Free Our Unions is encouraging supporters who are members of the Labour Party to vote for this submission to its Policy Forum. Please share the link in your local Labour Party and union networks. https://www.policyforum.labour.org.uk/commissions/repeal-all-anti-union-laws Although successive Labour Party conferences have passed policy calling for the repeal of all anti-union laws, Labour leadership figures routinelyContinue reading “Labour Party members: vote for this policy submission!”
Author Archives: freeourunions
Tower Hamlets council workers to strike against sackings
Council workers in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets will strike on the 3, 6, and 7 July. They are fighting to stop the Labour-run council sacking its workforce and re-engaging them on worse terms and conditions. At an earlier stage of the dispute, the council had sought an injunction against one of theContinue reading “Tower Hamlets council workers to strike against sackings”
Labour Party Policy Forum proposal: repeal all anti-union laws
Supporters of Free Our Unions active in the Labour Party and in Labour-affiliated unions have been promoting the below text as the basis for a submission to Labour’s ongoing Policy Forum policy submission process. We encourage anyone who wants to see Labour take a strong stand against all anti-union legislation to adapt and use ourContinue reading “Labour Party Policy Forum proposal: repeal all anti-union laws”
Support Goldsmiths workers’ action
Education workers at Goldsmiths university in south London have launched a marking boycott, as part of a fight to resist job cuts. Workers in the Associate Lecturer and Graduate Trainee Tutor roles launched the boycott, and have since been joined by fixed-term teaching staff. Their action has been taken “unofficially”, in confrontation with the anti-unionContinue reading “Support Goldsmiths workers’ action”
Solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter strikers!
As protests continue in the USA and worldwide against racism and police brutality, we are beginning to see organised labour take action as part of the movement. During protests in Minneapolis and New York, members of transport workers’ unions refused to drive buses for arrestee transport. On 9 June, members of the International Longshore andContinue reading “Solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter strikers!”
Free Our Unions video: now with added Bragg!
We’ve uploaded a new version of our recent video, produced by supporter and RMT activist Janine Booth, with a new soundtrack: Billy Bragg’s ‘There Is Power In A Union’, used with permission from the man himself! Thanks for the music, Billy. Please share the video widely!
Free Our Unions online forum, 24 June, 6:30pm
Workers’ action in the pandemic: organising against and around the anti-union laws An online forum organised by Free Our Unions Wednesday 24 June, 18:30-20:30. Log in via Zoom here. Facebook event here. Britain’s anti-union legislation exists to prevent workers taking swift and effective action. Workers’ action during the pandemic has either simply ignored that legislation, orContinue reading “Free Our Unions online forum, 24 June, 6:30pm”
Refusing unsafe work, industrial action, and the law: a briefing for workplace activists
This is a briefing for workplace activists on the differences between refusing unsafe work, as defined under health and safety legislation, and “industrial action”, under the terms of existing legislation including the anti-union legislation Free Our Unions fights to abolish. In legal terms, “refusing unsafe work” and “industrial action” are not the same thing! TheContinue reading “Refusing unsafe work, industrial action, and the law: a briefing for workplace activists”
Share this video!
Thanks to Janine Booth, railway worker, RMT activist, and supporter of our campaign, for this new video in support of Free Our Unions. Please share widely! Image credits:cromaconceptovisual (coronavirus and health workers), Clker-Free-Vector-Images (shackled hands and la lutta), OpenClipart-Vectors (strike triangle and voting) – all on PixabayRwendland / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) (Labour Party conference)
“Unions are back”? Let’s fight to free them!
We’ve seen some articles recently arguing that “unions are back”, pointing to trade unions’ role in speaking up for workers’ rights, and against any reckless back-to-work drive from the government, for examples in schools, during the pandemic. Many trade unionists might respond: “We never went away!” Union reps and activists in workplaces across the countryContinue reading ““Unions are back”? Let’s fight to free them!”
Free Our Unions 