Union chief looks to ‘angry’ 2011
By politics.co.uk staff
2011 could be the year when protests against the coalition government’s austerity agenda pick up decisive momentum, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber has suggested.
He used his new year’s message to predict that as personal experiences of job cuts and service reductions begin to overshadow “abstract national debate about the deficit”, so more interest in economic alternatives will begin to emerge.
The ten per cent cut in housing benefit, increased unemployment and the knock-on impact in the private sector will make 2011 a “horrible” year, he argued.
“It could well be a horrible year for the government too,” Mr Barber said.
“Already it has faced anger in constituencies where much-needed new schools were cancelled, and protests from students and school-children at cuts in EMAs and higher tuition fees. But 2011 will see many more people directly affected, and anger is likely to grow.”
The TUC will continue to campaign for policies like the Robin Hood tax, as well as efforts to deal with tax evasion.
But its main focus will be on the decision to take £4 out of services for every £1 in tax.
This, Mr Barber, added, “was a political choice, not an economic necessity”.
He said the TUC’s ‘March for the Alternative’ scheduled for March 26th would offer a rallying point for many, but said local campaigns and protests targeting MPs in marginal constituencies could be equally effective.
Mr Barber concluded: “This is going to be a year when many people suffer, but it just could be the year when the campaign for change really gets going.”
