‘The TUC-Tory talks must stop’, Dave Wiltshire the All Trades Union Alliance Secretary told News Line yesterday.
Wiltshire said: ‘Brendan Barner is discussing with Cameron how the TUC can help him impose cuts on the working class and the middle class. This is absolutely disgraceful.
‘The forthcoming TUC Congress must make sure that these talks are stopped, that Brendan Barber is sacked as the TUC leader and that the TUC sets the date for a general strike to bring down this Tory-led coalition to stop the savage cuts and bring in a workers government that will carry out socialist policies.
‘Trade union leaders who are not willing to carry out this policy must be made to resign. The trade unions must fight for the interests of the working class and the middle class, this is what they were founded to do’.
Wiltshire concluded: ‘The talks must stop Barber must go and the TUC must call a general strike.’
He was responding to confirmation by Tory officials that Tory ministers have held secret talks with trade union leaders to pave the way for a meeting between Cameron and Barber, in a bid to head off strike action as cuts begin to bite.
GMB national officer Sharon Holder told News Line: ‘The TUC has always engaged in talks with the government of the day, this is no surprise and should not be secret to anybody.’
She added: ‘The role of the TUC is to facilitate any engagement between constituent unions and the government of the day.
‘That does not stop constituent unions making decisions on what their position is on government policy.
‘Talks between (TUC general secretary) Brendan Barber and Cameron will be an issue for the constituent unions.’
A spokesman for the PCS civil service union said ‘we’re not looking to comment on the Brendan Barber story at the moment.’
The RMT was too busy to comment.
The Unite and Unison trade unions were asked to comment but they did not respond.
Unite put out a statement giving its ‘reaction to IFS’s (Institute of Fiscal Studies) criticism of Osborne’s budget’.
Diana Holland, Unite Assistant General Secretary responsible for equalities said: ‘The IFS has exposed what we have long suspected that Osborne’s callous budget not only hits the poorest hardest but it also means that women, minorities and the disabled will be hit hardest too.
‘The Tories were always the nasty party, but now they’ve been joined by the Lib Dems.
‘The ConDems vision of a big society is in fact an increasingly unequal society where the poor, women, minorities and the disabled suffer the most.
‘As the cuts in public services bite things can only get worse for these groups, as they rely more on public services for support.’
Tory officials said that they are ‘highly optimistic’ Barber will be welcomed into Downing Street in the autumn.
Tory officials said the party had been successfully ‘building bridges’ with senior trade union officials in recent months and pointed out that several ministers, including Oliver Letwin, Philip Hammond and Francis Maude, have either met trade union leaders or addressed TUC events.
A TUC spokesperson told News Line yesterday: ‘There is nothing secret or surprising about Britain’s biggest voluntary movement engaging with the government of the day.
‘Even when we disagree, it is our job to represent the interests of people at work to ministers of the day.’
Meanwhile, after a News Line initiated campaign, taken up by the RMT, blocked an invitation to Cameron and Business Secretary Cable to address the TUC Congress, it has emerged that Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, is to attend and address Congress.
This was confirmed to News Line by the TUC spokesman yesterday.