[IER] Protect the Right to Strike: New Video of Keith Ewing and John Hendy
Cad
cad at ier.org.uk
Tue Sep 22 15:11:30 BST 2015
New Clip: Keith Ewing and John Hendy discuss the Trade Union Bill.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZsS9tG9TgA&feature=youtu.be>
In this video the authors of our recent publication, Protect the Right to
Strike: Kill the Bill, discuss the Trade Union Bill.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZsS9tG9TgA&feature=youtu.be>
John Hendy QC says:
* This Bill is "an attack on the rights of unions having an
industrial voice". It also aims to exclude "unions from having a political
voice" as well as "an effective voice in civil society."
* "Modern economists have pointed out that high levels of collective
bargaining and high levels of workplace rights actually are conducive to a
good economy [.] this bill is shooting the economy in the foot."
* The bill can be considered "illegal in the sense that these
proposals are in breach of international treaties which Britain has ratified
and therefore in breach of international law."
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZsS9tG9TgA&feature=youtu.be>
Professor Keith Ewing says:
* That this bill is "the most serious attack on trade union freedom
in a generation."
* In particularly it is "a massive attack on public sector trade
unionism" in 3 ways: "one attacking financial security, two attacking
workplace representation and thirdly attacking the right to strike."
* This Bill represents "a serious attack on the human rights and
civil liberties of trade unions. And a serious attack on the right to
freedom of political expression." It is "an extraordinary step backwards
into the middle ages in terms of constitutional principle"
To accompany the video and to inform this crucial debate,
IER launches TWO new publications on the Trade Union Bill
<http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/protect-right-strike-kill-bill> Protect
the right to strike: kill the bill
By Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC
Protect the Right to Strike: Kill the Bill published by IER and the Campaign
for Trade Union Freedom, is an essential tool for trade unionists hoping to
defeat the proposals in the Bill. The publication provides a straightforward
analysis of the Bill, explaining the ideological intentions behind it and
the consequences it will have on employment rights and trade union freedoms
should the Bill be passed.
According to the authors, the Bill has three particular features:
* The first is to single out public sector trade unionism for
particular assault as part of a strategy to suppress organised resistance to
the destruction of public services and the imposition of cuts to pay and
jobs.
* The second is to undermine collective bargaining by introducing yet
more restrictions to the right to strike, the cumulative impact of which
will be to allow wholly unfettered management prerogative, with collective
bargaining reduced to collective begging
* The third is to silence the political voice of the organised working
class, building on the Gagging Act 2014, to ensure unions have limited
resources available to offer political resistance to the government.
The authors characterise the Bill as "a full frontal assault on the
industrial and political freedoms of the trade union movement, a strategic
part of the government's austerity policy..and an authoritarian announcement
of the Tories utter contempt for civil liberties and human rights".
They conclude by saying that the measures in this Bill will not be
defeated in court rooms or lecture theatres but in political and
industrial arenas
<http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/conservative-government%E2%80%99s-propos
ed-strike-ballot-thresholds-challenge-trade-unions-0> The Conservative
Government's strike ballot thresholds: The challenge to trade unions
Professor Ralph Darlington and Dr John Dobson
According to the authors of this timely report, the government is attempting
to rush into law 'the most sweeping and radical tightening of rules on
industrial action since the Thatcher era of the 1980's'. They warn that such
proposals could result in 'the biggest showdown over industrial relations
for a generation' and go on to drill down into one aspect of the
government's proposals - strike ballots.
The publication first explores the justification and underlying motivation
for the introduction of new tougher strike ballot laws before questioning
whether the technical measure proposed would increase balloting turn-outs.
The pamphlet then retrospectively applies the new laws to previously held
ballots by analysing a database the authors have compiled of ballots over
the period 1997-2015. They conclude that the new legislation will make it
very difficult for unions to mount officially sanctioned strikes in response
to government-initiated austerity measures, especially those relating to
national bargaining in the public sector and end by reflecting on the
unions' potential responses to the new legislation.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 35 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0001.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: oledata.mso
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 205119 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0001.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 192446 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image009.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9581 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0007.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image010.png
Type: image/png
Size: 12322 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0008.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 126360 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0009.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image011.png
Type: image/png
Size: 214270 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0010.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image012.png
Type: image/png
Size: 197653 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0011.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 218696 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0012.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.png
Type: image/png
Size: 91498 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0013.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 26799 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150922/a7db5b03/attachment-0003.jpg>
More information about the IER-elist
mailing list