[IER] IER to launch alternative growth strategy policy at TUC

[Sarah Glenister]

The Institute of Employment Rights (IER) will launch a policy proposal for
an alternative growth strategy at the TUC Congress this year. 

Authored by renowned academic Professor Keith Ewing and go-to trade union
lawyer John Hendy QC, the evidence-based report will provide a detailed
guide to how income inequality can be successful tackled through collective
bargaining.  

Narrowing the earnings gap and improving workplace conditions will have a
knock-on effect on other areas of the economy, as summarised in the
infographic to the right. 

Full details of Ewing and Keith's ten-point manifesto - which is already
backed by nine unions: Unite, Unison, GMB, NUT, PCS, CWU, UCU, RMT and ATL -
and proposals for the encouragement of further collective and sectoral
bargaining in the UK, will be announced on Sunday 08 September 2013. 

The authors will be joined by Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey, NUT
General Secretary Christine Blower and RMT General Secretary Bob Crow in the
Branksome Suite of Bournemouth International Centre at 7pm. This event,
named Reconstruction after Crisis: a manifesto for collective bargaining is
hosted by the IER in conjunction with the Centre for Labour and Social
Studies (Class) and the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom (CTUF).

Chair of the IER John Hendy said: "A fundamental problem with the British
economy is the dramatic drop in the value of wages. As well as painfully
diminishing the standard of living for most people (while the rich enjoy
ever increasing wealth) this has depressed demand causing the loss of jobs,
loss of tax revenue and one of the worst performing economies in Europe. A
vital way to re-establish the value of wages, decrease inequality, and
stimulate job creation, is to reinstate sectoral collective bargaining -
that is collective bargaining on an industry by industry basis. In this book
we seek to demonstrate that extensive collective bargaining coverage of this
kind was government policy for 75 years (until Thatcher and neo-liberalism)
and was the favoured technique in this country, Europe and the US to end the
depression of the 1930s. Furthermore, as we try to explain, collective
bargaining is the only way of giving workers an effective voice in the
workplace, giving them sufficient power to prevent injustice at work and,
most important, fulfilling the UK's binding international legal obligations
to promote collective bargaining." 

 

President of the IER Keith Ewing said: "The decline in collective bargaining
represents a disaster for British workers, who have seen a growing gap
between rich and poor, a reduction in the share of national wealth allocated
to wages, and the emergence of new forms of exploitative working practices,
such as zero-hours contracts. There will be no long-term solution to current
economic gloom without raising wages and equalising incomes. Only by doing
so will we stimulate demand, increase spending, and create real and fully
productive jobs that do not need to be subsidised by the State.

Every worker should have the right to be covered by a collective agreement.
The next Labour government must take steps to make this happen."

 

We hope to see you there



 

 

 

 

Sarah Glenister

IT Development and Communications Assistant

Institute of Employment Rights

4th Floor, Jack Jones House, 1 Islington, Liverpool, L3 8EG

0151 207 5265

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20130823/ef10235c/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 159774 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20130823/ef10235c/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 74976 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20130823/ef10235c/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image008.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 56402 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20130823/ef10235c/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image009.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 27604 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20130823/ef10235c/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image010.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 74516 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20130823/ef10235c/attachment-0004.jpg>