John Hendy QC
John Hendy QC
John Hendy QC
John Hendy QC
John Hendy QC is Chair of the Institute of Employment Rights. He is a leading employment law barrister, operating from Old Square Chambers London, and H P Higgins Chambers in Sydney Australia. He is also vice-chairman of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR)and Joint Secretary to the United Campaign for the Repeal of Anti Trade Union Laws. John is standing counsel to UNITE, ASLEF,CWU, NUJ, NUM, POA, RMT and UCU.
Giving 'gig' workers rights isn't radical, it would bring the UK up to international 'norms'
19 October 2018
By John Hendy QC, Professor Keith Ewing and Carolyn Jones
This week has seen 'gig' workers and people on zero-hours contracts take a stand against low pay and insecure jobs, with strikes held from Brighton to Glasgow among staff at TGI Friday's, McDonald's, Wetherspoons, Uber and Deliveroo. Joining the picket line at Leicester Square, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell promised to meet the needs of the strikers through employment law reforms, such as rolling out sectoral collective bargaining, establishing a Ministry of Labour, and improving workers' access to trade unions.
Wage war: Delivering workplace justice through union collective bargaining
29 June 2018
By John Hendy QC, IER Chair
The sole justification for the policies of austerity inflicted on most of the peoples of the world has been that there is a structural deficit in the finances of government that must be reduced. That austerity has nearly everywhere increased those deficits came as a surprise to no-one. Indeed, austerity could have had no other consequence.
‘Good Work’ the government’s Response to the Taylor Review
12 February 2018
By John Hendy QC, IER Chair and Barrister at Old Square Chambers
It might be hard to imagine that the tedious, barren worthlessness of Matthew Taylor's Report on 'Good Work' could be surpassed. But it has been. The government's Response to it (also called 'Good Work') is yet more tedious, barren and worthless. Both proceed on the basis that 'the UK has one of the most successful labour markets in the world'. For that reason all that is needed is to note some troubling issues like low productivity, low pay and income insecurity and do nothing about them. All other issues, we are told, will be given further consideration and consultation. No real change is proposed to anything.
Canada plus, plus, plus
19 December 2017
By Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC
I
David Davis has suggested that in place of the EU Treaties, the UK’s relations with the EU should be regulated by a deal which is ‘Canada, plus, plus, plus’. By this he means a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) based on the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) agreed between the EU and Canada. The British people should treat the proposal with revulsion. It contains every one of the defects which led 3.5 million Europeans to sign a petition objecting to the now defunct TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and the USA), a sister agreement to CETA.
Where is workers' voice in Taylor's Review?
11 July 2017
By John Hendy QC, IER Chair
Changes to the law to protect the rights of those who work for a living are essential. It is doubtful if the changes proposed by theTaylor Review are anything like radical enough. They appear to ignore the fact that many gig workers are already 'workers' with rights to a number of employment rights. And the proposals go nowhere near far enough to deal with the problem of zero-hours contracts for the vast majority of the 2.7 million workers on such contracts.
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