Anti-union laws

Britain already has the tightest and most worker-hostile trade-union laws in the European Union. And now what do they want to do now, the bosses, sections of the press, and sections of the Tory party? To tighten the laws even further! To hog-tie the workers and our unions even more than we are hog-tied already. They have the jitters about what the labour movement will do when the details of the government's cuts programme are spelled out on 20 October. The bosses' "trade union", the Confederation of British Industry, has called for a series of new laws. Ballot decisions to strike should be...

The United Campaign to Repeal the Anti-Trade Union Laws has launched an online lobbying tool to help people persuade their MP to attend the reading of John McDonnell’s Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill. The bill seeks an end to the ludicrous situation where a minor technicality can be used by employers to get a demonstrably fair ballot result overturned in the courts in order to scupper workers who vote to take industrial action. If the same standard in regard to minor errors that applies to trade union ballots also applied to general elections, we’d probably never have a completed...

It's pretty common to be told that class “doesn't exist any more”, that “we're all middle-class now” or that the class struggle is “over.” When workers are on the back foot and our organisations are weak, it's sometimes easy to believe that stuff is true. But when you can't open a newspaper without reading some screaming denunciation of “mindless militants” causing “chaos” for daring to strike, and when bosses go to the courts to get pretty much any big strike declared illegal (and somehow the court always sides with the boss), you realise that class definitely still exists. Recently, high...

John McDonnell MP won the MPs' ballot this year to gain the right to present a "Private Member's Bill" - a proposal for legislation, given parliamentary time, coming from an individual MP and not the Government. He has put down the Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill, and it is due for its second reading on 22 October. John McDonnell spoke to Solidarity about the Bill and about the whole range of struggles coming up. The Bill is a very minor, technical amendment to the existing legislation, to prevent employers using the law to drag trade unions into court where there has been a minor...

John McDonnell, supported by the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group, presented his Private Members' Bill to parliament on 30 June. If adopted would significantly improve unions' ability to defend their members and would be the first step towards the full restoration of trade union rights. Sadly, there are no public statements in support of this Bill yet from the leaders of the major unions, or from any of the candidates for Labour leader. After coming first in the Private Members' Ballot and in consultation with the trade union movement and leading trade union lawyers, John McDonnell MP is...

John McDonnell MP has won the ballot among MP for the chance to put a “private member’s Bill” and will propose one to stop employers being able to get strikes declared illegal for minor technical errors in the ballot. If successful, this would put an end to the ridiculous shenanigans that see strikes and ballots delayed and pantomimes such as Unite's BA cabin crew getting an injunction which was then lifted on appeal. It would reaffirm that it is legal for us to strike for our rights. So it is very important that we support this Bill — and not just by admiring from the sidelines but by...

Unite's victory in appealing against the second injunction given against strikes by British Airways workers was extremely significant. If the injunction had been allowed to stand, it would have served as an invitation to bosses across both the public and private sector to seek court bans against any big strike in their workplace and a message that, no matter how spurious the grounds on which they sought that injunction were, they were likely to have it granted. The successful appeal does not change the overall balance of forces but it may arrest the bosses' momentum; they were on a spectacular...

Workers’ Climate Action hosted a “critical mass” cycle ride around Heathrow on 22 May. The event was planned to coincide with the British Airways cabin crew strikes. After a petty legal skirmish earlier in the week, it was not certain whether a Flying Bike Picket would actually be picketing anyone. In the event though, the mass was a colourful and musical display of creative solidarity and highlighted the current threat to our collective right to strike. The bike were covered in slogans such as “Not the Courts, Not the State, Workers should decide their fate!”, “Abolish the Anti-Trade Union...

When activists refer to the “anti-union laws”, we are talking about a whole series of acts brought in by the Thatcher and Major governments between 1980 and 1996, which the Labour government of 1997-2010 did nothing to challenge. Each new act built on its predecessors in often quite elaborate ways to restrict the ability of workers to strike and organise effectively. But what do they actually say? Balloting A minor part of the 1980 Employment Act provided funds to unions for voluntary postal ballots of union members. However, the Tory government soon began to see ballots as a potentially very...