THIS Wednesday will see the largest industrial action the UK has witnessed for some considerable time.

Over three million workers will be on strike, more than 300,000 of them in the North East and Cumbria. The action is a result of the Government’s failure to negotiate on unnecessary public sector pension reforms – their negotiating stance influenced by their determination to return £1bn to the Treasury coffers.

Last week, the Government suggested the strike would cost the economy £500m – a figure dismissed as “fantasy economics” by the TUC.

In fact, those taking strike action, the vast majority of whom are relatively low-paid workers, will collectively lose around £100m, which demonstrates how strongly people feel. Some organisations, most notably Newcastle City Council, are thinking creatively about what to do with the wage costs they are “saving”, in Newcastle’s case adding the sum to the voluntary and community sector fund that has been established by supporting those most directly affected by the austerity cuts.

There is a bleak irony about the Government’s apparent concern regarding the impact of the action on the economy. So far, with pay freezes and job cuts, the Government has taken more than £8bn out of the economy. That, coupled with the prevailing insecurity and lack of confidence, on top of reckless spending cuts that have taken out so much “demand”, provides the real explanation behind the complete stagnation in the UK. The Tories are claiming “you can’t spend your way out of debt”. More importantly, you can’t cut your way into growth. This systematic extraction of demand is one of the key causes of the almost complete lack of growth in the UK.

Taking a further £1bn out of the spending power of low-paid workers, through increased pension contributions, will only pour more cold water on diminished demand. This is another example of this Government’s double-standards as this single-minded focus on tackling the deficit does not lead to rethinking the £20bn tax breaks given to private sector pensions.

Tomorrow the Chancellor will deliver a very difficult autumn statement. He will not only announce a downgrading of growth forecasts and that unemployment is likely to rise for the next two years, he will also have to admit his goal of deficit reduction is also adrift of the self-imposed target. A sensible rearranging of these words and phrases could be “the economic plan isn’t working; the cuts don’t work, or, we’ve got it wrong”, but I’m sure that’s not how it will be presented.

:: Kevin Rowan, regional secretary, Northern TUC