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Blogs
Does the model need fixing? Adapting organized labour and trade unions for the 21st century
James Wold, second year law student at Marquette University in Milwaukee
The Industrial Revolution brought with it two key elements that carry on today – the defining of education standards and the establishment of trade unions. At one time, both were considered pillars of achievement throughout the 19th and much of the 20th century. By the 1840s, England had nearly 700 grammar schools and more than 2,000 endowed schools.1 However, both institutions are threatened by external forces which threaten to undermine their very existence.
Read the full blog here…
News
Union leaders warn over EU reform negotiations
The GMB has warned that trade unions will push for Britain to quit the EU if member states allow Cameron to weaken workers’ rights as part of his “reform” package, in a letter to European leaders. Cameron has not yet revealed what his reforms to Britain’s EU membership will look like, but has discussed the changes with 20 EU leaders ahead of the in/out referendum. However, Downing Street has said Cameron wants a ‘reduction in red tape’; a euphemism for the decimation of employment rights.
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“Zombie-like” ISDS lives on
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady attacked the continued presence of ISDS in CETA, at European Commission Trade Policy Day in Brussels this Tuesday (23 June). She said: “The row in the European Parliament over foreign investor privileges in the EU-US trade deal proves that old-style Investor State Dispute Settlement is dead – no one supports it any more, on the left, on the right or in the Commission. And yet, zombie-like, it lives on in the Canada- EU deal, unreformed, unamended, and unacceptable”.
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Cuts to tax credits will leave families £1,690 worse off a month
Cameron is planning savage cuts to tax credits which could lead working families to lose up to £1,690 a month. Tax credits are mostly given to families raising children on low incomes (4 million out of 4.5 million claimants have children). The massive reduction in child poverty is in part due to their introduction, with child poverty falling from 35% to 19% between 1997 and 2012. Child poverty has increased under the Tories, jumping from 2.3 million to 2.5 million. Responding to the latest Conservative plans, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that cutting child tax credit would mean an further increase in child poverty to 2.8 million.
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EHCR: “no option is off the table”
On Conservative plans to leave the European Convention on Human Rights; “no option is off the table”. The comments came from Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab, in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
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Conservative Timeline
Welfare
- Figures showing benefit sanction deaths to be released
Economy
- Productivity faliure holds back pay growth
Other
- 250 Wind farm projects “to be axed”
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Events
Human Rights: Possibilities and Problems for Labour Law
Wednesday 1 July 2015
Diskus Room, Unite the Union, London
The Tory government is gearing up to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights. They plan to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a British Bill of Rights. So what would withdrawal from the ECHR mean for employment rights and worker protections? This conference aims to shed light on the issues by focusing on the kind of workplace abuses that the Convention aims to protect us against.
Human Rights: What we’re set to lose
The Tories plan on replacing the Human Act with a British Bill of Rights.
The IER has published experts’ analysis on articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, and what they mean for employment law. Read them here:
Article 4: Prohibition of slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour
Article 8: Right to respect for private and family life
Article 10: Right to freedom of expression
Article 14: Prohibition of discrimination
Publications
By Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC
Collective bargaining is under more threat than ever. This publication presents an evidence-based policy proposal for the state encouragement of collective bargaining, and particularly sectoral bargaining, as a tried-and-tested means of reducing income inequality and stimulating the sustainable recovery of a strong and resilient economy.
By Dr Lydia Hayes and Professor Tonia Novitz
What is the point of trade unions? What do they deliver? Are trade unions relevant in 21st century modern society? These and many other questions are answered by the authors of this timely and well presented report. Order your copy here
By Zoe Adams and Simon Deakin
ZHCs are highly profitable for employers, but lead to insecurity of income and low pay for workers. The authors point to rigidities in employment law and the operation of the tax-benefit system as being responsible for the rise in zero hours contracting. Order your copy here
IER Manifesto for Collective Bargaining
What is collective bargaining? Why do we need it? What will be the consequences of its restoration? Keith Ewing and John Hendy explain all in a new collective bargaining video.
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