Peter Hoskin

How Boris is influencing the coalition’s battle against the unions

This morning’s Times devotes its front page to how the government is borrowing Boris’s ideas for combating the unions.  But Spectator readers might remember that James foresaw this situation in his politics column.  Here’s what he wrote back in October:

“…an agenda is being discussed to curtail the ability of unions to call for industrial action. Boris Johnson’s office is floating the idea of minimum required turnouts for strike ballots. The Mayor of London has in his sights the RMT union, which represents many tube drivers and likes to strike first and ask questions later; this June the RMT walked out after a ballot in which less than a third of members voted. The proposal from City Hall is to change the law nationally so that a strike can only be held if turnout is more than a certain amount.”

In view of today’s news, it’s worth reading all of James’s column again.  This is, as he says, a two-sided coin, with measures to both curb and assuage the unions in the pipeline.  Neither, you suspect, will be enough to completely remove the threat of industrial action over the next few years – but it could nullify the worst of it.

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