If I represented the unions I would want these changes NOW.
If they rely on any manifesto promise by Labour it won't be honoured, just as the promise of a referendum wasn't honoured. Then again what's the chances that they will get re-elected anyway?

jeremiah, London,

Mr Thomas from Lanc's- where did you get "even with low unemployment from"? are you really swallowing the rubbish that Gordon and his people put out...? There are 900,000 on unemployement- which last's six months, then- they go onto Disability- 2.5M at last count..3.4M in total. Thats low? No Way.

phil A, Bordon, UK

There has been huge inflation over the last 20 years and real wages have fallen. Those at the top have benefitted enormously. People are now striking because they really NEED fair pay. The only other option is to give up work and live on benefits. We have massive civil unrest coming in this country.

Reg , sevenoaks,

Self-destruction is the inevitable consequence of institutionalised corruption. The parasite, having consumed its host, eats itself.

martin brighton, sheffield,

Mr petts is spot on. Even with low unemployment, low interest rates + low inflation (that combination is virtually unheard of) the majority of people are stupid enough to ignore that and think that Dave Carsalesman + his men in grey suits are the answer to their perceived problems.

A Thomas, Lanchester,

Labour are losers and they wont win the next election so actually who cares who funds Labor.

Ian, Bristol,

Why not? This is the Unions putting their dontaors first. We (well, not me anymore) now have a political party that not only can't manage the country but can't even manage itself.

Ian, Brisbane, Australia

No sane public sector office worker goes on strike . There is no public impact and you just get behind with your work .

Ian, Isleworth , UK

So wait, when Unions donate money too parties that is "bribery" but when, as has been the case for the last 10 years in the Labour party, and since immemorial in the Tory Party, wealthy individuals donate, thats OK?

Whatever it's faults, union funding is far more democratic than business funding.

Pierre, Addlestone, UK

What is actually wrong with some wage inflation for once?

We have had the CPI which is quite frankly a lie about true price inflation. House price inflation has also been deliberately left out to encourage a politically desirable boom without inflationary drag.

What is wrong?

Austin Tassletine, South West, UK

This is a power struggle between Marxist's and Fabianists.

Mike w, lincoln, england

Interesting dilemma for the Labour party. Do they represent the electorate who pay the MPs or the unions who pay the party? The unions sure as hell don't represent the interests of this country.

Clive, Matlock, UK

Labour can put what it likes in the next manifesto - it is very unlikely to make any difference to the result of the next election.

James E. Petts, Burnham, England

Why not train as a teacher, Judy (Liverpool): then, you can show them all how to do the job?

Robert, Hull, East Yorkshire

andrew, northwick

it's really quite simple. The private sector pay their employess according to supply and demand and that's a private matter between them and their employees. Public sector pay is a matter for ALL taxpayers because its the pte sector who creates the wealth to fund these services!

BD MATHERS, birmingham,

Incompetance, mis-management and comflicting targets has drained the public sector of the cash supposedly pumped in and it's the workers that pay. The little advertised Job Evaluation undertaken in many authorities has many people being told they'll be taking a 10% paycut over the next 3 years

DC, Ponte,

I've been doing my 'non job' for 18 years now, ( Labour in power for 11?). Putting up with whining, back biting frustrated, bad tempered teaching staff all day is really easy. As for TA's being a 'hinderance', withdraw us and see how the teaching staff get on. You'd hear the squealing from Stirling!

judy, Liverpool, England

If the Labour party gives in to extreme left wing union demands, it will again become unelectable. For once, let's try to learn something from history!

John Murphy, Bournemouth,

Au contraire Scott. My neighbour is a teaching assistant whos day consists of "Helping children with recognising colours" - Difficult stuff no doubt. Perhaps there is now a degree in colour recognition? Meanwhile, the teachers I know seem to regard their "assistants" more as hinderance than a help.

Rose, Stirling , UK

Rose, unfortunately you're talking about something you clearly know nothing about. Teaching assistants can, and do, train for qualifications for their role, in many cases and are invaluable in giving dedicated support for lower achieving, or special educational needs pupils in classes.

