The government might as well cut the crap - it wants to cripple unions and ban strikes. Its whole approach is an unjustified onslaught on democratic associations of working people that are an intrinsic and essential part of our industrial make up which I believe most people will think is going too far says GMB.

GMB reacted strongly to the government announcement of its intention to stop the administrative facility that lets public service employees have their trade union subscription deducted from their wages.

Brain Strutton, GMB National Secretary for Public Services said, "This latest attack on trade unions begs the question 'is this government hell bent on destroying trade unions?'

On top of making strikes virtually impossible and cutting many trade union rights, this new announcement was not mentioned in the Trade Union Bill and will have a devastating impact on union finances.

Is it really such an onerous burden on public finances and administration to deduct union subscriptions from salary when it's done for hundreds of other organisations, charities, sports clubs, and professional bodies, so why only ban it for unions?

The administrative cost is very small and we already pay local authorities for the facility in many areas and are quite willing to agree a fee for the service elsewhere.

So why isn't government offering to talk about this? I suspect we know the answer.

The government might as well cut the crap - it wants to cripple unions and ban strikes. Its whole approach is an unjustified onslaught on democratic associations of working people that are an intrinsic and essential part of our industrial make up which I believe most people will think is going too far."