Millions of public sector workers were preparing for the fight of their lives to defend jobs, pensions and services, raising the prospect of ”sustained” strikes according to a top union boss.
Speaking at the annual conference the public sector Union,Unison in Manchester,general secretary Dave Prentis urged the 2,000 delegates to prepare for action when they returned to their regions.
During his speech,he launched a savage attack on the coalition, saying public sector workers had been subjected to ”shabby treatment” at the hands of the ”wretched” government and called on ministers to stop ”demonising” hardworking people, who he said had had enough of being ”bullied”, adding that the Government’s controversial pension reforms were ”daylight robbery”.
Unison plans a series of strikes on the 30th June,with Mr Prentis said Unison could break the pay freeze currently affecting workers across the public sector, stop the jobs ”cull” and send the coalition ”packing”.
At a press briefing later, Mr Prentis said everything now rested on a crucial meeting between unions and the Government next Monday.
“The atmosphere will be very tense and we will know at that meeting if the coalition is serious about negotiating of if they want a confrontation.”
At the weekend,Mr Prentis warned that the biggest wave of industrial action since the 1926 could be sparked by the row over pensions.