Catherwood LibraryILR School

In a huge victory for the British labor movement, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday did a complete 180 on guaranteeing pay and benefit parity between public-sector employees whose jobs are privatized and new workers hired by private contractors for public services---much to the chagrin of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The last minute change in the code governing pay and benefits in privatized pubic services resulted from talks between the government and public sector unions Unison, the Transport and General Workers Union, the GMB, and Britain's Trades Union Congress, and guarantees new hires terms "no less favourable" than those of older workers. The abrupt change comes exactly one month after Mr. Blair's cabinet stirred fears of a major showdown with unions by indicating that it might give in to employer demands for a voluntary guideline on "broadly comparable" terms even less protective than the 'comparatively "favorable"' terms code that some unions had resigned themselves to (Jan. 14, 2003).