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Eight unions in the UK have joined together to pen an open letter published by The Observer accusing the Labour party?s new spokeswoman for work and pensions of ?bashing the victims of failure? because of recent comments she had made about being tougher than the Conservative party with regard to cutting welfare costs. The spokeswoman, Rachel Reeves, had made the comment with regard to a plan where long-term unemployed would be offered a government funded job, and could lose their benefits if they refused it. In the open letter, the trade unions called Ms. Reeves comments a ?threat? against the unemployed and implied that the policy was paternalistic in claiming to know what is best for the unemployed. The UK economy is expected to continue to grow, but tension over employment remains because wages are failing to keep up with rising inflation.