Militant transport union boss Bob Crow has called for "generalised strikes" to protest against spending cuts planned by the coalition government. "It will take general and co-ordinated strike action across the public and private sectors to stop their savage assault on jobs, living standards and public services," said the outspoken leader of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. Crow, whose organisation represents over 80,000 members and claims to be Britain's fastest growing trade union, said the new government had thrown down the biggest challenge to unions since Margaret Thatcher took on the National Union of Mineworkers in the early 1980s.
Bob Crow: handsome fellow
Unions have promised to fight government plans to freeze public sector pay and curb pension benefits in what could be a tense autumn, however tough anti-union legislation introduced by Thatcher has significantly curbed the power of organised labour. British Airways used legal action to delay, but not prevent, strikes earlier this year while in April a judge blocked a strike by railway signallers, effectively halting Britain's first national rail strike in 16 years. In February, the High Court issued an injunction to stop a 48 hour strike that would have closed the key oil and gas port of Milford Haven. Earlier this month, an RMT-led two-day strike by London Underground maintenance staff caused little disruption.
