TUC conference agenda to be dominated by spending cuts

Brendan Barber has warned of widespread strikes this autumn unless pension reforms are changed

The government's spending cuts are set to dominate the TUC conference when it opens later, amid warnings by union leaders of possible strikes and unrest.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber is calling for a "movement for the alternative" to the government's "failing" economic policies.
He said the programme of cuts was "hurting, but it ain't working".
Unite leader Len McCluskey has called for a campaign of strikes and civil disobedience to fight the cuts.
Ahead of the three-day conference in London, Mr Barber said the government risked plunging the economy into a recession worse than the one sparked by the financial crisis of 2008 if it failed to change economic course.
'Growth stamped on' He said Britain was in the middle of the deepest programme of public spending cuts since the 1920s.
"What is even worse is that it's hurting, but it ain't working," he said.
"The cuts have stamped on growth and the UK economy is still producing less than before the crash, while other countries have at least recovered that gap."
Mr McCluskey, whose union is Britain's biggest, representing 1.5 million workers, said no form of protest should be ruled out including "direct action".
He said there would be unrest if the "attacks" on workers' rights continued.
Mr Barber, who will address delegates later, has already warned that Britain faces widespread strikes this autumn unless ministers change direction on plans to raise public sector workers' pension contributions.
Teachers and civil servants went on strike in June over the government's public sector pension reforms and further industrial action has been planned for November.
In his opening address to delegates, the TUC leader will call for a "movement for the alternative".
'Sabre rattling' He will say the coalition government "has set the cruel and mistaken objective of getting rid of the deficit in just four years".
Mr Barber is expected to say the cuts have "hit middle- and low-income workers in both private and public sectors, and have hardly been noticed by those who did so well out of the banking bubble".
"The less you had to do with causing the crash, the bigger the price you are having to pay," he will tell delegates.
Mr McCluskey is expected to deliver a speech telling ministers that workers will "resist" attacks on jobs, pay and pensions.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said he expects to "hear a bit of sabre rattling" during the TUC conference but urged union leaders to consider strike action as "very much the last resort".