The Welsh Government has refused to endorse the right of public sector workers to go on strike this week at the third time of asking by Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood so we are told.
Ms Wood, AM for South Wales Central, had attempted to obtain the position of the Welsh Government on two separate occasions last week during questions to Finance Minister Jane Hutt only to be frustrated on both occasions.
During First Minister’s questions today, Carwyn Jones declined the invitation to endorse the public sector workers’ decision to go on strike this Thursday in response to an unprecedented assault on their pension schemes.
Several of the biggest trade unions in the UK will strike over the issue and there are predictions that the walk-out will be the biggest wave of industrial action since the 1926 General Strike.
Senior Labour politicians in Westminster, such as Ed Balls and Andy Burnham, have criticised the unions for resorting to strike action.
During First Minister’s Questions, Ms Wood said:
“The Westminster Government is doing its best to erode the terms and conditions for public sector workers. First Minister, will you join me in condemning the UK Coalition Government for making public sector workers pay the price for years of casino capitalism that caused the financial collapse?
“First Minister, I have asked this question a number of times now and I would be very grateful for a straight answer. Can you tell us how this building and how the government will operate this coming Thursday during public sector service strike and will you now be prepared to make a statement supporting the public strike workers and their right to withdraw labour in these unjust circumstances?”
In reply, Carwyn Jones said:
“We have very great concerns about what is being done, particularly to the pension schemes of public sector workers.”
The request to explicitly make a statement “supporting the public strike workers and their right to withdraw labour in these unjust circumstances” was ignored by the First Minister.
Ms Wood, who is the chair of the Assembly’s cross-party group for the PCS union, said afterwards:
“I’m afraid the issue of whether Labour in Wales supports strike action in defence of their pensions has been fudged yet again.
“This is the third time that the Welsh Government has declined the opportunity to support the right of public sector workers to withdraw their labour in response to the brutal actions of a brutal Con/Dem Government.
“What are they afraid of? Upsetting their bosses in Westminster perhaps? While the Tories queue up to attack the trade unions and their members, it is unacceptable that public sector workers have been left exposed by a Labour party that is unwilling to defend them in the face of such attacks.”
