The TUC voted to examine the feasibility of holding a general strike last year.
He has cut civil-service pay by 5%, raised VAT and ridden out a general strike.
The prime minister, the chancellor and others condemn talk of a general strike as futile and irresponsible.
The country's largest trade union, the General Union of Tunisian Workers, called a general strike for Friday.
On July 8th-9th trade unions staged a general strike, claiming the government had reneged on various promises.
And on Wednesday the 14th, a general strike in Spain and Portugal is likely to reverberate across Europe.
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Trade unions in Peru held a general strike against President Alberto Fujimori's plans to run for a third term.
Italy's three main labour groups jointly declared a general strike for next month.
And though the TUC voted for a campaign on pay, it rejected a firebrand amendment calling for a general strike.
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Mr McCluskey also played down talk of a general strike before a debate on the issue by TUC members on Wednesday.
So in the week of a general strike that will be witnessed around the world what do you make of it?
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The country's second-biggest union, Unison, which has 1.3 million members, says it supports the idea of a general strike "in principle".
The French government raised wages for the low-paid, a key demand of the protestors, who ended a general strike in March.
Trade unions and taxi-drivers, who owe their licences to the Fatah-dominated intelligence services, declared a general strike and closed roads, paralysing city centres.
Already Mr Kim has faced down the leaders of trade unions who had threatened to organise a general strike in response to threatened layoffs.
They say they have concerns about the legality of holding a general strike, which would need to be overcome before they could support it.
Over the past two days, the whole Kabylie region has ground to a halt following a call for a general strike by local leaders.
Violence has flared in Bangladesh as the country's largest Islamist party enforces a general strike to demand the release of its leaders from prison.
Zimbabwe's trade union movement says it has reduced to just one day a general strike called to press the government to restore law and order.
Or it can launch a general strike, a radical step the leadership have so far been reluctant to authorise, or other forms of civil disobedience.
Most assuredly, a general strike that fizzles will not serve the cause of reducing inequality, or even help Occupy Wall Street find its sea legs.
At the weekend, Mr Rajoelina held a rally in Antananarivo and called for a general strike against the government, which he accuses of being a dictatorship.
Nigeria shows how difficult it can be though: the government just last week backed off from a removal of petrol subsidies in the face of a general strike.
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The unions insisted on more, and threatened a general strike.
But no proposals are likely until after a general strike, on September 29th, called by Spain's two largest trade unions, who are unhappy with Mr Zapatero's new-found appetite for reform.
Mr Miliband also told me that there was no chance of George Galloway returning to the Labour Party and that proposals for a general strike were ridiculous and would not happen.
Legal advice received by Unite suggests a general strike could be legal under human rights legislation if it were called as part of a political - rather than a trade - dispute.
Elsewhere thousands of Greek protestors have gathered in central Athens as unions hold a general strike against government austerity measures aimed at reducing the country's huge public debt and stabilising the euro.
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