11th May 2015

Following the results of the general election, it is clear that the labour movement’s response to the threatened attacks on our rights and freedoms will be more important than ever. Here at IER we will endeavour to inform that response starting with our forthcoming event Workplace Issues: taking up the issues with the new government on Wednesday 10th June in London.

We know the government will introduce policies that will attack the rights of trade unionists and working people but what effects will these have on employment rights over the next 5 years?

The conservatives have already pledged to:

• ‘Make it harder to call strikes in certain “core” public services,’
• Reduce ‘important health and safety legislation in the workplace as part of the removal of “red tape” for small businesses, putting workers at risk’
• Axe ‘funding for Union Learn, which promotes basic skills training for union and non-union members in workplaces where unions have negotiated learning agreements with employers.’

The first post-election IER event will include an overview of workplace issues from the TUC’s Hannah Reed. UNITES’s Sarah Murray will talk about health and safety. UNISON’S Roger McKenzie will also be present to talk on the role of trade union learning at work. A talk on public interest whistleblowing will be presented by Catherine Hobby from the University of East London. The National Pensioners Convention’s Neil Duncan Jordan will be talking on pensions. Morrish Solicitors David Sorensen will discuss issues surrounding victimisation in the workplace. And to round it all up, Vanessa Griffin & Laura McGrath from Psychologists Against Austerity will be speaking on the psychological impact of austerity at work.

The Conservatives plan to remove the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights will be covered in the IER’s following events Human Rights: possibilities and problems for labour law to be held in London on Wednesday 1 July 2015 and in Liverpool on 21st October.