Community General Secretary hits out at “General Strike” plans

The tensions within the trade union movement over a mooted General Strike rose to the surface today as Community’s General Secretary Michael Leahy attacked the plans in his conference speech, saying:

Conference, if we are truly to be a modern movement, we cannot fight the battles of the past. I’ve been on strike, I was on strike for three months in 1980. Going on strike should always be a last resort. In my time as General Secretary when our members have been on strike it has always been the very last resort. But when our members make that difficult choice – we win. This is what responsible trade union leadership is about. Rhetoric about a general strike is not only misplaced, it’s counterproductive and abrogates the responsibility of real leadership. And to pretend otherwise, is nothing more than a cruel fantasy. 

He also lashed out at other unions, saying:

Conference, for unions to grow in the way we want them to, we must make sure that the issues we focus on are relevant to those in work today.

Unite and Unison have previously given their backing to plans for a General Strike, but no date has yet been set by any of the supportive unions.