Just how thick are the public sector unions? The RMT’s announcement of a week-long strike on the London Underground in September is little short of a death wish. The unions spent 14 years trying to get rid of a Conservative government and its hated ‘austerity’. Within days, an incoming Labour government had awarded public sector workers substantial pay rises with no strings attached: no job losses, no demands to improve productivity, no changes to working practices. On the contrary, they were granted new workers’ rights, the right to demand flexible working hours and all the rest. So what do they do in response? Threaten to re-enact the 1979 Winter of Discontent – yes, the one which finished off Jim Callagahan’s Labour government and ushered in 18 years of Conservative government.

Surely,

See Full Page