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Strikes and unions

Sunday, March 28, 2010

The unions sense that Brown is weak, warns Cameron

3.30pm: The programme is now available to watch again, on BBC iPlayer.

VERDICT, 12.40pm: "Excellent performance from Cameron. Engaging. Reasonable. Attentive to his questioners. Direct when he disagreed with the audience (like the anti-school choice academic that the BBC had planted in the audience (real voter? I don't think so!). Hopefully by the time of the debates he'll be able to give more specific answers to questions on tax and spending. All-in-all very encouraging from the Tory leader. [And what a big contrast with Clegg]."

***

At the time of posting David Cameron is on BBC1 meeting floating voters, assembled by the Politics Show. Pasted below are pre-released highlights of his remarks.

CameronOnPS The unions sense that Brown is weak: "I think that we have seen from the prime minister a certain weakness in response to these industrial disputes.  I mean I asked him in the House of Commons four times in a row, did he support people who worked at British Airways who were going to try and go to work to keep that great British business going?  And he wouldn’t answer the question. I think that is wrong.  I think that it’s, I think a leader should say of course, if people want to go to work, they should go to work and I back them going to work, and I think the unions have scented weakness in the government and that’s one of the reasons why we’re seeing quite so many strikes."

We must deal with debts quickly: "If you don’t deal with your debts – it’s a bit like our credit cards – we all know the longer you leave it, the worse it gets and I think it’s important you grip the problem and at least make a start in 2010, and a lot of businesses, people like Richard Branson and others, Stuart Rose from Marks & Spencers, are saying if you deal with this early you’ll actually help get confidence back."

CameronOnPS3 Lower immigration: "If you look at net immigration, i.e. the difference between people coming here and British people going and living abroad, it’s been something like two hundred thousand a year so two million across ten years.  That I think is too high and as you say sir, I think we should be looking at net immigration in the tens of thousands not in the hundreds of thousands."

No more powers for the EU with the voters' consent: "My view is we should be in the European Union, we’re a trading nation, we need those markets open, we should be cooperating with our partners about the things that matter to us. But I don’t want to live in a country called Europe and I don’t think we should pass any more powers from Westminster to Brussels.  In fact I think there are some powers that ought to come back from Brussels to Westminster...  The best thing we can do now is pass this law that says that any government that tries to pass a power from Westminster to Brussels has got to ask the British people first.  That would make a difference but where I don’t agree with UKIP Is I think we should stay in the European Union."

CameronOnPS2 Grammar schools: "I mean we have 165 grammar schools I think left in the UK.  They are very good schools and they have absolutely nothing to worry about from a Conservative government.  We will support them, we will allow them to expand, we would hope they go on succeeding.  They’re very good schools.  The problem is not the 165 grammar schools.  It’s actually the twenty-four thousand other schools, where there are some excellent schools but there aren’t enough of them and I think in politics you face a choice. How do we get the transformation that the grammar schools allowed for some children in the past, how do we get that for more children in the future?  Now I don’t think re- fighting the battle of grammar schools versus secondary moderns in parts of the country where the grammar schools have gone would be a good use of time.  It’s an argument that’s had its day, it’s an argument that’s passed and it’s now time to look at the new way to provide really great schools for children who want to have their life chances transformed and we believe opening up the state sector and saying let’s have new academies open up, let’s have charities opening new schools, let’s have private schools coming into the state sector and offering great state schools free to kids, let’s have those things as a new way of giving people the advantage that grammar schools gave in the past."

Posted at 12:11 in Cameron interviews, Education, Europe, Immigration and asylum, Strikes and unions | | Comments (89)

Monday, March 22, 2010

On Saturday Cameron promised to tackle the vested interests (today we learn he may will continue to subsidise them)

On Saturday I gave a warm welcome to David Cameron's speech promising to take on the nation's vested interests, particularly the unions.

I was a bit disappointed to read this morning, therefore, that the party is likely to continue with the Labour government's taxpayer-financed union modernisation fund. The FT has the full story. I've asked CCHQ for a confirmation of the FT's story but haven't heard back yet. 10.30am - CCHQ has confirmed the story IS true. The Trade Union Modernisation Fund will continue if Cameron becomes Prime Minister].

