Unalloyed goodness is a rarity in politics, especially when it comes to labour movement politics. But the decision handed down by the Supreme Court this morning ruling that employment tribunal fees are unlawful is some of the best industrial news seen in years. Implemented by the Tories with Liberal Democrat support in 2013, it was ostensibly part of the contrived war on red tape. According to the former Prime Minister, workplace rights were getting in the way of job creation and growth. A convenient scapegoat when you consider the real reason for Britain’s economic underperformance has much to do with business banking its profits and effectively going on capital strike. In reality, the introduction of fees strengthened management in the workplace and enabled a more precarious labour force. Bosses had the freedom to intimidate, bully, and diddle workers without any comeback. Continue reading
Posted in Rights at Work
How we adapt to the new Trade Union Act
The Trade Union Act 2016 comes into effect for all industrial disputes where the ballot is to commence after 1st March 2017. Due to a well coordinated campaign by trade unions and the Labour Party, much of it lobbying behind the scenes, many of the more draconian aspects that had originally been proposed by the Conservative Government in the original bill had been dropped prior to Royal Assent, however there are still significant changes that will be challenging for unions.
While it may be counter-productive to pick over the entrails, much of the motivation for the Act’s changes to the law relating to industrial disputes possibly relates to a few instances of action by some public sector trade unions, and also due to the use of imaginative alternatives to traditional industrial action by GMB and Unite. The government therefore made the unwise decision to enact broad legal changes to cover all industrial disputes where their specific objectives could have been better achieved by a more proportionate response, or indeed by stepping back from government involvement in industrial disputes altogether. Continue reading
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Corbyn is right: Migrants don’t drive down wages
In his recent speech to Labour Party conference Jeremy Corbyn said, “It isn’t migrants that drive down wages, it’s exploitative employers and the politicians who deregulate the labour market and rip up trade union rights.” This is excellent and entirely correct. It is probably the best statement ever made by a Labour leader on this issue. It used to be regularly argued, and not just by far right or fascist groups, that immigrant workers take British workers’ jobs. This has more recently been supplanted with the notion that migrant labour has driven down wages. Both are equally wrong.The claims that immigrants take jobs became harder to sustain as the level of the overseas migrant population reached record highs in Britain at the same time as a record high level of employment overall and a record high for employment of UK-born workers. Continue reading
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Let’s hear it for the “right to own”
This is more like it. From the BBC:
“The Tories have offered a Right to Buy, Labour would seek to better this. We’d be creating a new Right to Own,” he [John McDonnell] said in a speech in Manchester. He said the “biggest hurdle” facing co-ops and other small businesses was getting initial funding from high street banks.
“No other major developed economy has just five banks providing 80% of loans. We’d look to break up these monopolies, introducing real competition and choice. Regional and local banks, prudently run and with a public service mandate, have to be part of the solution here.”
Mr McDonnell is also considering adopting the Italian government’s policy of offering funding to help employee-owned enterprises to get off the ground.
“With consortium co-operatives providing an effective means for new businesses to share and reduce costs, we’d look to support these at a local level, working with local authorities, businesses and trade unions,” he said.
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Cameron’s Trade Union Bill is part of the government’s privatisation agenda
The Conservative’s Trade Union Bill will have its first reading in parliament today. It has been described in today’s Daily Mail as “Cameron’s War on the strike bullies” and has been justified by the Business Secretary as “protecting working people” from the trade unions.
The bill would impose a minimum 50% turnout, public sector strikes would need the backing of at least 40% of those eligible to vote,and abusive behaviour, such as calling somebody a scab would become a criminal offence.
The bill is not just an attack on the rights of trade unions, it is an essential component of the government’s strategy to privatise the remaining public services by severely impeding the ability of public sector workers to challenge attacks on their pay and working conditions that are planned by the government. It is necessary for the government to drive down wages and reduce pension contributions in order to make services attractive and profitable when they are put out to tender. If these services aren’t profitable then no company will bid for the contract. Continue reading
