Blog

Giving 'gig' workers rights isn't radical, it would bring the UK up to international 'norms'

19 October 2018

By John Hendy QC, Professor Keith Ewing and Carolyn Jones

This week has seen 'gig' workers and people on zero-hours contracts take a stand against low pay and insecure jobs, with strikes held from Brighton to Glasgow among staff at TGI Friday's, McDonald's, Wetherspoons, Uber and Deliveroo. Joining the picket line at Leicester Square, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell promised to meet the needs of the strikers through employment law reforms, such as rolling out sectoral collective bargaining, establishing a Ministry of Labour, and improving workers' access to trade unions.

Workers on boards and 'inclusive ownership funds': How should it be written into law?

12 October 2018

By Dr Ewan McGaughey, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, King’s College, London, and research associate at the Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge

Democratic socialism in the 21st century must answer one critical question: who gets the votes in the economy?

Shake it up: IER agenda for health and safety reform

06 July 2018

By Phil James, Middlesex University

Too many workers and their families continue to suffer from the failure of their employing organisations to provide safe and healthy working conditions. Injuries, acute and chronic ill-health and death occur all too frequently, along with the emotional and financial costs they cause. Yet employing organisations are rarely held accountable. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the majority of the associated costs are borne by those harmed, their families, and the taxpayer in benefits and health care.

Two neoliberal infernos: Grenfell, and Piper Alpha 30 years on

06 July 2018

By David Whyte, University of Liverpool

Thirty years ago today the Piper Alpha oil platform exploded and was engulfed in flames killing 167 people. Only 61 survived in in what remains the world’s worst offshore disaster.

Wage war: Delivering workplace justice through union collective bargaining

29 June 2018

By John Hendy QC, IER Chair

The sole justification for the policies of austerity inflicted on most of the peoples of the world has been that there is a structural deficit in the finances of government that must be reduced. That austerity has nearly everywhere increased those deficits came as a surprise to no-one. Indeed, austerity could have had no other consequence.

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