After a long strike-free period when Labour gave them all they wanted in terms of higher public sector pay and protected pensions, the unions are already awash with money and have a £25m warchest with which to "unleash hell" on any Tory government. The trade unions don't need extra funding and they are unlikely to be bought off with even more.

It's sensible that Conservatives pursue a constructive dialogue with the unions (and Richard Balfe's outreach to union leaders was a wise initiative) but, in 'the age of austerity', we cannot afford to continue these subsidies for what have rightly been described as vested interests.

If the Tories win the General Election there is already a risk that we'll be in office but not fully in power. Throughout the country people of the Left will be running quangoes and are planted through the state-funded third sector. Paul Goodman has warned that many plan war on Conservative ministers.

It's true that we can't fight every opponent at once but the Tory leadership needs to have a strategy to take on the vested interests throughout the 'appointment-land' that Labour has colonised. Giving even more money to the union movement is a discouraging sign.

Tim Montgomerie

Posted at 08:51 in Quangocracy et al, Strikes and unions | | Comments (129)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

David Cameron to invoke the spirit of Thatcher in challenging the vested interests in the unions - and the big banks, with a bank tax

Picture 20 Yesterday shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers labelled the strikes by British Airways cabin crew (starting today) and the potential action by RMT signal workers as a "Spring of Discontent".

David Cameron will use the same turn of phrase when he addresses activists in Wandsworth this morning, where he will also invoke the spirit of Thatcher in his determination also to take on vested interests:

“Margaret Thatcher’s government was defined by taking the side of the people against the powerful, the vested interest - those whose survival depended on keeping things as they were. Take her union reforms. She recognised that as long there was a closed shop and no proper ballots, power would lie with the big union barons. They would continue to hold governments to ransom, to drag this country down, and to bully their members. So she took them on. She broke the stranglehold of the union barons and gave every worker an equal right and equal say. Vested interests broken - people empowered."

BA-ad Launching this poster, again linking Gordon Brown to the BA strike (click to enlarge it), he will add:

"Once again, under Gordon Brown the vested interests triumph and the people lose out. And now we see it again with the British Airways strike. This threatens the future of one of Britain's greatest companies along with thousands of jobs. But will the Prime Minister come out in support of those people who would cross the picket line? No - because the Unite union is bankrolling the Labour party.”

However, the vested interests he wants to take on do not stop at the unions. The BBC business editor Robert Peston blogged late last night that the Tory leader regards big banks as falling into that category as well.

Accordingly, Mr Cameron will be announcing that a Conservative government would bring in a new bank levy "to pay back tax payers for the support they gave and to protect them in the future". Furthermore, this would be introduced even if other countries decide against pressing ahead with similar plans. Peston adds, however:

"The Tories have had "conversations abroad in the past week" which have convinced the Tory leader and the shadow chancellor George Osborne that they would be in "good international company" if they were to launch such a tax. Second, the Tories are at pains to point out that if in the end other countries were not to move ahead with a bank tax, they would reduce the burden of any tax they chose to introduce here."

I'll add further details of the announcement when I have them later.

9.45am update: Here is precisely what David Cameron said on the bank levy:

Picture 19

"With the Budget this week, this is no time to shy away from confronting some of the biggest vested interests in our country – the banks. We had the biggest bank bail-out in the world. We can’t just carry on as if nothing happened. In America, President Obama has said he will get taxpayers back every cent they put in.  Why should it be any different here? So I can announce today that a Conservative government will introduce a new bank levy to pay back tax payers for the support they gave and to protect them in the future. No, it won’t be popular in every part of the City. But I believe it’s fair and it’s necessary."

The unions and banks aside, Mr Cameron cited other examples of vested interests, some of which would rather preserve the status quo and block progress as envisaged by the Conservatives, such as some of the policing establishment, the educational establishment and certain local authorities. He suggested that in some of these areas it "may mean a fight" but he pledged to be strong and  resolute in taking on those who block progress.

10.30am update: Click here to watch a clip of that key passage on the bank levy. And here is a longer clip, introduced by David Cameron, about challenging the vested interests.

