23 July 2015

A collection of responses to the Trade Union Bill in the print and online media.

This Trade Union Bill points to the eclipse of democracy and the rule of law – Keith Ewing

“If we are living in an increasingly post-democratic age of which the Trade Union Bill is a symptom, we are also living in an age in which the rule of law is treated with contempt…We should never, ever forget that this is a government that speaks for less than one in four people (the 24 per cent)”.

This Tory attack on unions should remind us how much we need them – Zoe Williams

While this attack on unions seems dated in its language, that central fact is timeless: without collectivism, the richer party wins, and the more they win, the richer they get, ad apparently infinitum. So this move is cynical, sure, but it could serve a purpose: the Conservative determination to undermine the unions reminds us how vital they are, how irreplaceable, how timeless, how empowering.

Cameron cloaked his legislation in the language of assisting ‘working people’ ….then unleashed a rolling programme of attacks on the working class, of which the attacks on trade unions is only part – John Hendy QC and Carolyn Jones

These new restrictions come on top of a vast array of draconian, extensive and complex existing regulations on trade unions in general and industrial action in particular

Trade Union Bill: Sajid Javid would have failed to be elected under his own strike law reforms – Matt Dathan

“Mr Javid, like the vast majority of the Tory MPs who are backing the crackdown on trade union industrial action, would have failed to be elected if the rules he is applying to key public sector workers applied to him”.

If the Government gets away with the Trade Union Bill, democracy and liberty in the UK will be seriously damaged – Frances O’Grady

“The government has one agenda with its strike laws – to shift the balance of power in the workplace. The proposals are an attack on civil liberties which are respected in any free, democratic society.”