I also forecast that there will be very little sympathy for militant unions who appear hell bent on industrial action. Locally, a minority of employees are members of a trades union & I guess that once you step outside the public sector there is little appetite for prolonged industrial action - we have a promise of strikes in schools & a great deal of chest thumping in other parts of the public sector. I absolutely understand the angst demonstrated by the vast majority of hard working & dedicated people who work for the state in its wider form, but things have to change - no longer can we have benefits accruing to those paid for out of tax take that are unavailable to those employed in the private sector. There is no great political risk to the coalition if strikes occur, indeed taking on certain unions might in a certain light be perceived as politically advantageous. This is not the 1930's - unions have their place (& have uses), running the country is not one of them, but it does place the Leader of Her Majesties Loyal Opposition in something of a quandary given the degree Mr Milliband is in hock to the wider TUC.
