British Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron met with members of the executive committee of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on Monday, for tea and mince pies.
The last time such talks were held with a Conservative leader was in 1985 between then TUC General Secretary Norman Willis and Margaret Thatcher at the end of the miners’ strike.
Whereas that meeting came after the Labour Party and the TUC had isolated and betrayed the year-long strike, these latest talks are preparation for trade union efforts to sabotage a broader offensive against the coalition government.
They took place against the backdrop of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government’s £83 billion austerity package. Launched in October, the spending cuts will see 330,000 jobs lost in the public sector, an extension of a pay-freeze and higher pension contributions, in addition to the running down of essential social provision and welfare. In the last three months alone, some 40,000 public sector workers have been laid off, with no opposition from the trade unions.
It is particularly significant that the discussions took place after student protests that took the National Union of Students, the official parties and the trade unions completely by surprise. In the last month, demonstrations by students, school-children and academics against the attacks on further education have been subject to brutal attacks by riot police.
The government and the TUC share a common concern—how to dissipate growing anger at measures that will devastate the living standards and social conditions of millions. As the Financial Times noted, “both sides
seeking to quell mounting tensions over the government’s austerity drive”.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/came-d22.shtml
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