David Cameron made significant waves yesterday both at Prime Minister’s Questions and in a Sun article about reforming Britain’s antiquated trade union laws. He
was responding to a favoured tactic of the new wave of militant trade unionists: threatening action at times that most inconvenience or imperil the safety of the general public. We have seen
this with the FBU’s dispute (over Bonfire Night), Unite with British Airways (over the Christmas period), and the RMT with London Underground (again, over Christmas). Some union leaders
now seem prepared to ruin what should be the two biggest highlights on our national calendar: the Royal Wedding in April and the Olympics in 2012.
Of course, it is unlikely that rank-and-file trade union members would support such moves, but their views are not always heard. Union ballots often have extremely low turnouts; but nevertheless enjoy complete legal protection, so a minority can often swing the result.
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