“As Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt look set to try and lock-in years more of austerity, we are again seeing attempts to curb our rights including the Public Order Bill… We need to be absolutely clear that our right to strike is under threat.”
By Andy Green
As well as cuts to our public services and attacks on wages, something else has been a constant throughout over a decade of Tory (mis)rule and austerity: attacks on our right to resist, of which attacks on our trade union rights have been a constant.
These have included – but not been limited to – the Trade Union Act of 2016 and more recently, in the dying days of the Johnson government, changes to the law went through that allowed employers to use agency labour to break a strike.
As Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt look set to try and lock-in years more of austerity, we are again seeing attempts to curb our rights including the Public Order Bill.
And as part of this, there is the possibility of more attacks on our trade unions on the horizon, with the Tories particularly gunning for all those unions currently taking action or balloting for action to defend their members’ pay, terms and conditions.
We need to be absolutely clear that our right to strike is under threat.
We already have some of the most restricted trade union rights in Europe, but the situation could be about to get a lot worse.
And of course, each time the Government attacks our unions and workers’ rights it encourages bad bosses and profiteers to do the same, as we saw with the disgraceful actions of P&O earlier this year.
As BFAWU General Secretary and Campaign for Trade Union Freedom co-Chair Sarah Woolley recently said, “Rishi Sunak may have replaced Liz Truss, but Tory attacks on our unions and rights are still set to intensify, alongside ‘austerity 2.0’.”
We need to be absolutely clear that our right to strike is under threat.
Faced with these threats, there is an urgent need to mobilise and support a major trade union campaign to fight against attacks on workers’ and union rights.
Backing the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom through passing the new model motion below is one concrete way for your trade union branch or trades council can show your support and get involved in the fightback.
Another is to join Sarah, myself, workers in struggle, MPs and a range of union leaders to discuss the next steps in our fightback at our December 3rd Conference on Campaign for Free Trade Unions – see you there!
1) CONFERENCE: From Pentonville to P&O: union rights & Tory wrongs – Campaigning for Free Trade Unions
With: Frances O’Grady, TUC // Dave Ward, CWU // Kevin Courtney, NEU // Jo Grady, UCU // Mark Serwotka, PCS // Mick Lynch, RMT // Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ General Secretary // Mick Whelan, ASLEF // Barry Gardiner MP // John McDonnell MP //Professor Keith Ewing // Lord John Hendy KC // Ben Chacko, Morning Star // Matt Foot, Lawyer & writer // Andy Green, CTUF & Unite EC // Nabeela Mowlana, Young Labour // Laura Pidcock, Peoples Assembly & more, including workers in dispute. Chairs: Tony Burke, CSEU & Sarah Woolley, BFAWU.
Hosted by the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom. Supported by the Institute of Employment Rights. Register for free here.
2) You can affiliate to the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom here
3) Model Motion: Supporting the December 3rd Campaigning for Free Trade Unions Conference
This union branch/ region notes:
- In the midst of the deepest cost-of-living crisis in generations, our trade union rights – already some of the most restrictive and punitive in Europe – are under fresh assault from the Tories and their billionaire backers.
- In the dying days of the Johnson government, changes to the law went through that allowed employers to use agency labour to break a strike and increased the amount of statutory damages that could be awarded against a union for backing its striking members. The TUC is pursuing a legal route to challenge these measures as they threaten what remains of our right to strike.
- The now-departed Truss government then made clear its intention not only to abolish the Working Time Directive but to impose on striking unions a minimum service requirement. This is a legal obligation on unions to ensure that sufficient of their members are at work to provide a minimum service; in other words to undermine their own industrial action. Plus, there are reported proposals from the Tories that they will end employment rights in companies with less than 500 workers.
- New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to continue these attacks, alongside a policy of more austerity. These amount to a major new wave of attacks on our unions, and relate to broader Tory attacks on our right to resist.
This union branch/region believes:
- Now is the time to fight back against the Tory attacks on our unions and rights – there is an urgent need to mobilise and support a major trade union campaign to fight against attacks on workers’ and union rights.
- Our trade unions should be free – free to protect their members, free to bargain on an even footing, free to do as their members democratically choose and free to organise strike action.
- That we need to ensure a full implementation by a future Labour Government of its Green Paper New Deal for Working People as agreed at Labour Conference 2021.
- Over and above that we need a new framework of guaranteed rights and freedoms for workers and unions that will mean the repeal of anti-union laws stretching back to the 1980s.
This union branch/region resolves to:
- Send delegates to the December 3rd From Pentonville to P&O: union rights & Tory wrongs – campaigning for free trade unions Conference hosted by the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom and supported by the Institute of Employment Rights, and publicise the event to our members.
- Affiliate to the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom.
- Andy Green is an activist with the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom, a Unite EC member and Unite convenor, Tilbury Docks.
- This article was originally published by Labour Hub on November 16th, 2022.
