The UK government is creating a secret 'war plan' to put in place this summer, in case of a general strike or widespread industrial action as the cuts start to hit many sectors across the country and negotiations over public sector pensions break down. A special unit has been set up in the Cabinet Office with thousands of union-busting private workers being lined up ready to cross picket lines.

Transport managers and prison bosses have been ordered to prepare agency workers and teams of managers for this precise purpose. Trying to arrange private deals with bosses at key facilities where action is likely to cause widespread disruption is not a new tactic, but one we should be aware of this summer.

The most disturbing aspect of the government's plan is that the special unit has used resources to conduct research on thousands of workplaces to determine where the most militant union staff are based, in order that they can predict where industrial action is most likely to take place.

A Whitehall source said: "We are looking across the country at things like which prisons have a high number of militant staff and which schools have a high proportion of NUT [National Union of Teachers] staff. The idea is if they go on strike we will be prepared,"

This strategy is not dissimilar to Thatcher’s preparations ahead of the miner's strike in 1984 when the government stockpiled a years supply of coal to prevent the National Union of Mineworker's holding the government to ransom. The Con-Dem coalition has been studying the London Underground and British Airways strikes to determine when private sector contractors can be brought in at short notice to limit the effectiveness of mass walkouts.

Ministers have concluded that the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport) and PCS (Public and Commercial Services) unions are likely to be more militant. Crack-downs have already started with an RMT member recently being sacked and threatened with violence for exposing illegal blacklisting practices happening on the Olympics site in London (see the article on the Olympics for more details).

Mr Crow said: ‘Francis Maude’s so-called battle plan is fantasy politics. If he thinks playing a glorified game of battleships is going to stave off public anger about cuts to jobs and public services while the bankers are scooping a £6billion bonus jackpot then he needs a class A reality check.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘Public sector workers will be aghast to hear that the Cabinet Office is spending time, effort and resources working out how to frustrate possible industrial action in the public sector, rather than focusing on how to avoid it in the first place.’

The national day of action against the cuts is happening on Saturday 26th March, with the 'March for the Alternative' TUC demo in London together with associated anti-cuts actions being organised by other groups.