{"id":2241,"date":"2014-11-17T15:19:02","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T15:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2241"},"modified":"2014-11-18T11:50:02","modified_gmt":"2014-11-18T11:50:02","slug":"backlash-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2241","title":{"rendered":"Backlash warning"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey spoke to The Financial Times today (Monday November 17) about Ed Miliband, the cuts to public spending and union donations to the Labour Party.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Financial Times last week revealed that the next government may need to cut \u00c2\u014148bn from public spending to achieve politician\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aims of reducing the deficit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A move which Len said Unite members would not accept, especially another real terms pay cut. He warned of a backlash.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The level of the cuts, in my view, is unsustainable,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Len.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you are a cohesive society in a civilised 21st<\/sup> century country, then you cannot embark upon the type of cuts that cut away at the very fabric of the communities in which we all live. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain there will be a backlash.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He also threw his support behind Labour leader Ed Miliband saying personal poll ratings have been exaggerated and \u00e2\u20ac\u0098grossly unfair\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is now looking like bullying and the British people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it when ordinary individuals are singled out for this type of unmerciful attack,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on your side<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEd just needs to rise above that, and he has to do what he started to do, which is argue with passion and commitment about policies with the central message that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on your side\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to fight for the privileged few.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But one poll gave Mr Miliband the worst personal ratings of any Conservative or Labour leader in a generation. Ed delivered a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098make or break\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 speech at Senate House in Central London.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr McCluskey described the speech as \u00e2\u20ac\u0098first class\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen a kind of passion and steeliness, and a boldness that I think some of us have been wanting to see for a while,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our creation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite, along with other big Labour-supporting unions, has committed to helping towards funding the general election campaign.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Len hit back at criticism, pointing out that it was the unions who created Labour in the first place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur pennies and pounds have supported the Labour party since its inception for over 100 years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhy shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we have an input? The right-wing media want a bogeyman and it happens to be me and Unite, this \u00e2\u20ac\u0098all-powerful\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 union.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Germany a role model<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

David Cameron was a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098child of Thatcherism\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and his policies were \u00e2\u20ac\u0098extremely right-wing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, he said. He urged the Conservatives to look to Germany as a model for how unions work together closely with parties of all types to reach compromise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhy try to isolate a section of society when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to be governing for everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got no intellectual sense to it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Mr McCluskey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey spoke to The Financial Times today (Monday November 17) about Ed Miliband, the cuts to public spending and union donations to the Labour Party.   The Financial Times last week revealed that the next government may need to cut \u00c2\u014148bn from public spending to achieve politician\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aims of reducing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[160],"wps_subtitle":"Len looks to Germany for a model on unions","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2241"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2243,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241\/revisions\/2243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}