13 September 2016

By Trade Union Futures

It must have seemed a lonely furrow at times. For years now, the Institute of Employment Rights has been the go-to source of expertise and thought on workers rights for the left in the trade union movement. But successive New Labour governments showed themselves to be profoundly uninterested in tackling the iniquities of Britain’s labour market, preferring to wish them away with utopian fantasies about the knowledge economy. The Coalition and its Tory successor of course have launched a further frontal attack on the few rights and protections left to organised labour. But such has been the electrifying power of the left revival around Jeremy Corbyn that suddenly, the issue of workers rights is back on the agenda. Even Corbyn’s ‘moderate’ opponent Owen Smith declares himself in favour of collective bargaining now and suddenly the IER finds itself in possession of the appropriate ideas for the moment.

13 September 2016

At a TUC Congress fringe event held by the Institute of Employment Rights (IER) on Sunday, two leading members of Jeremy Corbyn's team reiterated their support for the Manifesto for Labour Law – 25 policy proposals for reshaping workers' rights under the next Labour government.

09 September 2016

The number of workers saying they are on a zero-hours contract for their main job has risen by over 20% in the last year.

07 September 2016

The University and College Union has welcomed 25 new policy proposals for the next Labour government that shift the focus of labour law to give workers a stronger voice.

07 September 2016

General Secretary of the National Union for Journalists (NUJ) Michelle Stanistreet has welcomed new policy proposals from the Institute of Employment Rights (IER).

06 September 2016

Around one in eight workers are forced to stop working before state retirement age, with the lowest paid suffering the most.