A French Upset?

The government is considering moving the May Bank Holiday to October, from the half-term break in 2013, which they think would help promote the tourism industry in the latter part of the year. The idea comes as tourism chiefs have called for a better spread of pubic holidays throughout the year and this one might be called UK Day or Trafalgar Day.

The whinging has already started and unions have accused the government of attacking International Workers Day on 1 May. This despite the May Day Bank Holiday often falling close to the Easter holidays. The General Secretary of the TUC has called for an extra bank holiday to be given instead.

Compared with other EU countries, Britain falls behind in the number of public holidays each year, so moving the holiday to October - or putting another one in place - would seem to me to be a great idea especially if it were to be called Trafalgar Day.

But I doubt the French would be pleased about that!
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The Dinosaurs Posturing

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The dinosaurs of the trades union movements were out and about yesterday at the start of the TUC Conference posturing about fighting spending cuts and protecting their members’ jobs by means of what one of them called a campaign of civil disobedience. And this before anyone knows where the cuts will fall.

We will hear much about workers’ pay and conditions in the next few days, but nothing at all about those of the union leaders themselves. A report by the Taxpayers Alliance showed that 38 trade union General Secretaries and Chief Executives receive pay and benefits in excess of £100,000 per year. The top six men earn between £106,000 and £127,000.

What do these overpaid people know about the pay and conditions of their members?
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How Sensible

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The independent think tank, The Policy Exchange, has come up with a suggestion that would make it tougher for unions to call strike action.

They suggest that 40% of union members should be required to vote for a strike in order for it to be valid, rather than a simple majority of voting union members as at present. They also suggest that employers should be allowed to use agency staff to cover strike action, and for the period of protection from dismissal during a strike to be reduced from twelve weeks to eight weeks.

Unsurprisingly, the CBI welcomed the report and the TUC claimed it was ‘a crude attack on workplace rights’.

To me at any rate, the think tank’s suggestions seem eminently sensible and, had they been in force now, the strikes by sections of BAs cabin staff and that of Tube workers would not have taken place.
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Pointless Invective

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The proposed strike by signalmen (but only after the Easter holidays which accrues overtime!) belonging to the Rail Maritime and Transport Union has been averted following the granting of an injunction to Network Rail.

The reasons behind the strike, said to be about safe working practices, have been temporarily set aside in the acrimony that has followed.

Following the granting of the injunction, the General Secretary of the RMT said, ‘This judgement is an attack on the whole trade union movement and twists the anti-union laws even further in favour of the bosses. Workers fighting for the principle of a safe railway have had the whole weight of the law thrown against them’.

His comments were reinforced by the General Secretary of the TUC. ‘It’s becoming increasingly easy for employers, unhappy at the prospect of a dispute, to rely on the courts to intervene and nullify a democratic ballot for industrial action on a mere technicality.’

Note that neither of these gentlemen referred to the anomalies said to be contained in the RMT ballot results which suggested that there were flaws in 143 of the 828 workplaces identified by the union, including votes from eleven signal boxes which no longer exist. Or that in 67 of the signal boxes polled there were more votes cast than staff actually employed.

By all means have a strike if unions and management can’t meet and resolve their differences, but let the ballots be transparent and honest.

In the meantime, throwing invective at the judiciary makes no sense and achieves nothing!
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