Writing on the Labour List website, McCluskey, the leader of Unite, England’s largest union, said his earlier remarks about industrial action during London 2012 had been “hyped” and had caused “confusion”, but protests remained a possibility.
And McCluskey said he “couldn’t care less” about what prime minister David Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg had to say about it.
This is despite Cameron describing his threats as “unpatriotic and uacceptable.”
McCluskey said: “I want a successful Olympic Games in London, but I want much more than just a feel good fortnight. I want a country to be proud of the whole year round with a decent NHS.
“Because Britain today is two countries. It is the nation which will welcome the world to a magnificent Olympic Games, and it is also a country with a greedy corporate elite and a government assaulting everything it took generations of working people to build.
“A country of lengthening dole queues, with more than a million young people jobless – another ‘forgotten generation’.
“But it is also a country where those who caused the crisis – the speculators and bonus-drunk bankers – still carry on business as usual. It is a place where a Unite community activist had to stop a meeting on a housing estate because one person there was overcome for lack of food.
“So if I sound angry, it is because I am. We all should be. The time for quiet words and relying on reasoned argument alone is past.”
McCluskey, who will address a protest rally in London tonight against the government’s health reforms, lamented that Britain was divided into the unemployed and “bonus-drunk” bankers, seemingly unaffected by the collapsing economoy.
With regards to the NHS, McCluskey said the health service was “on the point of privatisation” and said the government “arrogantly ignores the will of the people”.
