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Birmingham, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – The mayor of London and the Chamber of British Industries made separate calls Sunday for stricter measures against strikes. The twin calls came amid threats from various groups of massive industrial action to protest spending cuts made by the coalition British government.

A number of workers in major British companies such as British Airways, London Underground and BBC are planning strikes or have undertaken job walk offs principally because of disputes over pay and work policies.

London Mayor Boris Johnson proposed at the Conservative Party caucus that ministers should hike the legal thresholds before workers could walk off their jobs to 50 percent participation by union members in a strike ballot. The CBI proposed 40 percent, while current laws mandate only a majority vote by those who cast their ballots.

However, Cabinet ministers are wary of adopting a confrontational approach to unions even if strikes are on the rise. One reason could be that unions play a major role in making or unmaking political leaders, as shown in the recent Labor party elections when Ed Miliband won over elder brother David Miliband by a slim margin of 1.3 percent due to union leaders’ support.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is in favor of holding dialogues with labor union leaders as part of the government’s strategy to use a low-key approach to restive unions to avoid creating a hostile business-labor environment.

The CBI, which represents 240,000 British firms, wants an amendment to workers’ rights that would allow companies to hire temporary workers during a strike.

Labor unions charged the CBI proposal is an attack on workers’ rights. The government has said it does not plan to amend the law as proposed by the CBI.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said strikes are inevitable because of the power it gives union members. The PCSU held a rally in Birmingham while the Tories were holding their party conference.

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