Public industrial action threatened

Manchester: Britain could face the biggest wave of industrial action in a generation if agreement cannot be reached on public sector pension reform, the leader of the biggest public sector union warned yesterday.

Unison, which represents 1.4 million of Britain’s 6.2 million public sector workers, has amassed a £30 million (€33.7m) war chest for what its head Dave Prentis said could be months of industrial action.

An overhaul of public sector pensions is part of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government’s package of austerity measures adopted after it took power in May last year to tackle a budget deficit of about 10% of GDP.

Ministers say pension reform is vital as the system is no longer affordable with people living longer, as well as being unfair on the taxpayer and those in the private sector.