Unions dismiss Cable moan

Louise Nousratpour
Thursday September 09, 2010
The Morning Star

Union leaders have hit back at Business Secretary Vince Cable's inflammatory remarks in which he accused them of "public posturing" over threats of industrial action on impending spending cuts.

Even as his Tory colleagues sharpen the axe for the looming public-sector cull, Mr Cable insisted that the government was not seeking confrontation with the unions and that he hoped for a "productive working relationship."

Looking ahead at next week's TUC conference, which is expected to see a growing mood for co-ordinated action against the cuts, the Lib-Dem backpedaller claimed that the public would have little patience for talk of industrial action to defend workers' jobs and livelihoods.

He went on to dismiss much of the talk of action over cuts as "public posturing" and singled out "militant" RMT general secretary Bob Crow for criticism in light of the successful London-wide Tube strike on Tuesday.

"Several British public-sector unions are threatening action over cuts, though the extreme rhetoric of Bob Crow - who talks of 'fiscal fascism' - is almost certainly regarded as an embarrassment by leaders of bigger unions," Mr Cable blathered.

A spokesman for civil servants' union PCS, which has teamed up with Unison to co-ordinate action against the looming cuts, declared "full support for Bob and his union."

He added: "We are looking forward to getting together with other unions next week to formulate our response to his government's shameful and unnecessary spending cuts."

Mr Crow said unions would take "no lectures" from Mr Cable, who had "postured his way right into the Cabinet.

"He represents a party that said one thing to the voters before polling day and then immediately leapt into bed with the most right-wing administration since Margaret Thatcher strutted the stage."

Responding to Mr Cable's personal dig, Mr Crow added: "When you use economic power, with the support of your unelected allies in finance and the courts and the rest of the state apparatus, to try and bully and control the working class, that is fiscal fascism in the raw."

Mr Cable made his unsavoury comments in an article in the New Statesman on Thursday and expressed "disappointment" at the withdrawal of his invitation to address the Manchester conference.

This means that next week's gathering will be the first in more than a decade to have no address from a government minister.