The government has published the Trade Union Bill which contains wide-ranging measures designed to restrict the ability of GMB and other unions and our members to organise collectively and to take industrial action. The bill restricts strike ballots, the right to picket and removes the protection members taking lawful industrial action currently have from agency workers being drafted in to do their jobs. The TUC have produced a guide to the bill which provides a useful overview of the planned legislation.
This bill is more than just an attack on ordinary decent working people, it goes to the very core of our democratic principles, both in work and society in general. How can you apply a different voting threshold to the fundemental human right to withdraw your labour than to elect the very politicians who, with no mandate to do so, go on to attack the most vulnerable in society and impose their austerity obsessed/tax cutting for the rich ways on all of us before awarding themselves a pay rise 10 times that of other public sector workers. The reality is, this right wing government isn't simply trying to reduce the number of working days lost through strikes which, by the way, is at an ever reducing all time low (1/30th of the level in the late 70’s). What they are really doing is attacking the strength of the trade unions in order to undermine our bargaining power in the workplace putting pressure on terms and conditions and therefore shifting the split between wages and profits heavily in favour of the employers.
This bill is about more than just restricting the right to strike it is about attacking the right to bargain collectively on terms and conditions and to be able to protect our members health and safety in the workplace and the ability to protect members jobs.
Click here for to download the Trade Union Bill July 2015, Overview of Key Changes (click here)
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