Con-Dems move forward with plan to remove right to strike.

It is looking increasingly likely the Tory government and their Lib Dem lapdogs are going to do as the Confederation of British Industry asked and tighten Britain's already overly stringent industrial action laws to the point of absurdity. Currently in a ballot for strike action requires a simple majority of those who choose to vote, which seems entirely reasonable. Not to the CBI though, they want 40% of all those eligible to vote to have to vote in favour before strike action can be taken. This means they have to intimidate far fewer people to prevent a strike and conversely unions have to work far hard to be in a position to legally strike.

From the article union leaders Paul Kenny and Bob Crow sum it up far better than I could:

Paul Kenny, the general secretary of the GMB union, said: "It is a testament to the priorities of this government, led by two public schoolboys[Paul note: the term "public school" in the UK refers to elite private schools founded in the early modern period so called public because they were the first non-church schools], that they should consider attacking the rights of ordinary workers rather than the bankers who caused the recession. More and more we are seeing the well-to-do upper class targeting the lower class and make them pay for the recession. It is unfair and unacceptable."

Bob Crow, the general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, accused ministers of "declaring war" on unions and of seeking to prevent workers from fighting back against cuts in jobs and public spending.

"The ConDems [Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition] know that by far the biggest campaign of resistance to their austerity and cuts plans will come from the trade unions. They are running scared and are now looking to tighten the noose of the anti-union laws around the workers' necks to choke off resistance. Under any proposals to raise the bar [for strike ballots] hardly a single MP in the UK would have been allowed to take up their seats."

Read about it here (its the second half of the article)