We Are Ready For Battle Over Pensions - And Public Will Support Us, Says TUC Leader

Brendan Barber was Disappointed With Ed Miliband's Reaction to Strikes.

The moderate leader of the trade union movement has said that he will not hesitate to put himself at the centre of walkouts by-public sector workers this autumn. Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC, will chair a council of war of union leaders next week to co-ordinate strikes scheduled for November. Mr Barber has long been regarded as the reasonable voice of British trade unionism. In an interview with the Times, he indicated that he will take a lead role in orchestrating strike action after talks on reform of public sector pensions stalled on Thursday.

He said that Government negotiators, led by Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, and Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, had "shown no willingness to reconsider" plans that were being implemented without "any consultation of any sort". Prospect and the First Division Association (FDA), moderate public sector unions representing senior civil servants, this week said that the Government stance had given them a mandate to start balloting for industrial action. They could join the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), and the three major teaching unions, who all participated in the June strike. As many as ten unions, including the firefighters of the FBU, could be involved in the mass walkout which may target the Chancellor' Pre-Budget Report on November 29th.

Mr Barber stated that "sometimes there has to be a battle to win for justice and a fairer outlook. If there has to be more of a battle so be it, I want to play my part in that." On Wednesday after the 143rd annual Trade Union Congress closes he will chair a meeting of union leaders ranging from the outspoken Mark Serwotka of the PCS to Paul Noon of Prospect and Jonathan Baume of the FDA, who both counselled against the June 30th one day strike. The TUC leader said that he believed that the Government's "crude divide-an rule" tactics, seeking to pitch private sector workers against public sector workers, had backfired.

He said that the Government risked creating a welfare state time-bomb by forcing millions of low earners to pay major increases in contributions to pensions because many would simply have to stop paying into their pension schemes. Leading to a failure to meet deficit reduction targets. "The wider community, through the benefits system will have to pick up an even larger bill". He admitted that he had been "very disappointed" in Ed Milliband' s reaction to the walk-out in June, when the Labour Leader said that it was wrong for teachers to go on strike at a time when negotiations with the Government were still taking place. "What I would like to have seen was a stronger acknowledgement of the seriousness of the issue." Mr Barber said " i've made it clear that I was disappointed. I think he could have taken a much more balanced position there."

The above are extracts from an interview given by Brendan Barber and printed in the Times on Saturday September 10th - for the complete text go to  Page 32.