Jonathan Isaby

Posted at 07:24 in Strikes and unions, Tax and spending | | Comments (99)

Friday, March 12, 2010

Coulson and Hilton join forces as Tory machine gears up for final lap

Team Cameron's move into the Millbank CCHQ for the General Election campaign is now complete. The 'war room' has become a crowded place with staffers bunched up closely together. It's warm. It's noisy. Cameron, himself, retreats to Parliament when he needs to finish a big speech or statement.

Coulson & HiltonSteve Hilton, Director of Strategy, and Andy Coulson, Director of Communications, are now sharing an office at the heart of operations. The two men have taken over the third floor's last available meeting room and now sit opposite each other. This uniting of the party's yin and yang is the beginning of a big effort to ensure better communication of the party's strategy.

Part of the explanation for the party's difficult few weeks has been confusion as to the Tory approach to the economy (the election's number one issue according to Stephan Shakespeare).  Newspapers have concluded that the party is less hawkish on the deficit and this has fed Labour's narrative that the election is about strong Brown v wobbly Cameron. Over coming weeks there will be a concerted campaign to ensure there is no doubt, in the minds of journalists as well as voters, that the Conservatives are the party of deficit reduction while Labour are the party that got us into this mess. Cameron will be presented as the straight-talker to the nation. Brown as the leader who borrowed too much, who has wasted taxpayers' money and who failed to regulate the banks.

The party is also ready to move on to the offensive on Labour's dependence on the union movement. Labour will be presented as in the pockets of public sector union interests; every bit as stuck in the past as the mining and car industry unions of the 1970s. Labour is, after all, sixty times more dependent on union cash than CCHQ is dependent on donations from a certain Tory peer. See today's Sun.

Coulson and Hilton report directly to George Osborne who is now in full charge of the campaign. The Shadow Chancellor's Mais lecture (praised here by Patience Wheatcroft) will probably be his last big statement of economic policy before polling day. He'll be out on the campaign trail and is eager to debate with his opposite numbers, but his main role from now on is ensuring the Tory machine is firing on all cylinders. Ken Clarke will fill the gap by being more of the public face for Conservative economic policy. Stephen Gilbert, Director of field campaigning, will work closely with Osborne in ensuring the right micro messages get to target seat clusters and the right direct mail is targeted on key voter groups.

Tim Montgomerie

Posted at 09:02 in Campaign materials, CCHQ, Conservative strategy, Economic policy, Strikes and unions, Team Cameron | | Comments (60)

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Tory plan to scrap automatic funding of unions could "bankrupt" Labour

Screen shot 2010-02-14 at 09.13.09 The unions may be planning to "unleash hell" on an incoming Tory government - and yesterday's Sun noted how the unions are currently on a big recruitment drive - but the Conservatives are determined to fight back.

Yesterday's Telegraph reported that David Cameron plans to end automatic funding of the trade unions:

"Under the Tory plans, union members would have to choose to contribute to the political fund every time they pay their annual subscription. Asking individual union members to tick a box supporting Labour every year was a key sticking point in talks to reform party funding which collapsed amid acrimony two years ago. Mr Cameron has pointed out that many union members are not Labour supporters and yet are often unwilling contributors to the party."

An ICM survey quoted in today's News of the World finds that nearly three-quarters of union members do not want their money handed over to Labour:

"Last year the unions pumped £14m into keeping it afloat... Labour currently has debts which top £11.5m and would go bankrupt tomorrow if the unions cut off their funding levy which fills the party coffers."

An end to automatic funding of Labour by the unions would need to be spelt out in the Tory manifesto if it was to be sure of passing the House of Lords. The Lords is now controlled by other parties and constitutionally the Upper House is only expected to pass manifesto commitments (see what I wrote last week on this).

Ending Labour's dependence on big union funding would be part of a wide measures of reforms planned by the Tories to make politics cheaper and more transparent. A £50,000 cap on all donations is still on the table and the Conservatives plan a 10% cut in the number of MPs. On today's Parliament blog we note how equalisation of constituency size is likely to happen.

Tim Montgomerie 

Posted at 08:59 in Party funding, Strikes and unions | | Comments (70)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Tory manifesto may be launched on 4th January as Cameron switches to positive message in 2010

2010campaign 'Sunny Cameron' is set to return in 2010 according to The Daily Mail.

