Pugnacious Prentis...

[SeriousSam]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10325310.stm

Mr Prentis told the BBC: "We're planning for a big fight, a big campaign that will last four years over every single penny' "And we believe the people who make these cuts, many of them on an ideological basis, the people who make these cuts, we will make them pay a political price."

Whilst it was obvious that the unions were going to try and derail any efforts to reduce the deficit through cuts in public spending I do wonder whether they have actually considered the long term ramifications of such a fight, when;

1. Cuts will be made whether they like it or not, so the longer things go on without resolution the greater the total amount becomes and the greater the number of any job losses etc.

2. Adversarial politics are significantly less effective against a coalition government comprising both a left and right party

3. Public opinion will not necessarily be on their side, as lets face it… the more public “waste” is reduced then the less extra tax we will have to pay

So if you ask me they will find themselves on very thin ice, and it wouldn’t take much to create a “Public Opinion” whereby the size, influence and rights of unions becomes curbed once again.

Now we’ve already discussed whether or not they should be, so I don’t want to go through all that again, not least because the relative positions a based on entrenched ideologies*. However, I do wonder whether if it is inevitable because at least at a national level the union leadership seem incapable of engaging in anything other than puerile posturing (especially the “Awkward Squad” as they are known).

*In some respects there is little difference between the nature of political ideology and religious beliefs, and we know how well they mix together and get along…

[Salazaar]

Well it's already starting for us, we've lost two (and possibly a third) technically trained admin staff on temp contracts in favour of one or two untrained staff who've inherited jobs through TUPE. So we're going to have to waste time training the new staff and covering/monitoring their workload during that period. Joy.

[Flash477]

Well if they do this they are going to feel a lot of hate, and quite frankly when the country is at it highest level of debt they should not be allowed to fight it.

We are all going to have to take a hit if we are going to get this countries spending back under control.