News Brief July 17

Submitted by claudiaobrien on Fri, 17/07/2015 - 06:50

By Claudia O’Brian

This week the government unveiled its long anticipated Trade Union Bill, and the contents are even worse than feared. The bill constitutes the biggest legislative attack on the trade union movement since Thatcher. And given that due to Britain’s already draconian strike laws only 699,000 working days were lost to strike action last year (compared to 32.2m in the 80s), the bill is a conceited and vitriolic attack on the little remaining democratic right to withdraw our labour we have left.

IER director Carolyn Jones said; “This is a blatant attack on the rights of workers and the freedoms of trade unions. The proposals on strike action will impose impossible thresholds for the majority of trade unions under our archaic, over restrictive and increasingly expensive balloting procedures. And for what? People increasingly understand that it is the Government’s austerity-led cuts that are undermining our public services not trade union action. Yet here we have a government elected by less than 25% of the electorate imposing voting thresholds on trade unions that have already been declared in breach of international law. The ideology behind these proposals needs to be exposed and the government plans resisted.

The IER recognises the urgent need for a widespread and vocal public campaign to defeat this bill, and stop the reversal of our hard won right to strike. We encourage our subscribers to write to their MPs and to sign up to the “Fight the Bill” campaign here.

Click through for more events, publications, and this week’s employment rights news.

Trade Union Bill

Trade Union Bill contents revealed

The Tories have published the draft Trade Union Bill. Business secretary and ex-banker Sajid Javid unveiled the contents of the bill on Wednesday. The latest step in a 35 year long road, these plans show how hell-bent the Tories are on destroying workers’ remaining rights.

Read a summary of the bill here…

Emergency motion rejects trade union bill

The Confederation of Shipbuilding & Engineering Union Conference, meeting in Southport on the day the Trade Union Bill was published, passed an emergency motion rejecting the measures contained within the Government’s Trade Union Bill. The motion is reproduced here.

Briefing: the Government’s proposed new Trade Unions Bill

The Queen’s Speech included new draconian restrictions on the right to strike, with the introduction of a 50% voting threshold for union ballots turnouts and a new requirement that 40% of those entitled to vote must vote in favour of industrial action in certain essential public services including fire, education, health and transport. The government also announced they will lift a ban on use of agency staff when strike action takes place, and impose restrictions on picketing, further undermining the collective bargaining power of working people.

News

Unemployment on the rise again

Unemployment has risen for the first time in two years, casting the supposed momentum of the labour market recovery into doubt. The Office for National Statstics (ONS) Labour market statistics show that the unemployment rate for March to May 2015 was 5.6%, down from 6.5% for a year earlier but slightly higher than for the 3 months to February 2015. Employment is down by 67,000 on the last quarter.

Cameron to opt-out of EU employment law

According to reports, David Cameron is to make an opt-out from EU employment laws, like the Working Time Directive and the Temporary Agency Work Directive, one of his goals in his EU negotiations.This means British workers will lose the right to paid holiday and rest breaks, to equal rights of pay and conditions for temporary employees, and no guaranteed equal treatment of men and women in the workplace, to name but a few.

Theresa May announces remit of undercover policing enquiry

Theresa May has outlined the terms of reference for the undercover policing enquiry. The inquiry will look into “the justification, authorisation, operational governance and oversight of undercover policing”, and investigate “whether and to what purpose, extent and effect undercover police operations have targeted political and social justice campaigners”.

Large firms to be forced to publish gender pay gap

Firms with over 250 employees will be required to publish the average pay of their male and female employees. Women in the UK are, on average, paid around 20 percent less than men. This is something David Cameron vowed to end “in a generation”. And although the gender pay gap has narrowed in recent years, analysis reveals this is because male wages have fallen, rather than womens’ wages going up.

Elsewhere on the Internet

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

Owen Jones – The left must put Britain’s EU withdrawal on the agenda

Luke James – Cameron admits: This bill is an anti-strike law

IER Manifesto for Collective Bargaining

Read the ten-point manifesto

Buy the book

VIDEOS: Watch the experts

PODCASTS: Listen to the experts

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.

Events

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?

More events…

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

Reconstruction after the crisis: a manifesto for collective bargaining

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.

Trade Unions and Economic Inequality

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

Re-regulating Zero Hours Contracts

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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