The switch of emphasis comes as the Tory opinion poll lead has narrowed. Some Tory strategists are blaming the austerity message, ignoring the very clear evidence that it was the Europe policy announcement that began the softening in Tory support.  Harriet Harman's depiction of Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne as the Brothers Grimm has unsettled the Conservatives.

"The next stage," Mr Cameron tells The Mail's Tim Shipman, "is to explain some of the opportunities we have. There is a bright future. There is light at the end of the tunnel."

From the new year the Tories plan an energetic campaign:

  • David Cameron will make three trips every week to marginal constituencies, reports Tim Shipman.
  • The Times says a draft manifesto will be launched on 4th January as part of a "policy-a-day blitz throughout January". "Andy Coulson, the party’s director of communications," reports The Times, "has asked Shadow Cabinet ministers to “find new angles” on existing policies to generate media coverage, according to insiders."
  • A number of appointments are to be made at CCHQ to strengthen the team. One is, as we reported last night, the welcome return of George Bridges.

Continue reading "Tory manifesto may be launched on 4th January as Cameron switches to positive message in 2010" »

Posted at 08:58 in Conservative strategy, Strikes and unions | | Comments (53)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Unions have £25m war chest to "unleash hell" on Tory government

ConservativeHome has learnt that the unions are holding back money from Labour's election fighting fund and instead choosing to build up a war chest with which to fight the Conservative government that they expect to be elected next year. The relatively benign economic years of the recent past have meant the unions have not had to fund much strike pay and the coffers of the public sector unions, in particular, are overflowing.

A very good source tells ConHome that the unions have as much as £25m to spend on campaigns to oppose cuts in the public sector workforce and in public sector pay.

PoundAttackToday's Daily Telegraph splashes with the news that public sector pay continues to grow under Labour: "The Office for National Statistics disclosed that, in the three months to October, state workers received an average annual rise of 2.8% This was close to triple that seen in the private sector, where pay edged up by 1.1%. Many private employees have been told that their pay will be frozen next year and have had Christmas bonuses withheld." Even before the recession Labour had allowed public sector pay to catch up with private sector pay but had not forced public sector workers to sacrifice some of the securities they received as a traditional substitute for less remuneration.

Continue reading "Unions have £25m war chest to "unleash hell" on Tory government" »

Posted at 08:49 in Blogs, websites, e-etc, Strikes and unions | | Comments (92)

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The straight-talking Theresa Villiers

The Shadow Secretary of State for Transport issued this statement yesterday in response to the ruinous decision of British Airways cabin staff to strike over Christmas:

"BA need this strike like a hole in the head. The cabin crew unions are damaging the interests of their members by pressing ahead with this strike and inflicting major financial damage on BA. The union needs to wake up to the realities of the 21st century aviation industry and the intense competitive pressure BA faces from no frills airlines with much more modern working practices."

I like Theresa's no-nonsense style.

Tim Montgomerie

Posted at 10:50 in Strikes and unions, Transport | | Comments (28)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The enemies of the next Conservative government

The last 48 hours and the row over Gordon Brown's letter to Jacqui Janes have been further proof - if such proof was needed - that we live in a very hostile and unforgiving time. One of the greatest challenges David Cameron will face if he becomes Prime Minister is the management of this ungenerous and fast-moving media culture. Groups will be lining up to cause him trouble. He, like Margaret Thatcher before him, needs to pick his battles carefully. His decision, for example, to tackle the education establishment but not the NHS may, for example, be tactically wise. He also needs to do a lot more to reach out to his friends so that he has more strong allies for the big fights that lie ahead. The lack of contact between the party, the wider conservative movement and sympathetic third party groups (encapsulated in the decision to abolish CCHQ's External Relations Department) is short sighted.

Dartboard These are the likeliest enemies. Some are unavoidable but some can and should be squared off in order to avoid tension on too many fronts.

Labour and Liberal Democrats. Unavoidable opponents but not necessarily the principal threats that will shape public opinion.

