‘Spiteful’ strike law undermines efforts to resolve public sector disputes, union chief warns
Attempts to settle public sector pay disputes have been undermined by “spiteful” anti-strike legislation tabled by the government this week, the UK’s senior union official has told Sky News.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), vowed to fight the proposed laws “tooth and nail”, and questioned whether ministers negotiating with public sector unions were acting in good faith.
Describing Jeremy Hunt as “missing in action”, the TUC boss called on the chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak to provide the funding needed to unlock disputes.
Ministers say the legislation is intended to ensure a minimum level of public service during strike action, initially from paramedics, firefighters and on the railways, but unions say it is an attack on the fundamental right to strike.
The new legislation would give ministers wide discretionary power to define minimum service levels and leave workers who ignore orders to work during a strike vulnerable to dismissal.
“This legislation effectively takes away the right to strike from millions of public sector workers,” Mr Nowak said.
Paul Novak has hit out at the government’s planned strike laws and wants the chancellor to find more cash
“It means that someone who votes for industrial action in a lawful industrial action ballot could be forced to work, and if they don’t work, can be sacked from their jobs. This is a government that appears to have moved from clapping nurses to sacking nurses.”
Mr Nowak said the tabling of the aggressive legislation as ministers invited health and teaching unions to talks raised doubts about the government’s sincerity.
“It’s really difficult to negotiate in good faith when you have a government that is intent on attacking trade union and hard-working NHS workers,” he said.
“The government has to make up its mind whether it is serious about solving the staffing crisis in the NHS or go back to a 1980s playbook of attacking workers and blaming union members.”
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Shapps: Strike law needed for ‘safety’
Talks have resumed this week between the RMT rail union and train operators over a new offer to staff, but negotiations with health unions appear to have stalled as the government insists it will not reopen talks over a pay settlement for 2022.
Mr Nowak called on Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt to provide the money required to settle the disputes.
“I think it is really important that the chancellor and the prime minister take some responsibility. Ultimately we are going to need some new money on the table to unlock these disputes,” he said.
“They can’t wash their hands of these problems. When you have 300,000 vacancies in the NHS and social care you are going to have to find the resources to fix those problems. I would call on the PM and the chancellor to get involved.
“Ultimately there has to be Treasury involvement in settling these disputes so we are still on the hunt for Hunt. The government has to come to the table and negotiate seriously and take away these regressive draconian legislative proposals.”
Ahead of a fresh round of strikes by nurses and civil servants in the coming week Mr Nowak said public support is still behind workers.
“Two thirds of the public hold the government responsible for this wave of industrial action,” he said.
“When it comes to a straight battle in the court of public opinion between [health secretary] Steve Barclay, Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt and our nurses, our paramedics, our teachers and civil servants I think I know which side the British public is on.
“So I urge the government to listen to the public, listen to their own workforce, get round the table, resolve these disputes and put fair pay at the heart of it.
“I think the vast majority of the British people will see this for what it is, a fundamental attack on workers.”
Elon Musk could be on track for a $1trn pay packet.
Tesla shareholders have approved the whopping financial package for the CEO – who’s already worth an estimated $491bn – if he hits a series of ambitious targets over the next 10 years.
But that $1trn figure (or £761,910,000,000) – which is both one thousand billion and one million million – is almost impossible to imagine for most people.
Even so, we have drilled down into the numbers and examined what you can do with a trillion US dollars – and it turns out, quite a lot.
Show me the money
Laid end to end, a trillion one-dollar bills would cover a distance of approximately 156 billion metres.
That could wrap around the equator 3,890 times, easily reach the sun from Earth (around 149.6 million km) or loop from Earth to the moon 405 times.
That many one-dollar notes could cover a massive area (roughly 10,339 km squared), meaning you could blanket nearly all of Lebanon or Jamaica in bills.
Spend it on sport
You could splash out on virtually all of the world’s major sporting leagues.
The clubs which make up the Premier League are relatively cheap ($30bn), and even when snapping up the UEFA Champions League clubs and the big five top divisions of Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, there’s still $858bn left in the kitty.
The four major US sports leagues for ice hockey, baseball, basketball, and American football (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) have a rough valuation of $544bn, according to Sportico.
But then add the IPL cricket league ($120bn) and F1 ($23.1bn) and Musk still has change from an estimated total spend of $829.7bn.
Elon Musk is in the money if he hits targets set by Tesla’s shareholders. File pic: AP
Take over Tesla’s rivals
He could buy up the top 15 largest publicly traded automakers (excluding Tesla) by market capitalisation.
They would include firms like Japan’s Toyota ($275bn), Chinese automaker BYD ($120bn), and luxury brands like Ferrari ($81bn) and Mercedes-Benz ($62bn), as well as BMW ($52bn), Volkswagen ($50bn) and Ford ($48bn).
But there would still be a little change left over; the total bill would be an eye-watering $992bn.
Buy up San Diego
He could buy up every single residential property in San Diego County – valued at a total of $1trn. Seattle is just slightly out of reach at $1.1trn, according to recent data from real estate firm Zillow.
But if he wanted to buy big – there is always Tennessee. The total value of homes in the US state is estimated at $957bn. Or there is Maryland, which at $1.01trn could be bought if he can find a little more cash behind the sofa.
Sadly, he would struggle to scoop up London’s entire housing stock, which in February was valued at just under £2trn ($2.53trn), according to agents Savills.
Cities like New York ($4.6trn) and Los Angeles ($3.9trn) are also not within his budget, hosting America’s most expensive residential markets.
Do something charitable?
There is always the possibility Musk could follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who intends to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years.
He could give every single man, woman, and child in the US a share of his cash pile. They would receive approximately $2,917.32 (£2,223.29), based on a population estimate of 342.7 million.
Although it would be roughly $14,348.79 (£10,935.20) for every person (roughly 69.6 million) in the UK.
If he wanted to give the entire globe an early Christmas present, then based on the rough world population estimate of 8.2 billion, everyone would receive $121.80 (£92.87).
Pay off the credit card
With $1trn, he could instantly rewrite history and erase debt interest payments and the government debt from dozens of the world’s sovereign nations.
Or Musk could wipe out the debts of Singapore ($1trn) or South Korea ($0.99trn) in one go, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook (Oct 2025).
But when it comes to the biggest debt-laden countries, $1trn would not even touch the sides.
The US has $38.3trn of government debt (just over one third of the total global debt pile) while the UK has a modest $4.1trn.
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