Scott, London, UK

"Teaching assistant" is just some non-job dreamed up by labour to get people off the dole queues. No skills or intelligence required. They're lucky to get more than JSA and shouldn't in my opinion.

Rose, Stirling, UK

Socialism is dead and so will be Labour if they cave, my feeling is they will cut a deal with all of the strikers per the Labour way of weakness however the unions will have it arranged to appear a Labour win so they can continue to bleed this country through such a puppet govenment.

Tom, Epsom, UK

It's a good idea; then all the MPs could go on strike for even more money and, with a bit of luck, stay on strike for the next five years or so.

David Masu, Zürich,

MAby John Cridland, should fund labour then, but then no one would be stupid enough to give labour money now, who back's the lossers?

The unions should pump them for all their worth, thou i do thik that with only 25% of people voting in the current stirke ballot, that's not enought really..

Mr W Jones, Liverpool, England

I hear the loud gobbling sound of turkeys voting for an early Christmas. This could be the beginning of the end for the big public sector unions.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Here we go again! I well remember the days of secondary picketing, unions out of control, inflation, government weakness and economic collapse. And after all that came Mrs Thatcher so that should give the union militants pause for thought, if nothing else does.

Ann Keith, Cambridge, uk

Brown bought votes to support his stance on 42days, Europe and the £2.7 billion by-election. So why would anyone be surprised when this desperate man sells out to the Unions? The scorched-earth policy continues!

Melchet, Edinburgh, UK

It didn't take long for the veneer of respectability to peel away from Labour once Blair left - and what do we find? yes the same old Marxists, union bully boys and chip on the shoulder lefties just dying to revisit their glory days of 1970s destruction, collapseand bankcrupcy - Brown's utopia

Bryan, Totland , UK

What is the difference between a business man giving a politician £10m to swing a vote that will benefit him, which for all intents and purposes is corruption; and a Trade Union threating to withdraw funding from Labour if they do not propose particular policies?

Chris Allison, London, UK

G.Ball: Sorry to interfere. But this is exactly what is actually needed for our country too. By the way, your three adjectives on Socialism are really enlightening,specially to beguinners.

Jorje, Barcelona, Spain

When lorry drivers get pay rises of a few hundred its inflationary; when financiers get annual bonuses of millions its market forces. Working people have had enough of this hypocrisy, hence the strike ballots.

Andrew, Norwich, England

The GMB have totally lost the plot. They don't seem to realise that this Government raises huge tax revenues, the problem is they've squandered it. Removing the NI upper limit is a policy demand driven by nothing more than spite and envy.

Martin, Nr Reading, UK

these 'public sector' unions are a modern day version of the miners and British Leyland ones, lets hope they go the same way and take Brown & Co with them

Jon, Fleet, UK

That is the scariest article I have read this year.

paul mitchell, Wolverhampton, England

Excellent!

Granting such a move would see the end of Labour once and for all, so bring it on. We need a sensible debate in this country on the way forward, one devoid of the greed, hate and envy of socialism.

George Ball, Diss,

Not in favor of strikes and certainly not of a return to secondary picketing, but what do Gordon and his cronies expect? Here they are discussing granting themselves extra expenses of 40K per year and salary increases way in excess of inflation, yet they expect the little guy to accept pittances?

James, Inverness,

Result from a incompetent pair Blair and Brown.

Brown being the main culprit. Things will only get worse. Brown will bow to the unions. The Unions know it and we know it. Sold us out to the EU and now the Unions.

God help us all.

Asw, Hong Kong,

Cue people complaining about the 'lucky public sector workers' going on strike, instead of getting off of their own backsides to stop the attack on their living standards. Capitalism screws us all, lets stop screwing each other. For a democratic communist party of europe!

Michael, Sheffield,

1978 here we come!

Ian, Tokyo, Japan

Labour + Unions = Conflict of Interest.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

For those of us old enough to remember secondary strike action nearly destroyed the country in the 60s and 70s. New Labour has been incompetant with finances both in the party and in Government. Now they can be held to ransom with the country as hostage.

John Goode, Welwyn Garden City, UK