The TUC set itself on a collision course with Gordon Brown on public sector pay last night by backing strike action by millions of public sector workers, foreshadowing a new "winter of discontent".
Civil servants, local government workers, teachers, transport workers, prison officers and postal workers agreed with a unanimous show of hands at the TUC conference in Brighton to back coordinated strike action against the government's 2% pay limit and privatisation of services.
Brendan Barber, the TUC's general secretary, announced that a national committee would reconvene to coordinate strike action and hold immediate talks to discuss how to handle industrial disputes.
The decision came a day after union leaders expressed dismay at the prime minister's refusal to budge on pay levels. Unions are furious over both the staging of national agreed pay deals and the refusal to offer little more than 2%.
The motion to coordinate strike action was led by the civil service union leader Mark Serwotka, backed by the National Union of Teachers and the Prison Officers' Association. Mr Serwotka contrasted a pay offer that left some staff in Jobcentre Plus with nothing with the huge bonuses paid to City bosses, citing in particular Lord Browne, the former BP chief, who got £11m last year. "Public service workers are not the cause of inflation, they are its victims," he said.
To back his case, the three civil service unions, the Public and Commercial Service Union, Prospect and the FDA, released a study by the independent Incomes Data Services organisation which says that rather than public sector pay fuelling inflation, the recent increases have been driven by huge house price rises and petrol and oil price increases.
To applause from delegates, Mr Serwotka said: "When Gordon Brown slams the door in our face, we have to say we aren't accepting it. Unity is strength."
Steve Cox, of the POA, added: "None of us want a repeat of the winter of 1978. However, if the government continues like this, we have to be ready for action."
The NUT warned that its members could join strike action in November unless they received a large offer from their independent pay body or if the government intervened again and staged the pay offer.
Speakers from the RMT rail union, Unite and the GMB also backed coordinated strike action, with the GMB, warning that disabled workers facing the sack at Remploy factories were balloting for strike action. Also yesterday, Bob Crow, the RMT leader, was voted off the TUC's general council.
At the same time postal workers announced a fresh wave of disruptive strikes after talks with Royal Mail appeared to be heading for an impasse.
Postal workers are set for a national walkout by the end of September unless a row over pay and conditions is resolved, union leaders said.
Earlier the work and pensions secretary, Peter Hain, saw at first hand the union anger at plans to close 43 Remploy factories, highlighted in the Guardian on Monday. The GMB revealed that workers had started to receive letters detailing how much redundancy pay they would receive even though negotiations are continuing and workers are being balloted on strikes.
National officer Phil Davies poured a sackful of the letters next to Mr Hain as he prepared to deliver a speech to the conference. Mr Hain said he had not seen the letter before. Union sources disclosed that Mr Hain has had private talks with Mr Serwotka about Jobcentre Plus, where workers have thrown out a pay deal. They said nothing had been resolved and Mr Hain had implied that officials made the offer without clearing it with him.
TUC leaders will suffer a further blow today when John Hutton, the business and regulatory reform secretary, will dash hopes that the government will legislate for full employment rights for temporary and agency workers. In a speech to the TUC he will confirm Mr Brown's commitment to increase the staffing of the Minimum Wage Inspectorate. But he will not meet demands to end the casualisation of the workforce, arguing that agency workers play an important part in a flexible labour market.
