Spanish air traffic controllers engaged in a mass walkout this weekend after the government announced plans to partially privatise the service. The reforms would also see working conditions degraded, with longer working hours, less overtime pay, and less maternity leave. The government and the media have led a chorus of denunciation of air traffic controllers, hyping up the professional wages they receive for their work and focusing on the allegedly exorbitant salaries of a minority. The British press has simply echoed these claims. They have also tended to report the government's figures on the hours worked by controllers, without mentioning the markedly different figures given by the union, the Unión Sindical de Controladores Aéreos (USCA). It has not been mentioned either that the union has been open to negotiations on this, and that it's the government that has taken a hard line. Its partial-privatization measure was designed to sidetrack negotiations between the union and the nationalised employers, which had produced the basis for an agreement as far back as August.

But even leaving that to one side, the response to this strike is ominous for all of us. For the government, determined to crush the strike, declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law. And under martial law, the strikers could be subject to prison sentences for up to six years for sedition if they didn't return to work. Quelle surprise, the workers have felt compelled to return to work. In fact, just in case the threat of prison wasn't sufficient, the workers were actually rounded up by military escorts and marched back to work at gunpoint. This is not the first time that fascist-era legislation has been used against airport workers. But employers across the continent will be looking on in admiration and anticipation. BA, you can bet your last penny, would love to have muscle like this at its disposal. And we have to be attentive to this, because there are people in this country in prominent positions who would like to ban the right to strike for some of those groups of workers who are most likely to be on strike in the coming years - tube workers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, others at a pinch. The employers' offensive across Europe is being led by the state, and pushed through the state, and that gives it a potentially lethal edge. Don't take your eye off this.

I couldn't give a toss about the problems of Gordon Brown. He might be a socially dysfunctional and psychologically impaired bully, as the socially dysfunctional psychologically impaired sociopathic Tory scumbags would like us to think, and he might not be. I can't be more even-handed than that. But I am interested in the fact that an entity that is supposedly an anti-bullying charity has popped up to capitalise on claims that Brown is a bully, claiming to have received phone calls from Number 10 staff, and now turns out on closer inspection to be quite a dodgy enterprise.

The Tory Troll believes that the 'charity' may in fact be run by sympathisers with the Conservative Party, which seems likely, but far more interesting is the information he digs up at this link. The gist of it is that the co-founders of the National Bullying Helpline 'charity', Christine and David Pratt, also run a company called HR & Diversity Management. The two entities appear to be in some way connected. The 'charity' protests that it is in no way a profit-generating enterprise for HR & Diversity Management, arguing that the company in fact funds the charity. The trouble is that the charity promises to help employees who are bullied by arranging for an independent investigation of their claim. Since the charity cannot itself carry out such an independent investigation, it has to direct people to seek the services of HR & Diversity Management. Its "FREE" (mark the bold capitals) step-by-step guide instructs employees to approach management and request that a third party (can you tell who it is yet?) be brought in to conduct an independent investigation, assuring them that a positive approach that avoids employment tribunals will be welcomed by managers.

Punchline: once you've approached this 'charity' with your problem, and been referred to HR & Diversity Management, the company won't even necessarily take your side. You see, they have a pitch for employers, which is to the effect that they can spot a vexatious complaint, know how to bolster a company's legal defence, and can get employees to accept an inexpensive third party agreement. They're being employed by the company, you see. It's their interests they're ultimately looking after. So, is it just possible that these people, who some might characterise as grasping cut-throat bastards, (perhaps unfairly, perhaps not), have contrived to take advantage of 'revelations' about Brown being a bad-tempered weirdo by claiming (perhaps falsely, perhaps not), that staff at Number 10 called them up, in order to get more people to foolishly trust the Pratts' 'charity' and thus the Pratts' business with their problems? I wouldn't dream of declaring my opinion on this matter out loud, but I'm certainly thinking it loudly.