Unions cancelled tomorrows strike by 1.5 million council workers because Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - after negotiations with Union leaders - withdrew government plans to increase the retirement age from 60 to 65 and make changes to pensions, after a huge display of anger from trade unionists.

This display of union power would have upset New Labour’s election campaign - a second all-out strike could have taken place on may 4, the day before the general election which might have spelled disaster to Newish Labour’s apparently certain reelection.

Announcing the government's capitulation statement, Prescott said: “ Following constructive dialogue on the local government pension scheme. ... It is my clear intention to revoke at my earliest parliamentary opportunity the local government pension scheme regulations. It is my intention also to begin consultation on new regulations.”

It is salient to recall that ex Labour MP and business tycoon crook Robert Maxwell committed suicide just before his theft from workers pension funds was to be made public - money he needed to stave off bankruptcy. The Newish Labour government may have learned a few tricks from Maxwell who intend to use their elected dictatorship to ‘legalise’ the theft from millions of workers pensions to pay off their profligate and still rapidly increasing debts.

This is a good victory, albeit a temporary one, since Newish Labour will return with their plans. Union leaders know that after the election on May 5 Newish Labour will renege on its promises, as it has done so many times since it was first elected. They will come back with renewed vigour and impose the same or even harsher policy. This is part of the ‘flexible working’ strategy in a globalised world (excuse the jargon), which really means, pauperizing workers and making them work and sweat until their graves.

The single status imposition on local authorities is still going ahead, though, which is a programme to significantly reduce council wage bills so private business can further take on those local authorities services that haven’t yet been fully privatized. It is also being used as an opportunity to impose new inferior employment contracts.

It has been imposed in Coventry, over the heads of the trade unions, coming into affect in June, and, if successful, it will be rolled out around all the other metropolitan districts of this country. This is so private firms can make a good profit, wages being one of the largest items on the balance sheet when most council business will eventually be recklessly handed over to them. Also working terms and conditions will be seriously deteriorated and Unions will be sidelined, by, for example, the abolishing of collective bargaining.

Strengthened by this victory yesterday, Unions in Coventry, are uniting to fight the cuts. Although, government and local government management, are trying all the usual divide and rule and other dirty tricks, to crush the defense of their probably illegal and definitely reactionary attacks on workers livelihoods - they would eventually like to send us back to the workhouse, really - to support the profits and lifestyles of the rich, and avert economic recession. But the wealthy will not be required to sacrifice anything, indeed they are have more reaches heaped upon them, and the executors be rewarded very well, indeed.

A strike should take place sometime in April, to defends these attacks by bosses , and maybe even on the may 4th, election day, itself. Cant we just close the country down on election day - that is the preferred option of some, but do we want a Tory government. Well, no, but no overall majority would be desirable. That would be enough to get rid of Blair immediately.

The real state of the British economy can be gauged from these reckless neo-liber counter-revolutionary policies that the government is trying to impose, and the dire state of once might, but now continuously crumbling, British industry.

For example, after the tragic closure of Jaguar car production in Coventry last year, and the consequent loss of so many skilled jobs, Peugeot Cars Coventry have announced a shocking number of jobs that are to be axed: 850. The closedown of Peugeot in Coventry will undoubtedly follow, although this has been denied by senior management.

It seems likely that in the next few years Gordon Brown’s neo-liberal economic and industrial policy will put hundreds of thousands out of work, and force many millions to receive substantial pay cuts and an erosions of their terms and conditions of employment.

We must, together, fight this onslaught: “the workers united will never be defeated.”


BBC- Pension row strike is off:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4368575.stm
Coventry Evening Telegraph Monday, March 21 2005 - Unions Call off Strike.

Also:
Peugeot to meet unions this week:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4366805.stm

Peugeot Jobs Shocker: http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=15318906%26method=full%26siteid=50003%26headline=peugeot%2djobs%2dshocker-name_page.html