back in the 70's with the return of the wreckers.

Keith

This is fantastic. Maybe if the Unions spoil the country's biggest party in decades people might realise what a toxic bunch of shysters McCluskey & Co. are. More specifically, they might start to understand that the vices of which the Unions constantly accuse their opponents: greed, ruthlessness, selfishness, etc., are really defining features of the Unions themselves.

Bring it on Len!

Yow Min Lye

This guy would have shouted "Out, Brothers, out!" to dockers loading the ships heading for the D-Day beaches in June 1944.

daniel maris

The government's message is clear: we're not all in this together; we only respect those who have power.

This sort of reaction is to be expected.

The coalition will lose out in any major confrontation with the unions.

AAE

Boris has already rolled over and had Bob Crow tickle his tummy so he isn't much of an example to the coalition. I imagine the first question Dave will ask himself when pondering this problem will be, "What would Ted have done?".

Mirtha Tidville

Mc Cluskey is an unreconstructed 1970`s class warrior...or if you prefer just very thick...and when the Tories thought they were in a spot of political bother, this numpty pops up to totally divert attention and put the spotlight on Milliband..Come on he`s got to be in the pay of central Office right?

Dan Grover

There's a fantastic line in the interview where he says...

"I, for one, am not prepared to stand by and have my children or grandchildren say to me: "What did you do when this was being taken away from us?""

What about if your Grandchildren ask you "What did you do when your union was demanding that the government tax my generation to pay for the excesses of yours? Why is my tax money, in 2030, going to your welfare provisions in 2012? Why are we being forced to spend less than our revenue, because you demanded for so long to spend more than yours? And why are you being so sanctimonious, gramps?"

three lawyers, four opinions

Why should public sectors wages be cut year on year. I have forgotten.

Oh, because Tory bankers screwed over the economy, ran their businesses into massive bankruptcies, sold dodgy finacial packages and even more stupidly bought them.

So thats all right then, ordinary people should pay for that from their wage cuts, pension cuts and taxes.

Dimoto

At the first hint of a union threat, Cleggy and his controllers in the HOL, will peel away from public sector pension reform .... or as they would put it, "play hard-ball with the Tories".

Dimoto

Of course McCluskey can gob off to his hearts content, but there is close to zero chance that his membership will sabotage the Olympics.

Nicholas

@ three lawyers, four opinions.

"Tory" bankers? Pff! This would be "Tory" bankers on the 13 years Blair-Brown watch. I know lefties love to blame anyone but themselves and especially to blame Tories but your post is barking.

daniel maris

Keith,

You are just showing how out of touch you are. Most people in London don't feel connected to the Olympics. The ticket prices are far too high. They don't like the sound of all the traffic and transport disruption. And they know it's going to add £50 to the council tax for the next 20 years. Meanwhile it's decimating the tourist industry this year.

You'll notice that McCluskey was not so stupid as to threaten the Diamond Jubilee which will be a focus of real affection, not least because there is virtually no commercial aspect to it.

daniel maris

Nicholas - You're asking us to believe that bankers as rule vote Labour? Er no, I don't think so.

Major Plonquer 1

I think McCluskey is a fine fellow. He should stand up for Socialism at all costs. Britain is now one of the world's last great refuges for Socialists (although I hear one has become President of the USA. Golly.)

If there is nowhere in the world a good Socialist can live then maybe they'll all come back to China and ruin our economy.

Keep Britain Socialist!

telemachus'

Nicholas
February 28th, 2012 23.42
On this blog it is not only extreme right wing views that are published. The nature of blogging is debate. This is not 1930's Germany

Fergus Pickering

It simply isn't true that the very rich all vote Tory. Lots of Socialists there. Think of Tony Blair's mates and good ole Lord Mandlebum. Your average Tory is like me, not rich at all. After all, if that were not so, where would all those votes come from?

Sir Everard Digby

Telemachus,either you do not understand the meaning of the word 'extreme' or you are wrapped up,like many others, in ultra hyperbole.

