Strike while the iron's hot

This blog seems to have taken a real turn for the workerist over the last few days, which I guess isn't going to be to everybody's tastes. The post-leftists amongst you are going to have to put up with this for a while longer, I'm afraid, because I'm back on the pensions bandwagon and by the looks of it, this particular wagon ain't stopping anytime soon.

Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, the government didn't fall after Tuesday's strike. Indeed, Deputy PM and New Labour funny guy John Prescott vowed yesterday to introduce a regulation setting out the changes to the pension scheme (while at the same time expressing "regret" over the industrial action and calling for "all involved to return to the negotiating table"). Today, he did just that. As you might imagine, this hasn't exactly gone down well with the unions who have responded by calling further action "led by the country’s meat hygiene inspectors - the people who make sure the meat on our plates is safe":

Meat inspectors will be on strike from midnight Sunday 2 April to midnight Friday 7 April, with the result that meat production at major plants throughout the UK will be halted.

This will no doubt delight the vegetarians amongst us, but as the Beeb explains, it won't end there:

Union officials say council staff in the south of England will strike on 25 April and those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will walk out on 26 April.

Workers in the north of England and the Midlands will strike on 27 April, they say.

This is all well and doubtless I'll be out on the 25th. That said, I have a sneaking suspicion that this might herald a missed opportunity. There had been rumblings about a 48-hour strike would be called to coincide with local elections on May 4, but there's no mention of this prospect in any of the union materials, with the regional strikes taking place barely a week earlier. Labour must already be worried about their chances in the face of a recrudescent Tory Party and industrial action on election day would really put the wind up them. If we're serious about this struggle, let's do it properly. So, has anybody got Dave Prentis' number?

File Under: News, Pensions, Politics, Union, UK