Short of Usain Bolt testing positive after running the 100 metres final in 9.4sec or false-starting following a massive betting scam (I jest of course) only one thing could really strike terror into the hearts of the London 2012 organisers. A real strike. And that would be no joke, turning the Games from their anticipated triumph into utter disaster.

A couple of years ago I suggested to Lord Coe that the best thing he could do to ensure the Games did not suffer any disruption through strikes or other industrial action, was to give union leaders like Bob Crow a couple of VIP tickets apiece for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and other blue riband events. He smiled knowingly, and it was even seriously suggested in Parliament.

Presumably it hasn't happened because Britain's biggest union, the two million-strong Unite are threatening to wreck the Games as part of its stand-off with the Government against cuts to public sector pensions.


Len McCluskey (pictured), the 61-year-old general secretary of Unite is also urging other unions opposing the Coalition's pension plans and other austerity measures to target the Olympics, suggesting that the Games are fair game. It would be, he reckons, an ideal way to bring the grievances to the attention of as many people as possible.

He argues thus: "The attacks that are being launched on public sector workers at the moment are so deep and ideological that the world should arrive in London and have these wonderful Olympic Games as though everything is nice and rosy in the garden is unthinkable. The unions and the general community have got the right to be out protesting. If the Olympics provide us with an opportunity then that's one we should look at."

Naturally his observations have been condemned by the Prime Minister and even the opposition leader Ed Miliband, to whose Labour party Unite are the biggest donors, has been spurred to utter his disapproval.

Now I have no idea whether McCluskey has any great sporting passions, although he comes from Liverpool, so he might be a footy fan (presumably a Red), but he obviously cares little for the Games. His threats suggest he is not a good sport, but definitely a spoil sport.


He knows – as indeed does Crow (pictured) and his merry men – that the Olympics are a licence to hold the nation to ransom. Widespread action by Unite and Crow's Transport and General Workers Union could bring chaos to the Games as the membership covers not only rail and tube staff, but airline workers, tanker drivers, electricians, even the NHS.

Transport for London have already acceded to a form of blackmail by offering up to £500 for tube staff as a bonus for working during the Games. Now the underground drivers have added an Oliver Twist to this tale by demanding more.

The truth is, the unions have got LOCOG by the proverbials and they know it. They could cripple the Games and make London 2012 the laughing stock of the world.

As a long-standing unionist myself – I am a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists – I abhor such treacherous, mealy-mouthed tactics.

Not that I object to the Games being used as a genuine vehicle of protest when merited. I would support, for example, those who wish to register their disapproval of the continued presence of Saudi Arabia and other nations who practice sexual apartheid by blatantly discriminating against women in sport while the International Olympic Committee conveniently turns a blind eye.

But do we really want to see spectators having to cross industrial picket lines to get into the Olympic Stadium to cheer on Jessica Ennis, or the Velodrome to roar home Sir Chris Hoy?


As Tessa Jowell (pictured), Labour's Shadow Olympics Minister, who herself did so much to bring the Games to London, points out, such disruption would be totally counter-productive. London 2012 is the biggest shop window the nation may ever have to show off the best of British to the world, bringing in tourists whose spending will help lift the economic gloom. A paralysed, strike-hit Olympics would only demonstrate the worst of it.

Yes, the Olympics are costing us plenty, but they will be worth it and as Brothers McCluskey and Crow are well aware, they have created thousands of jobs, many of them for members of their unions.

It may well be that certain union bosses resent the lavishness of the Olympics, especially the OTT red carpet treatment meted out to bigwigs of the IOC. That may be understandable until you learn just how high some of their own salaries are and how royally they expect to be treated themselves.


McCluskey's predecessor at Unite, Derek Simpson (pictured) for example, regularly used London's Waldorf Hotel as a watering hole and received a pay-off of over half-a-million pounds when he left.

The Wildcats will certainly be in good company alongside the Fat Cats in the best seats if Coe and co can sort out a few.

Otherwise the only solution might be for the Government to bring in a Bill banning strikes and other industrial action immediately preceding and during, the Games. Radical, perhaps, but it is time for a reality check.

For as things stand the unions have brought back an old Olympic event, the tug-of-war, but the rope they are pulling is a scandalously political one which could eventually choke the Games.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title from Atlanta to Zaire.