I generally don't back old Labour, lefty stuff like this: I find unions too militant, and usually too ignorant of economics. Those of you studying econ101 this coming year will find out exactly why unions often cause more harm than good.
However, they don't necessarily always cause more harm than good, for many reasons. The first, of course, is when employers are simply wielding disproportionate and unfair power as a single employer of many people. Collective action on the part of workers can hope to match the employer for bargaining power and strike a better agreement for workers. Classical economists might complain that this distorts the market value for labour, but does it really? Is the market value really what employers set for wages, particularly when they wield some kind of market power? You'll learn about the monopolisation of markets in econ101.
Furthermore, should the cuts go ahead? There's little doubt that the deficit is very large currently, but is that an excuse to wield the axe left, right and centre, as the Coalition is planning? Some very interesting analysis can be found by Chris Dillow at a blog called Stumbling and Mumbling that I'm a big fan of: The fact is that no government has the kind of knowledge that the Coalition is talking about using to make these cuts fair because nobody can have that kind of knowledge except God (if he exists*).
So given this, I'm actually sympathetic to the Unions and I hope that collective actions on the part of the masses can force this Coalition to rethink. Governments can be incredibly arrogant creatures at the best of time; lets see just how arrogant this one will be...
(* - I believe he does. See here if you're interested.)
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