Author Archives: freeourunions

In the coronavirus crisis, do workers have the right to strike?

Image: a socially-distanced picket line of postal workers, during a wildcat strike for workplace safety. By Riccardo La Torre and Sacha Ismail Originally posted on the website of the Fire Brigades Union, here. Since the Covid-19 crisis hit, many workers, including those working in hospitals, libraries, construction and in the postal service, have taken unofficialContinue reading “In the coronavirus crisis, do workers have the right to strike?”

This May Day, support workers’ action for rights and safety

For International Workers’ Day (1 May) 2020, Free Our Unions is calling on labour movement activists and supporters to raise their voice – in support of workers taking action in the crisis to stand up for their rights and for safety, and for the abolition of the anti-union laws which constrain such action. We say:“Support workers’ action for rightsContinue reading “This May Day, support workers’ action for rights and safety”

Covid-19 crisis: Protect the right to strike!

Already in the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve seen examples of workers taking industrial action, often to improve workplace safety. Outsourced cleaners, caterers, and porters at Lewisham Hospital walked out to demand the payment unpaid wages. Workers in Lambeth libraries took action to demand the closure of their workplaces. Postal workers in Bridgend struck, after bosses refuseContinue reading “Covid-19 crisis: Protect the right to strike!”

For a united front to resist anti-union laws

The Free Our Unions campaign has written to other campaign groups active on similar issues to propose joint activity to resist the threat of new anti-strike laws. The following letter was sent to the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom, the Institute for Employment Rights, the National Shop Stewards Network, and Unite the Resistance.

Gregor Gall on Labour’s manifesto, trade union law and workers’ self-activity

Gregor Gall is a visiting professor of industrial relations at the University of Leeds and an affiliate research associate at the University of Glasgow. He supports the Free Our Unions campaign. Gregor spoke to Free Our Unions about the commitments on workers’ and trade union rights in the Labour Party manifesto, and the wider issues they raise.

Yes, we need to strike for each other

This article, by Gregor Gall, was originally published on Jacobin in November 2019. Find it here. In 1980s Britain, miners went on strike in support of nurses’ pay claims, throwing their industrial muscle behind under-pressure hospital staff. After decades of harsh anti-union laws, Labour’s manifesto promises a way to rebuild this culture of solidarity.