Public sector dismisses as 'daft' Maude's 15-minute strike plan

Union leaders have ridiculed a coalition suggestion that public-sector workers could down tools for 15 minutes without losing pay if they cancel plans to strike.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said that the Government was willing to accommodate some kind of "token action" when public-sector workers strike over pensions on 30 November.

The GMB branded the suggestion "daft", while the TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said the Government was campaigning "through the megaphone of media stunts". Under the plans, more than two million workers could resort to striking, the biggest number since 1979.