Is the UK on the verge of large scale industrial action?
There are rumours in today's financial press that UK unions are putting together a fund of up to £25 million which will be used to fight potential UK public sector service cuts if the Conservative party win the next general election. It is believed that the £25 million in question would normally have gone to the Labour Party but is now being withdrawn from Labour Party subscriptions to remain under the control of the unions.
There is no doubt that if the Conservative party win the next general election we will see significant conflict between these two very different organisations. Historically, in the Margaret Thatcher era, the unions were smashed by various laws and regulations brought in by Mrs Thatcher and it took them many years to recover. Union leaders, and the union movement as a whole, have not forgotten how the last Conservative party government treated them and there will no doubt be a number of old scores to settle.
However, public opinion is most certainly swinging the way of large scale cuts in the public service sector which is now employing more people than ever before and costing taxpayers record amounts of money each year. The unions will have a fight on their hands, but then again so will the Conservative party with an economy still struggling to pull free of recession.
Share this..
Related stories
Are We Heading For A Summer Of Discontent?
Hot on the trail of news that NHS workers have voted to strike over an 8% three year pay deal, it looks as though Gordon Brown and the Labour Party are in for a summer of discontent. Over the last few months we have seen an array of civil servants take strike action, oil workers refuse to work because of pension fund arrangements and serious grumblings within the Police force when a pay deal was...
Read MoreWas last months 1.2% house price rise correct?
When leading estate agent Rightmove announced that property prices in the UK rose by 1.2% in January, a number of eyebrows were raised. While there is no doubt that the figures themselves are correct, and there was an average rise of 1.2% across the UK in January, there are a number of factors which need to be taken into account.
The so-called rise also occurred at the same time as...
British Gas hit with £11.1 million fine
04/12/2014 British Gas has been fined £11.1 million by regulators Ofgem for failing to meet energy efficient targets on time. The energy supplier failed to meet deadlines to insulate homes under two energy efficient schemes that ran till the end of 2012. Although British Gas did manage to meet its targets, it missed the deadline meaning thousands of homes were left without insulation durin...
Read MoreEU courts award employees additional holiday entitlement
The EU courts have today issued their advice on holiday entitlement for those on long-term sick leave and ruled against employers. In simple terms, employees who return to work after long-term sick leave will still be entitled to their full holiday allocation including those days accrued when they were absent from work. This clears up a situation which has been dragging on for some time and while...
Read MoreSantander shows the way forward
Spanish financial giant Santander, the parent company of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, has revealed earnings of £1.16 billion between July and September as the company looks to make money out of a difficult financial environment. The well timed acquisitions of Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley allowed the company to increase its exposure to the UK market at a time...
Read More