Precisely what 'extreme' right wing views are published on this site? Why do you make the link with '1930s Germany'?

Some of us have relatives,who as young men fought against that regime and died. Your right to free speech was not delivered by any political party,it was purchased by members of that society at a personal price. I think you would do well to remember that

That you clearly do not,demonstrates precisely why there can never be 'debate' on this or any other site. 99% of the contributors buy into beliefs which are wrapped in misinformation and massaged to a level of importance far beyond what they deserve.

I think you will find bankers will attempt to do business with anyone,regardless of political views -is that not what created their problems in the first place? Hence tribalist remarks serve no purpose,other than to a member of the tribe.

As for comrade Len,let's call his bluff and threaten to cancel the Olympics should he carry out his threat - I am sure health and safety grounds would be a reasonable basis. After all they are cited quite often when the Unions strike are they not?

Bob Dowling

The 1979 Winter of Discontent gave Thatcher the public support she needed. Perhaps a 2012 Summer of Discontent will do something similar.

Sally Chatterjee

Sounds like bluster to me. These union dinosaurs like to sound tough but they just make noise.

Look at Heathrow airport when there was a strike the last time, the passport queues were faster than on a normal day because people worked hard for once to attend to passengers.

strapworld

Mr Maris says " Most people in London don't feel connected to the Olympics". It would have been more accurate had he written Most people in the UK etc.

As for this McCluskey bloke, I do think he should be questioned by the police for inciting public disorder. I think a period of time confined in a cell would be good for him and for us all. I suppose he got his job with a majority of a minority of the total union membership.

BUT, we can expect our man of iron, Cameron to agree to any demands. Where is the politician who can LEAD this nation?

john gerard

Look at that picture of McCluskey. He looks like a second-tier politician from a former Soviet republic. And that's the idea, no doubt...

Bonzodog

Absolute majorities for strike action would be a good starting point ...

Doug

Just call the union leaders out for what they've always been - anti-British. They might not sell the country out to the communists any more but have fallen back on the typical union leader greed of being in it for themselves and not the majority of union members who just want decent representation and an end to political grandstanding with their money.

Johnnydub

What always makes me laugh is that the Unions hold up the German model of Employer-Employees relationships with workers councils etc as the ideal progressive model...

I'm fairly sure that the German unions aren't mindlessly selfish morons always looking for an opportunity to blackmail the employers...

michael

"The 1979 Winter of Discontent gave Thatcher the public support she needed."
The miners strikes led to the energy rationing policy ... The 'three day week'. This sunk 'fair, one nation Tory', Ted Heath.
Transport rationing during the Olympics.
- Certainly one for both Boris and the PM to ponder.

David B

Just shows that the civil service do not know how to be civil and don't serve the public

telemachus'

Sir Everard Digby
February 29th, 2012 7:19am
I am at one with your comments
My reply to Nicholas referred to his preferred blog where his inate views are revered

David L

Interesting debate. But the first post -Russell's spells out the right approach for the tube drivers. The same applies to McLuskey's members. Cut a deal to protect the games, and then take a chunk out of public spending afterwards to make up (or more than make up) for the cost.

No mercy on these people. We can't afford it.

Connie

Excuse me.. Tories screwed the economy? You got a bad memory? 15 years of Labour screwed us over... spent money we didn't have for way too long given out handouts that people got used to...Con Dem warned us it would be a long struggle to stop going under... the Olympics would certainly aid that... anybody wanted to stop that, have some very dodgy motives and don't deserve to live here if they want to see our country belittled to the world!! Have Tories been back in 15 years yet? Certainly not.. Labour got out before the real cracks appeared.. but I for one remember who caused them...

Chris lancashire

strapworld: I suggest thst both you and daniel maris are correct right now. But wait until the week before when all the hype and flagwaving kicks in and I also suggest that then the vast majority will want the Olympics to be a national success. Any union leader daring to spoil the party is writing his own suicide note. Go for it Len!

bojimbo

So speaketh Commisar McCluskey .

