January 28, 2003
THE STRANGE DEATH OF LABOUR ENGLAND:
New union law to crush fire strike: Prescott uses emergency powers in historic breach with Labour allies (Jill Sherman and Philip Webster, January 29, 2003, Times of London)Draconian powers to force unions to bow to the Government's will on pay were announced by John Prescott and Tony Blair yesterday.Mr Prescott's patience with the Fire Brigades Union finally snapped as he declared that he would take emergency powers to impose a pay settlement on the striking firefighters.
A Bill will be introduced next month which will allow him to impose pay, terms and conditions. The legislation, which will be rushed through the Commons in weeks, will also give him direct powers to close fire stations and change working practices.
The Prime Minister, who has said that he regards the leadership of some far-left unions as "Scargillite", also made clear that he was determined to take hardline measures to end the dispute, leaving the union movement shocked by such an openly confrontational approach. [...]
Employment relations experts could not recall a similar move and said the announcement ranked with a ban on prison officers taking industrial action imposed by the Conservatives in the mid-1990s.
Unfortunately I can't find the story on-line anymore, but when Tony Blair was elected there was a profile in one of the British papers, the gist of which was that he was a new kind of Labour leader, but the part that stuck out was a quote from a close friend who said that one of the most important things to recognize about him is that he "hates Labour". The suggestion was that he truly believes in his Third Way and that he understands that the British labour movement is an obstacle to the types of reforms that the Third Way envisions. It's not shocking that this analysis has held true, but it is pretty surprising that he's managing to drag the rest of his party so far to the Right with him. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 28, 2003 10:23 PM
This is fascinating. It couldn't be any clearer whose premiership Blair is taking as his model if he wore a little tag saying "Hello, my name is Margaret Thatcher." But to be at the same time attacking old Labour shiboleths while taking his country into a war that is very unpopular with the parliamentary party may lead to the same political fate as that suffered by Mrs. Thatcher -- betrayal at the hands of the small, grey men at her back.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 28, 2003 11:10 PMAnd then he leads the Tory Party back to power!
Posted by: oj at January 29, 2003 1:00 AMi think european leaders are beginning to realise that in a shrinking, globalised, more competitive world, the last vestiges of socialism must be purged to compete with china as much as with the US
Posted by: xavier at January 29, 2003 10:47 AMxavier:
I hadn't noticed the French and Germans mooving in that direction.
And then he leads the Tory Party back to power!
Heh. If the Tories must have a pro-Euro chief, I suspect they might choose someone like Ken Clarke over Tory, Oops, I mean 'Tony', Blair. Mind you, Clarke's lukewarm on an Iraqi war ... so, who knows?
I wonder about the timing of the firemens' strike. Quite a large proportion of British armed forces have to be kept on standby to replace the strikers, and therefore unavailable for duty in Iraq. The firemens' union is one of the few in Britain to be under strong communist influence. To see the communists doing their best to support tyranny, oppression and genocide would not be unusual.
Posted by: Gordon Walker at January 30, 2003 11:38 AM