The public sector trade unions. These would be my candidate for number one opponent. I don't often disagree with The Spectator's James Forsyth but I thought his recent column on how the Tories plan to work with the unions was too optimistic. If the Tories are to reduce Brown's budget deficit there'll have to be blood on the carpet. The unions are ready for the fight. The leader of the postal union leader, Billy Hayes, is already flexing his muscles and warning that he is stronger than the Arthur Scargill. The teacher unions, in particular, are certain to give a Conservative government a massive fight. Hopefully someone has a clear strategy to deal with the unions.

The Left 'netroots'. We haven't yet seen the web really take off as a political force in Britain but the Left in the widest sense will probably rebuild online. With Labour close to bankruptcy we will see a huge number of very cheap but very popular internet-based campaigns - national and very local - against Tory spending cuts. These campaigns could hurt the Conservatives but they could also hurt the Labour Party in the medium term as it is dragged to the radical left by purist internet activists. 

Continue reading "The enemies of the next Conservative government" »

Posted at 08:59 in Blogs, websites, e-etc, Environment, Fleet Street, Scotland, Strikes and unions | | Comments (185)

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Ken Clarke says postal workers thinking of striking are behaving almost as if they had a "death wish"

Ken Clarke pointing That is the hard-hitting message which shadow business secretary Kenneth Clarke is sending through the pages of the first edition of the FT. It comes as 120,000 Royal Mail staff across the entire country begin voting on whether to go on a national strike over pay, jobs and services.

The paper quotes Mr Clarke as saying:

“We are returning to a world in which totally irresponsible strikes are being threatened in the public services. The state of Royal Mail is now so serious that talk of a strike for vague objectives is almost like a death wish.

“This is where we have got to after 12 years of the government doing nothing about the problems of Royal Mail and they appear to have no policy for its future which they are capable of pursuing at the moment.”

Jonathan Isaby

Posted at 21:15 in Strikes and unions | | Comments (43)

Monday, September 14, 2009

A four point plan for defeating the resurgent public sector union movement

UNIONPOWER There were a number of years when the media seemed to forget that the TUC had an annual conference. Those were the good economic years. They were the years when Tory union reforms had tamed the big barons who had once presided over terrible industrial strife. But the unions are back. Today's newspapers feature TUC calls for even more spending (which The Daily Mail dubs "fantasy economics") and TUC warnings of 1981-style riots if the Tories do not allow the deficit to grow even larger.

During the quiet years the unions operated under the radar and rebuilt their power within the public sector.  The unions' achievements are enormous:

  1. The gap between private and public sector pay has been eliminated but the public sector labour force has lost none of its privileges.  On the local government blog today Mike Schofield reveals the TRUE cost of local government employees.
  2. The overall size of the state has grown markedly.  Public sector expenditure has risen by 17.5% of GDP since 2000 but productivity has fallen (City AM).
  3. The Times' Sam Coates has the story of the day in exposing how a cadre of trade union officials are maintained at taxpayer expense throughout Whitehall:

"Ten [Whitehall] departments have revealed that they employ 46 full-time and 87 part-time officials to work exclusively for the unions at taxpayers’ expense. Their salaries cost between £150,000 and £4.5 million per department. They are also given access to office space, computers and photocopiers worth an estimated £1.2 million each year."

The unions have won this influence by 'buying' Labour.  Labour gets more than half its money from the trade union movement and it has won a massive dividend from its expenditure.  The extent of this influence is under-reported.  James Forsyth at Coffee House noted yesterday's threat from Derek Simpson of Unite to "fatally damage" Labour's chances of winning the next election.  Can you imagine the reaction if a business leader had talked of their influence on the Tories in such terms?

Continue reading "A four point plan for defeating the resurgent public sector union movement" »

Posted at 09:03 in Education, Strikes and unions, Tax and spending | | Comments (163)

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Eric Pickles says the old antagonisms between Conservatives and the trade unions are long gone

Eric Pickles With the TUC meeting in Liverpool this coming week, there is much coverage in the weekend papers about the increasingly fractious relationship between the Labour Party and the unions, on whom it increasingly relying for so much of its funding.

Yesterday it emerged that David Cameron has already started a dialogue with the unions, enjoying what he termed "sensible" discussions with Brendan Barber, the General Secretary of the TUC, covering, among other things, the future of public sector pensions.