Mr Danger 1

I live in a council estate, collect benefits, send my kids to a state school, use the NHS, and plan to retire on a state pension.

What's the deficit got to do with me? I blame the bankers.

Ian Walker

Dear Boris,

Should Mr McCluskey make good on his threat to embarass the nation, I will happily volunteer to give up some of my time to take the place of one of his members.

Yours sincerely

Vulture

Is Len in?

HFC

McCluskey is SO popular in his Unite members that when as many as 15% of them actually bothered to vote in the leadership election he polled 42% of the ballot. So over 6% of the total union membership actually supported him.

Pettros

The Tories have brought this on themselves.
The Olympic bonuses to DLR 'drivers' were scandalous and gave every militant the blueprint for how to get their way.

Corinium

Remember that Maggie rolled over for the miners first time round because she knew she couldn't win but on the second occasion she made sure she was ready. And that time she won.

Mac

The return of the Tories has seen riots on the streets, attacks on civil liberties, social and economic division and the reignition of the class war, and all within 20 months. Must be a record.

andy

"I live in a council estate, collect benefits, send my kids to a state school, use the NHS, and plan to retire on a state pension.

What's the deficit got to do with me? I blame the bankers."

I assume the irony of your statement is deliberate. Who pays for you to do all of those things?

Mr. Green

Let him cause merry-hell.
Let the union members picket the gates of the Olympic parks and stadiums.
Let them bring the tube, train and bus networks to a standstill.
...and then let them face the angry, out of pocket people who have had their moment of history ended by some pinko, power-hungry nobody who would rather see his face on the telly than those of our atheletes and supporters.

Augustus

Marxism and Socialism are terms, as were Fascism and Communism, which all link together into greater government at the expense of making citizens into subservient subjects. When the state becomes “supreme,” then it becomes the highest authority. We have seen the results played out in violence over a last century and more. This is why statists run from discussion which would illuminate their true position. Every time an advocate of the state as supreme has spoken, the 'common good' has been invoked, but the worst consequences then ensue.

One sees this being played out in Europe’s insolvent countries today, as I think it is being played out in insolvent cities in the United States. Borrowing has been the latest attempt by statists to fund their dreams, and it has become a nightmare of debt. I read one editorial terming this intergenerational theft. Socialism — statism and all its variants in names and terminologies — comes down to theft. Now the theft is across whole generations who will have had no say in their indebtedness.

John Millington

People in the UK may not feel connected to the Olympics but I think we'd all be rather ashamed if the whole thing fell apart because of a strike.

Every time the unions strike it has a negative effect on our economy and increases the downward pressure on the jobs of their own members. These unions need to be reformed to stop them creating artificial and unsustainable demand for jobs that no longer really exist in any real demand capacity. They ensure that artificial demand is built up so that when jobs do need to go they all have to go at once instead of allowing a natural economic adjustment to take place, and they operate against the long term interests of their members.

If unions are to exist, they ought to be forward looking, noting and forecasting what pressures and adjustments are likely to be needed in the future - determining solutions rather than bloating problems beyond all proportions.

daniel maris

Chris Lancashire -

I am not arguing for a position - I am trying to describe it. A situation where public sector workers are having their wages cut by 13% (while having to pay a whole lot more for their pensions in many cases) at the same time that bankers and CEOs continue to pay themselves collosal bonuses is not one conducive to everyone pulling together or feeling content with their lot.

People I think are ambivalent about the Olympics. Of course they don't want it to be a failure, but on the other hand they do resent the cost, the disruption, and the fact that it is becoming another corporate beano with Londoners priced out of the tickets. Sport has lost its lustre now we know it has become so corrupted by money and drugs. Does anyone seriously believe that half the athletes there have not had their performance enhanced by banned substances?

HJ

three lawyers, four opinions:

"Why should public sectors wages be cut year on year. I have forgotten."

