Posted in Rights at Work

TTIP will be a licence for multinationals to profit at all costs

378113A small victory for democracy was recorded at the European Parliament recently when it was announced that a long-awaited debate about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was to be postponed.

TTIP is the trade deal being negotiated between the EU and the USA. Its text is secret, known only by the negotiators (including representatives of multinational corporations). Drafts are withheld from MEPs and members of all the European national parliaments (as well as US congressmen and senators). Almost two million Europeans have petitioned against it. Continue reading →

Orgreave – the IPPC and DPP are not fit for purpose

OrgreaveAccountability in Britain has reached a new nadir today. The report that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPPC) refuses to investigate claims of police criminality at the mass picket at Orgreave during the 1984-5 miners’ strike really stinks. They have already found evidence that police officers assaulted miners and then perverted the course of justice, committing perjury in later prosecutions which still failed. Even senior officers of the South Yorkshire police admit the perjury, but did not want it made public – who are they to block the course of justice? The IPCC in their report today try to dump blame on them for being complicit – so why is the IPCC now seeking to withdraw from the case? Continue reading →

Labour & social democrat MEPs back a shabby compromise on TTIP

No TTIPThe Socialist and Democratic group of MEPs (which includes UK Labour) have agreed to a “shabby compromise” supporting TTIP, leaving all the most unjust elements of the deal intact say Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the secret trade deal currently being negotiated between the EU and the US. Its text is a closely guarded secret shared only by the negotiators, including representatives of multinational corporations.

Drafts are withheld from both MEPs and members of all the European national parliaments, as well as US Congress and Senate members. Continue reading →

Tory Trade Union bill is an attack on a fundamental human right

Workers-Rights-are-Human-Rights-e1363086471974Under the Tories’ proposed new law, strike ballots would need a 50% turnout for industrial action to be legal. But in the case of ‘essential’ public services – health, education, transport and fire services – 40% of those voting have to have voted in favour. In other words, 80% which is the combination of the general turnout proposal and the new 40% yes vote must have voted in favour. That would make almost all strikes illegal, particularly in large and dispersed workforces where postal ballots rarely achieve this. This is a blatant attack on the rightful role of trade unions in being able to protect their members against exploitation at work – several recent polls have consistently found that more than 70% of the public believe unions are ‘essential to protect workers’ interests’. Continue reading →

Osborne has as much chance of a budget surplus in 2018 as of the Titanic resurfacing

Osborne Liar LiarOsborne is telling another of his wheezing yarns which he’s much better at than solving real problems. His first yarn in 2010 was that he would eliminate the structural deficit by 2015; it turns out that it is currently £92bn. His next yarn today is that he will now eliminate it by 2017-8. Fat chance. His own figures tell an utterly different tale. Continue reading →