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Blogs
Whispers from Wisconsin – Taking lessons from austerity’s newest victim
James Wold, second year law student at Marquette University in Milwaukee
This article is the first in what we hope to be a series of articles by a colleague from Wisconsin, James Wold. James is an exchange law student visiting the UK. His time here is likely to coincide with the introduction of the Conservative’s Trade Union Bill. We’ve asked James to compare developments in the UK with experiences in America. In this article, James sets the scene, highlighting the Scott Walker attacks on the collective bargaining rights of teachers in Wisconsin and the labour movement’s response.
Read the full blog here…
Also by James Wold…
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.
News
Public enquiry into undercover policing should include infiltration of trade unions
Peter Francis, a former member of Scotland Yard’s undercover policing unit the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) blew the whistle on police malpractice, revealing that as well as spying on the Lawrences and anti-racist campaign groups, he went undercover to infiltrate trade unions for four years. Francis infiltrated Unison, the Fire Brigades Union, the Communication Workers Union, the National Union of Teachers, and the National Union of Students. Another officer was instructed to pose as a joiner to spy on UCATT for a period of three years.
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In the Commons this week: Deregulation and the gender pay gap
Tory MPs fell over themselves to praise the deregulation drive this week in the Commons. Topics discussed included low-skilled jobs, “Cutting red tape” and the gender gap.
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Plans to reduce sickness benefit leaked
A leaked Whitehall paper suggests that part of the Employment and Support Allowance may be scrapped. The Employment and Support allowance is the UK’s main sickness benefit. The paper proposes abolishing the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) category. This will lower the weekly payment from £102.15 by £30, bringing it in line with Jobseekers allowance. As Cameron once said; “The test of a good society is you look after the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, the poorest”, and his government is failing miserably.
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Mesothelioma Action Day
Friday marked Mesothelioma action day. The death toll from asbestos in the UK alone is 60,000, with a further 90,000 expected to die from past exposure to asbestos.
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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 last Tuesday (26/6).
Read More…
Elsewhere on the Internet
This excellent article on tax credits asks the crucial question; “We pay billions in tax credits to subsidise the low pay of people working at many of our biggest retail chains. Why don’t they raise wages?”, and is well worth a read…
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.
Conservative Timeline
Welfare
- Farewell to the Independent Living Fund
- Figures showing benefit sanction deaths to be released
Economy
- Another tax cut for the rich as inheritance tax threshold raised
- Productivity faliure holds back pay growth
Other
- 250 Wind farm projects “to be axed”
Events
Campaign for Trade Union Freedom at the Durham Miners Gala
Friday 10 July, 6pm-7.30pm
Speakers include: Prof Keith Ewing President of IER and President of CTUF
John Hendy, QC Chair of IER and Vice President of CTUF
Owen Jones Guardian columnist, author of ‘The Establishment’ and ‘Chavs’
Tony Burke AGS of Unite the Union and Chair of CTUF
Chair: Carolyn Jones Director of IER and Assistant National Secretary of CTUF
Equality and Discrimination: Post Election Priorities
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Diskus Room, Unite the Union, London
The Institute of Employment Right’s 10th Equalities conference will take place under the UK’s first Conservative majority government in almost two decades. It will be an event not to miss for those concerned about how the UK’s equality and anti-discriminatory laws will fair over the next five years.
Human Rights: Possibilities and Problems for Labour Law
Wednesday 21 October 2015
The Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool
At the Tory party conference in 2014, Cameron announced that he was ready to remove the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights. And now it seems fairly certain that the Tories will replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a British Bill of Rights. So what would be the impact of such a change on workers?
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
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