TUC backs public sector strikes over pay

The Trades Union Congress has backed co-ordinated strike action by public sector workers over pay and opened up a new front in the industrial confrontation with the government in the wake of last year's pensions dispute.

The move came as the two largest teaching unions in England and Wales – the NUT and NASUWT, which represent more than 600,000 teachers – announced an indefinite work-to-rule protest from 26 September. The campaign means teachers will refuse to supervise pupils during lunch breaks and will not provide cover for colleagues.

The teaching union announcement was followed by a motion at the TUC's annual conference in Brighton that called on the labour movement's umbrella organisation to support co-ordinated walkouts over a multi-year pay freeze.

The motion states that the TUC will give "full support to all groups of workers in the private or public sector who take industrial action against cuts or attacks on pay, jobs, pensions or conditions of service and co-ordinating unions taking strike action."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/10/tuc-public-sector-strikes-pay