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Commentators discuss the significance of the TUC's backing of joint industrial action on government spending cuts.Ìý

that the TUC is going through the motions:

"For those of us used to the old autumn routine, only this week's TUC curtain-raiser for the annual party conference season looks certain to operate on traditional lines. The calls for industrial action against the Coalition cuts are entirely predictable. Suggestions of a forthcoming winter of discontent fall from the doom-mongers who are already assuming poll tax-style riots. But the realities of secondary picketing and the post-Thatcherite rules on the laws governing trade union behaviour will mitigate the empty rhetoric."

[subscription required] that RMT leader Bob Crow's suggestion for a bit more drama in protest is unrealistic for Britain:

"'Maybe we need Batman climbing up 10 Downing Street, Spider-Man on Buckingham Palace as part of peaceful demonstrations of civil disobedience,' Mr Crow said. But this is not the British way. Industrial and political protest here only occasionally spills into overt violence, street protest and mass demonstration, as in the poll tax riots or miners' strikes. More often it is slow, undramatic and grinding, symbolised by uncollected rubbish more than broken windows.
Ìý
"The spectre of industrial action that haunts British politicians is not a man in a superhero costume, but a slow, debilitating confrontation during another winter of discontent. If Gallic protest tends towards melodrama and farce, then its British counterpart has a grim, epic, Shakespearean quality."

that George Osborne's "brutal" cuts attract unlikely support for the unions:

"In normal times, a roar of protest from the TUC would irritate the government of the day and alienate citizens anticipating closed schools and frozen transport. In this abnormal era, the script has changed for the political variant of Jurassic Park. The unions' conference in Manchester this week shows that, while Margaret Thatcher's 'enemy within' may be shrunken and disempowered, even its bitterest opponents cannot dismiss it as an anachronism. Despite the unhelpful threat of co-ordinated strikes, the TUC now has a hotline to Middle England."

that before any co-ordinated action against cuts, there will be more pressing issues for unions to deal with:

"[T]rade unionists trying to build an effective response to the coalition cuts programme face more immediate problems, as most readily recognise. Millions of public service workers are already facing large-scale job losses and a squeeze on pay and conditions.
Ìý
"Once next month's spending review decisions is unveiled, local flashpoints are likely to multiply, along the lines of what is now taking place in Birmingham local government. But, with the continuing legal straitjacket on union freedoms, co-ordinating industrial resistance to disparate local disputes may prove an uphill struggle."

the reasons why industrial action might not make a difference:

"What's made an impression on me in the past year is how difficult it's been for some unions to make their action effective. BA managed to operate a significant proportion of its flights during the recent strikes and the post office industrial action seemed very patchy.
Ìý
"So how seriously should we take the noises coming out of the TUC? Are we heading for widespread disruption?
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"The hard part for the unions is that the legislative environment it totally different and the requirements for strike action have become quite tough - something that the Labour government did little to change."

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