Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Union leader warns of civil unrest in face of austerity programme

Sunday 13 January 2013 22:09 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A union leader has called for a campaign of "civil disobedience" in protest at the Government's austerity measures.

Unite's Len McCluskey pledged to "fight all the way to the next election" as he said no form of protest, including the prospect of a general strike, should be ruled out. He said the Govern- ment's policies, designed to balance the nation's books, were leaving working people feeling "battered".

Mr McCluskey told Sky News's Murnaghan programme: "When governments are acting in a way that is against ordinary working people we have a right, in fact we have a duty, to stand up and protest. Those protests will take all kinds of different forms – marches on streets, civil dis-obedience, industrial action. All of those should be used and none of them should be ruled out."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in