By Sam Greenwood, Wakefield Local Government UNISON activist Speaking at a meeting on the first hundred days of a Labour government at Unison conference this week, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said that a Corbyn government will repeal all the Tories’ anti-union laws and enact positive legislation for workers’ rights. He also said Labour would back all strikes,Continue reading “Trade union rights – back John McDonnell’s call”
Author Archives: freeourunions
Would the miners’ strike have been illegal under Corbyn’s union laws?
Would the kind of action British miners took in their great strike in 1984-5 remain illegal under a Corbyn government? What about the struggles of the Great Unrest just before World War One, the 1926 General Strike, the Ford Dagenham women’s strike in 1968, the strikes to free jailed dockers in 1972, the 1976-8 GrunwickContinue reading “Would the miners’ strike have been illegal under Corbyn’s union laws?”
“A Corbyn government must free our unions” – motion to Unite policy conference
The following motion has been submitted to Unite the Union’s policy conference (2-6 July 2018, Brighton).
Matt Wrack and Shen Batmaz on why Labour must repeal all anti-union laws
Two leading labour movement activists, FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack and McStrike organiser Shen Batmaz, spoke to Free Our Unions about why the demand to repeal the anti-union laws is so important.
Young Labour national policy on repealing the anti-union laws/workers’ rights
The following two motions were passed at Young Labour policy conference in October 2017, building on the policy passed by Labour Party conference in September.
Six arguments against abolishing all the anti-union laws – Six replies
If we build a strong campaign to repeal the anti-trade union laws, in line with the policy passed unanimously at Labour Party conference last year (and policy passed in 2015 and 2005), we will face all kinds of objections from the press, the Tories, etc, backed up by outrage designed to intimidate people and prevent rational discussion. The danger isContinue reading “Six arguments against abolishing all the anti-union laws – Six replies”
The anti-union laws: acid test for a Corbyn government
“[Since 1980, trade unions have been] regulated, harried, battered, fined and sequestrated, step by step by step, in Act after Act in pursuit of aim of decollectivising the workplace.” – Labour peer Bill Wedderburn on the last of nine Tory anti-union Acts, 1993
If Jeremy Corbyn wants a mass movement, he must radically revive the unions
By Michael Chessum, orginally published in The New Statesman, 5th January 2018 The world, especially the political world, is a volatile place these days, and one ought to be wary of omens. But when McDonalds announced this week that it would award its employees their biggest pay rise in a decade, you could be forgiven for havingContinue reading “If Jeremy Corbyn wants a mass movement, he must radically revive the unions”
Bob Crow and John Hendy on why we must repeal the anti-union laws
In 1998, in their pamphlet Reclaim Our Rights – Repeal the Anti-Union Laws published by the campaign of the same name, Bob Crow (then RMT assistant general secretary) and John Hendy QC wrote:
Labour votes to scrap all anti-union laws – build a campaign!
By Ruth Cashman, Lambeth Unison joint-Branch Secretary At the end of September, Labour Party conference voted unanimously for a motion to scrap the anti-trade union laws – not just the 2016 Trade Union Act, but also “anti-union laws introduced in the 1980s and 90s” by the Thatcher and Major Tory governments. “For unions to beContinue reading “Labour votes to scrap all anti-union laws – build a campaign!”
