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Young Labour activists call on MPs to defend the right to strike

The following is a statement signed by Young Labour activists – including London Young Labour chair Hazel Nolan and members of the Young Labour National Committee (see below).

The Crime and Courts bill currently approaching its’ third reading in parliament, contains legislation (clauses 12 and 13) proposing to abolish the right to take industrial action for employees of the proposed National Crime Agency (NSA), replacing the existing Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

When the government is trying to remove workers’ right to strike, there can be no abstention and no hesitation. We must oppose them. Trade union rights are human rights: and supporting trade union rights is central to what the Labour Party is.

As young Labour Party members and trade unionists, we are therefore concerned that, during the report stage of the Crime and Courts Bill on the 13th of March, the Labour front bench abstained on amendments 95 and 102, which would have removed the no-strike clause from the bill .

While we may disagree on the policies and ideas that should pave the road to a labour government in 2015, we are united in believing that that road does not lie through letting the government attack the basic rights-including the right to strike – of working people; in this instance thousands of home office employees.

If we do not stand up for workers’ rights now, we face the prospect of the right to industrial action being stripped from trade unionists in more and more areas of the public sector.

We call on the whole Parliamentary Labour Party and the leadership of our Party to support amendments to this Bill to protect the right to strike for the workers affected, to reintroduce them to the Bill in the Lords – and, if they are defeated, to vote against the Bill as an attack on human rights.

To sign the statement, please email tufreedomstatement@gmail.com

Signatories so farHazel Nolan, Chair of London Young Labour; Max Shanly, Unite and GMB, Young Labour Regional Representative for the South East; Councillor Kate Taylor, Plymouth City Council, Young Labour Regional Representative for the South West; Conrad Landin, Unite and CWU, Young Labour Regional Representative for the Eastern Region; Rida Vaquas, Young Labour Under 19s Officer; Jack Donaghy, CWU ,  Secretary of Glasgow Young Labour; Liam McNulty,  Unison, London Young Labour Campaigns Organiser; Oliver Milne, GMB, Chair of  Glasgow Young Labour and Chair of Glasgow University Labour Club; Marian Craig,  Unite, LGBT Officer, Scottish Young Labour,  Disability Officer, Strathclyde University Labour Club; Alistair Craig, GMB, Scottish Young Labour Under 19s Officer; Christy McMorrow, Sheffield Labour Students, Labour Students Policy Forum; Shelly Asquith Vice Chair, Unite Young Members London and Eastern Regions; Thomas Butler, TULO, Young Fabians, Liverpool Walton CLP, Unite North West Young Members Committee; Debbie White, Treasurer Glasgow University Labour Club, Treasurer and Women’s Officer, Glasgow Young Labour; Aidan Turner,  Unite, LGBTQ Officer, Glasgow University Labour Club; Councillor Mike Rowley (Labour), Barton and Sandhills Ward, Oxford City Council, Chair; Karen Broady Gorton CLP, Unison; Tom Harris, Campaigns Officer, Royal Holloway Labour Club; Sam Marner Canterbury CLP; Councillor Dan Jeffery, Southampton City Council, Unison (University of Southampton branch); Olivia Blake, Vice Chair Sheffield Labour Students, GMB, Sheffield Central CLP; Richard Price Rother Valley CLP; Omar Raii, Birmingham Hodge Hill CLP; Paul Stygal, Southend-on-Sea, CWU; Robert Lodge, Cardiff University Labour Club; Nina Ballantyne, CWU; Jordan Dearn, Labour Students Wolverhampton, East Park CLP; Colin Voiels, Fire Brigades Union; James Gamble Harlow CLP UCATT; Helen Skinner; David Kerr, Lancaster University Labour Club; David Groves, GMB Shop Steward at Nottingham Trams Ltd

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