Today Conservative Party chairman Eric Pickles has given his take on trade unions today in the North East's Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Sun:

“They are absolutely massively important. They might not have the enormous strength they had at one time, but in terms of the ability to further workers’ rights and to work with management to further good practice are considerable.

“And certainly we have been having lots of meetings with top trade union officials over the last few months. I think we recognise that we will be looking for goodwill and mutual co-operation. I think the old antagonisms have long gone.”

Update: Here is what Brendan Barber told BBC1's The Politics Show today about his meeting with David Cameron:

"I've talked to David Cameron a couple of times, we've have fairly businesslike conversations, and I think that's important and it's right that there should be that, that dialogue, I want all the… major parties to understand trade union views and concerns. As to if, if there was a change of government, then I'd expect a new government to want to work sensibly with the trade union movement, that's certainly what I want to see."

Jonathan Isaby

Posted at 12:13 in Strikes and unions | | Comments (18)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The public sector unions will fight to save national pay bargaining but Cameron must defeat them

FALLON MICHAEL In an article for this morning's Telegraph Michael Fallon MP sets out five ways to cut Gordon Brown's budget deficit.  His ideas included (1) culling quangoes (starting with the Cabinet); (2) giving police commanders, head teachers, NHS executives command over their budgets so that they can shift resources to the frontline; (3) emulation of best private sector practice in cost-cutting and (4) sharing and out-sourcing of back-office functions. But his fifth recommendation stood out:

"We can no longer afford the distortions of national pay scales. They are long gone in the private sector. Paying a fireman the same in Doncaster as in Dorking, or a council planner the same in Merthyr as in Maidenhead, doesn't help – why should hard-pressed public sector budgets carry the huge difference in living costs? Labour talked about local pay but soon backed down in the face of union intransigence, thus holding back the ability of areas like the North East or Wales to make more of their available labour, cheaper housing and utility costs. How can businesses thrive when they have to compete against rigged labour markets, in which public agencies enjoy national pay scales, subsidised pensions, generous sickness pay and greater job protection? Why are local councils still sheltering behind national pay bargaining?"

Michael Fallon is absolutely right. The Conservatives must use this fiscal crisis to deliver positive change for the country. An end to national pay bargaining (MIchael Gove has already suggested it for new schools) would be one such gain... but the powerful public sector unions will hate it. The confrontations could be as significant as those that faced Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. But the gains to the hard-pressed taxpayer and to labour market flexibility will be worth it.

Tim Montgomerie

Posted at 08:45 in Localism, Strikes and unions, Tax and spending | | Comments (42)

Thursday, July 23, 2009

David Cameron tells The Sun he is ready to govern, will protect frontline services from the inevitable spending cuts, and warns union leaders not to take him on

David Cameron waist up The Sun - which appears to me increasingly prepared to declare its backing for the Conservatives at the next general election - carries an interview with David Cameron this morning.

The party leader tells the paper that after three and half years as Opposition leader he is more ready than ever to take on the job of Prime Minister:

"I have done good preparation for the job. I'm more confident about what the job entails. I'm very confident of my team and the people around me. The scale of the task has got a lot greater. There are some really tough challenges we face as a country.

"But it is what I want to do. I'm brimming with energy and enthusiasm to do the job. I believe that in life you have to give things your best shot, do your best. You have to focus on what needs to be done, do the right thing, not the popular thing." 

On the state of the public finances, he said:

"I am looking Sun readers in the eye - and we have to cut public spending. I will do it in a fair way. I will protect frontline services. I will do the right thing. Everyone in this country knows it needs to be done."

And he also sends out a tough-talking message to the country's union leaders:

"My message to union leaders who think they can take me on is simple: Don't do it. An elected government will have a mandate and I would say to union leaders, I want to have good relations with these people. They have an important part to play. They know themselves that Britain is living well beyond its means and savings need to be made. But my message to the unions on this is: I'm certainly not planning on losing."

Jonathan Isaby

Posted at 08:53 in Cameron 'The Man', Fleet Street, Government-in-waiting, Strikes and unions, Tax and spending | | Comments (81)

Monday, May 04, 2009

Strikes and unions

Click here for previous posts.

Posted at 16:22 in Strikes and unions | | Comments (0)

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