Perhaps because, despite previously receiving pay increases, their productivity has been falling year-on-year (according to official figures)?

MaxSceptic

Is it really too late to give the Games to Paris?

MrGrowser

We should never have applied for the Games. The money would have been better spent giving our armed forces better kit and homes for their families. As it turns out, Greence could do with the income. Why not stage them there, every time?

Frank P

Martha Tidville

Far from being in the pay of CCO McCluskey has more likely been stuck up by Miliband to make his veiled threats so that he and Harmon (as she did this morning on Sky)can reprimand him and indicate to the electorate that Labour would take a stand against Union militancy if they regained power. In other words, sheer posturing.

Frank P

I note Telemuck carping about being blackballed from another place Sir Everard.

Telemuck is 'at one' only with Telemuck. One of a cabal of Palestinistas who doesn't like not being able to control the agenda.

Pop across and try out the new patch, Sir Everard, if you have the time, It's a hellavalot easier to post there than here and the company's quite congenial:

http://www.coffeehousewall.co.uk/

HFC

denial maris @ 1.32 pm:- 'A situation where public sector workers are having their wages cut by 13%'

That's a big number, denial; where did you get that?

chinasyndrome

Dead mans handle?

Bob

The reality is that the unions are very weak. Their membership is small and confined mainly to the public sector. Recent "days of action" or strikes have been a damp squib with a tendency to hurt the weakest sections of society. In the seventies they succeeded in destroying their private sector base, this time round they may well destroy what little relevance they have left.

Radford NG

I'd love to see tens-of-thousand trade-unionists out blocking the"ZIL ONLY"car lanes...and I'm appalled at the level of militarery presence in London.Any Londoner who can afford it may like to consider a spring break in Pyongyang.

daniel maris

HFC Countryman - From the TV News. Three years with inflation running at 3-5% gives you that figure. Remember many will also have lost child benefit, be paying more income tax and National Insurance, and face pension payment increases. Put it altogether and many will have lost 20-25% of their disposable income. I think we can excuse them feeling a bit p'd off when they hear of bankers and CEOs awarding themselves huge bonuses.

Given the staffing of the public sector is being slimmed down by about 10-15% - with resultant huge savings - I think the government has overdone it on pay settlements and it won't help our economy to suck out all that spending power from the public sector.

Chris lancashire

daniel maris: you really haven't a clue have you? Forgetting the tired class war rot about bankers, if you really think ANY athlete has a chance of drug cheating at this Olympics then you are completely out of touch with what is happening.

In It Together

My son was in Iraq when the UK was awarded the Olympics. He will be in Afghanistan when they take place.

He is already on a pay freeze; his allowances have been cut and his pension scheme is about to be wound up and replaced with a worse one. the operational bonus is an irrelevant political device brought in by Broon. Once he gets back he will be in the frame for the next round redundancy.

Real heroes sold out by Cameron and his odd little party while they cheer on Olympic heroes.

Roy

If public sector employees have a right to strike, then the public sector employers must have the right to sack them. Including cancellation of all accrued privileges.

Widmerpool

This man is a national disgrace and a traitor IMHO.
The Olympics give the UK and London such an opportunity to show case Brown,Balls battered Blighty and its positive return to World Markets.
A friend in Beijing just emailed me to say Chinese TV had covered his plan to close London tube over the Olympics as a political protest over Govt cuts.
If he does close the Tube perhaps he could be transported to the Tower by boat with the executioners axe pointing him towards him as happened to traitors in old times before beheading!

HJ

Quite how Daniel Maris works out that many public sector workers will be paying more income tax, when tax allowances are being raised, escapes me.

AliC

In 1997 there were about 750000 fewer state employees. We need to cut back at least to 2004 levels. The state is still too big. The private sector must get bigger or we go bankrupt. It's not that hard to understand, but hard to accept for the trade union and loony left. The state does not produce any revenue, it just spends the private sector\s money. there must be balance.