TUC warns on fuel crisis

The TUC wants to end anarchy at the fuel depots

The TUC has condemned the fuel blockades and called for firm government action.

Meeting on the third day of the TUC annual conference, the TUC general council said that the actions were "an unconstitutional and unlawful attempt to bully the government into submission. They must not succeed".

(The blockades are) a challenge to democracy and a crude attempt to hold the country to ransom

TUC General Council

The TUC added that the blockades are causing "enormous economic damage" and are "a challenge to democracy and a crude attempt to hold the country to ransom".

And it added that the oil companies were clearly "colluding" in the protests.

Earlier Bill Morris, leader of the Transport and General Workers Union, had called on the government to ensure that his drivers can leave oil refineries to deliver fuel to petrol stations and warned that the situation could deteriorate into "anarchy."

It is an ironic turn of events for the unions, who were accused of holding the country to ransom in the "winter of discontent" in the l970s.

Boosting pensions

However, the TUC has clashed with the government on pensions.

The TUC wants to restore the link between the state pension and earnings, abandoned by both Labour and the Conservatives as too expensive.

The unions argue that the basic state pension, currently £67.50 a week after a 75p upgrading, would be £95 if it had been continually uprated in line with increases in average earnings.

Mary Turner, president of the GMB union, told delegates that the 75p a week rise was a "slap in the face" for the country's pensioners.

"Our Government got it wrong and it should now say so".

And GMB general secretary John Edmonds said that there would be political fall-out for the government.

"Unless ministers act to erase the stain of the paltry 75p pensions increase the Government will lose seats at the next election on this issue alone," he said.

But the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, who received a generally warm welcome when he addressed the conference on Tuesday, offered few concessions on restoring the earnings link.

However, the Social Security Secretary, Alistair Darling, indicated in a speech earlier in the week that the government was considering a "pensioner credit", a tax benefit that would be used to top-up people whose private pension was too small to provide them with a decent income.

Mr Darling said he would issue a consultation document in the autumn outlining a two-pronged attack on the savings trap.

"For the first time in the history of the welfare state people will get something more for saving," he added.

And the government is also committed to stakeholder pensions, which by next year must be offered by companies who do not offer any other pension for their employees.

No means testing

However, the head of public sector union Unison, Rodney Bickerstaffe, is unhappy with the government's approach, which he believes still relies on means testing too much.

Mr Bickerstaffe argues that the government's approach "simply enlarges the area of means testing when the whole point is to find a way of giving 11 million pensioners a dignified old age".

Mr Bickerstaffe, who was praised by Gordon Brown for his contributions to the Labour movement, will also oppose the government's plans to privatise more public services.

Releasing a union-sponsored poll that indicated that the vast majority of the public wanted public services run by the government rather than private firms, Mr Bickerstaffe said:

"It is time to say no to creeping privatisation and yes to well-funded, publicly provided public services".