[IER] Right to strike fundamental to democracy, UN expert says

Fri Mar 10 17:43:26 GMT 2017

IER News Brief 10/03/17

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news brief

Friday 10th March 2017

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The right to strike is fundamental to democracy <http://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=a5a854ee91&e=71131c031b> , United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, reminded delegates at an International Labour Organization (ILO) meeting in Geneva this week.

He went on to stress that member states have an international obligation "not to interfere" with union members' decision to strike; an obligation it would seem the Conservative Party breached in its enactment of the Trade Union Act 2016 last week. The Act erects <http://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=067ec75191&e=71131c031b>  even higher barriers to members taking industrial action in a trade union law landscape Tony Blair once described as "the most restrictive in the Western World".

Kiai emphasised that without the right to strike, there can be no democracy, as when allowed to act without resistance from workers a "concentration of power" is handed to employers, which leads to "inequalities and marginalization".

Indeed, this has been seen in the UK's increasingly exploitative modern workplace, with one in ten workers now in insecure roles such as agency work, zero-hours contracts or bogus "self-employment". Not only do these workers have access to fewer employment rights, but employers have been known to disabuse them of the rights they do have. This week, the TUC's Hannah Reed told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee that agency workers have been  <http://ier.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=1a8476dd90&e=71131c031b> "sacked on the spot" for falling pregnant.

In our Manifesto for Labour Law <http://ier.us12.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=b1958ab96f&e=71131c031b>  - 25 recommendations for the reform of labour law, the principles of which have been adopted by the Labour Party - we propose that the Trade Union Act must be repealed. Further, we argue that in order to prevent exploitation in the workplace, workers must be given a stronger voice both at their jobs and in the economy. With such democracy will workers be able to resist the UK's growing inequality through collectively bargaining for fair wages and conditions. With increased spending power and the ability to negotiate for better skills training, it is this country's 31 million workers who will best drive a stronger and more productive economy.

Despite this, trade unions were not mentioned once in the government's Industrial Strategy, and the Conservatives have now come under fire from the BEIS Select Committee, which has urged them to include the labour movement in the creation and implentation of its plans <http://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=523e43fc2d&e=71131c031b> .

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We welcome Ake Achi from Right2workuk <http://ier.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=dd5eba1b54&e=71131c031b>  to our platform next Wednesday 15 March as we discuss migration and labour standards after Brexit. Ake is a full time official for the GMB union and also works for the right2workuk campaign, which aims to raise awareness on issues relating to migration and employment in the UK.

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Hannah Reed, Senior Employment Rights Officer at the TUC, has told the Select Committee for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy that workers are being "sacked on the spot for being pregnant" in the modern workplace.
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While de-industrialisation began before the Thatcher governments of the 1980s, it has continued to accelerate, and today the process is felt hardest in previously industrialised towns. There is strong evidence to suggest that these old industrial towns and cities that lost out most from the far-reaching economic change over the last 40 years as being one of the key driving forces behind the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
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