Cable Heckled Over Threat To Curb Strikes

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Vince Cable has been heckled by trade union activists after warning there could be tougher laws on strikes if workers are seen to damage the economy with industrial action.

The Business Secretary was booed and shouted at several times as he delivered the message to the annual conference of the GMB union in Brighton.

Some delegates held up a banner as he spoke, which read: "Vince Cable not welcome - Stop Attacking Workers' Rights."

Mr Cable warned that if unions persist in co-ordinated strike action, "the pressure on us to act [by changing the law] will ratchet up".

He added: "If we go into a cycle of destructive strikes, we would have to think again [on strike laws]."

Significantly, the warning comes from a Lib Dem who was previously viewed by Conservatives as a potential block to a change in law.


We are undoubtedly entering a difficult period. Cool heads will be required all round.

Vince Cable

Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman told reporters there were no current proposals to change the law on the right to strike, but made clear that ministers were ready to review the position if there was a wave of "irresponsible" disputes.

GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said Mr Cable's comments were an "insult to working people" while RMT leader Bob Crow claimed they were "calculated to be both provocative and insulting".

Union leaders have warned 750,000 teachers, lecturers, civil servants and other public sector workers could take co-ordinated strike action on June 30 in the biggest outbreak of industrial unrest for years.

Mr Cable told the conference: "The usual suspects will call for general strikes and widespread disruption.



Vince Cable was targeted by hecklers at the GMB conference



"This will excite the usual media comments about a summer or an autumn of discontent, and another group of the usual suspects will exploit the situation to call for the tightening of strike law.

"We are undoubtedly entering a difficult period. Cool heads will be required all round.

"Despite occasional blips, I know that strike levels remain historically low, especially in the private sector.

"On that basis, and assuming this pattern continues, the case for changing strike law is not compelling.

"However, should the position change, and should strikes impose serious damage to our economic and social fabric, the pressure on us to act would ratchet up.

"That is something which both you, and certainly I, would wish to avoid."

Aides emphasised that Mr Cable wanted to make it clear that the Government feels there is no case for changing strike laws at the moment and that unions have acted responsibly so far.

He is understood to have been keen to draw a distinction between himself and what he calls the "usual suspects" who are "exploiting" the situation.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson and employers' organisation the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) have already called for tougher trade union laws.

Mr Johnson wants laws to prevent a strike taking place unless at least half of the union members in a workplace take part in a ballot.

He has criticised the government as "lily-livered" for not taking firmer action.

The CBI has called for a minimum of 40% of union members balloted to be in favour of a strike before it can take place.

However, Mr Cable is said to favour changes in the law that would ensure unions have to provide a minimum service level during a strike.

[norbert]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog ... rgeosborne" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

" Paul Kenny, the GMB general secretary, told Sky News after Vince Cable's speech that he deserved to be heckled. I've taken the key quote from PoliticsHome.

To suggest that somehow the government will act if there's any economic damage caused by people trying to defend their living standards when, at the same time, they are standing idly by while all the economic damage has been done by the banks and financial institutions is laughable. That's why [Cable] got the reaction he did. People find it an insult. What they wanted to hear was the government's plans for the economy; we've got an economy that's about as sustainable at the moment as a chocolate fire guard. They want to hear about a real strategy, not resorting to bashing the unions. He deserved to be heckled for that. "

Apparently ! PK said Billy Hayes was a clown ...something to do with him singing down the phone AFAIK

Bob Crow

" “Cable is effectively telling us that the right to strike is something we can have only if we choose not to use it.

“He is trying to come across as the nice cop of the ConDem coalition, but the truth is that he wants us to sit back and watch as his government destroys our jobs and wrecks our services.

“Working people are under attack as never before, and if it takes co-ordinated strike action and civil disobedience to stop it then so be it.

“Britain already has repressive anti-union laws that are outside legal norms and we have to jump through hoops to take action as it is."

IMO Cable is trying to provoke as well as insult ...oldest 50's Spiv Trick in the book