THE blue collar backlash has begun.

Megaphone in hand, Transport and General Workers Union official Nick Corbel hung out of a Town Hall window last night to address 500 manual workers furious that their jobs are under threat as the States embark on the biggest cost-cutting exercise ever attempted.The mass meeting in the Assembly Room spilled out into York Street on safety grounds – handing the union a valuable photo-opportunity and sending a defiant message up the road to Cyril Le Marquand House.

If Policy and Resources chief executive Bill Ogley was working late in his fourth floor office, he may have heard the cheer that went up as a vote of no confidence in his committee, Finance and Economics and him personally was carried unanimously.Three words summed up the meeting according to Mr Corbel – ‘anger, concern and determination.”Anger at the way they are being treated,’ he explained, ‘concern for the future of the public sector and determination to deal with the matter and fight their corner.’