[IER] FW: Trade Union Rights are Human Rights

Fri Jun 12 16:47:17 BST 2009

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 <http://www.ier.org.uk/node/400> Trade Union Rights are Human Rights

On 9th June 2009, Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy, QC presented oral
evidence on behalf of IER to the Joint Committee on Human Rights. In that
session, the IER President and Chairman reminded the Committee that trade
union rights are human rights. They urged the Committee to recommend
amending the framework of UK law to ensure our laws are brought in line with
international standards. In particular, they emphasised current weaknesses
in the law in three specific areas:

*         blacklisting and the victimisation of trade unionists 

*         weaknesses in our recognition procedures and the need to
strengthen and extend collective bargaining coverage and 

*         the routine failure of UK laws to protect the fundamental rights
of workers to engage in collective action and solidarity action 

watch
<http://www.twofourdigital.net/UKParliament/Archive/0000007038.wmv.asx>  the
oral evidence (second half of the video). The written submission will be
available following publication of the Joint Committee's Report. 

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/node/371> The New Spectre Haunting Europe - The ECJ,
Trade Union Rights and the British Government

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/node/371> ECJ and TU Rights
<http://www.ier.org.uk/node/371> 

In December 2007 the European Court of Justice - the "Supreme Court" of the
European Union - delivered a crushing blow to trade unions when in the
Viking and Laval decisions it decided that the right of businesses to
freedom of establishment must take priority over the right of trade unions
to take industrial action to safeguard the interests of their members. These
cases were followed soon after by the Ruffert and Luxembourg cases which, by
way of the Posted Workers' Directive, added further restrictions on the
terms and conditions of employment unions or indeed governments would
require companies to comply with when posting workers to the UK. 

These cases are symbolic of the extent to which business has consolidated
its power in the neo-liberal global economy, securing control of the
European legal system and condemning any idea of "social Europe" to a
distant memory. However, according to the Editors of this publication, these
judgments bring EC law into direct conflict with decisions of the European
Court of Human Rights - the "Supreme Court" of the Council of Europe-
together with a wide range of internationally recognised and agreed labour
standards. The authors argue that if the political system continues to fail
trade unions, it's time to contemplate a litigation strategy using ILO
Conventions and Human Rights articles in order to create legal chaos at the
apex of international law.

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Carolyn Jones 

Director

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