By a Free Our Unions supporter On 10 May, refuse workers in the Hertfordshire town of Welwyn Hatfield launched an unofficial strike to deal with a manager they said was sexist, racist, and bullying. A hundred refuse, recycling, and maintenance workers employed by commercial waste contractor Urbaser, members of Unite, refused to work and madeContinue reading “Welwyn walkout shows how workers can win”
Tag Archives: Labour Party
Momentum Policy Primary motion calls for repeal of all anti-union laws
Momentum, the left-wing organisation in the Labour Party, is conducting its second annual policy primary, to determine which motions Momentum will encourage members to submit to CLPs for submission to Labour conference. The Fire Brigades Union and North Essex Momentum have submitted the motion below, reaffirming previous conference policy calling for the repeal of allContinue reading “Momentum Policy Primary motion calls for repeal of all anti-union laws”
Free Our Unions pledge for Labour leadership candidates
The Free Our Unions campaign has written to all the Labour leadership and deputy leadership candidates asking them to sign the following pledge.
Resist the Tories’ new anti-strike law!
In his government’s first Queen’s Speech, Boris Johnson has announced that he plans to introduce new laws to restrict strikes. There could be little clearer indication of the class loyalties of his government than this.
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.
Labour’s manifesto and the right to strike: a welcome step forward, more to fight for
Published 23rd November 2019. In the general election, Free Our Unions is working to kick out the Tories and win a government led by Jeremy Corbyn. In the words of a Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack, a Labour government can “deliver a shift in power away from wealthy elites and towards workers. The ToriesContinue reading “Labour’s manifesto and the right to strike: a welcome step forward, more to fight for”
#freeourunions at Labour Party conference 2019
Published 25th September 2019. At this year’s hectic Labour Party conference, most Free Our Unions activists were absorbed in other campaigning – around the Green New Deal, Grenfell and fire safety, migrants’ rights, left anti-Brexit campaigning, among other issues – but the campaign was very much present.
Workers must fight Johnson’s right-wing coup
Published on 2nd September 2019. Boris Johnson’s outrageous attack on democracy is not illegal. Strikes to stop it are. What does that tell you about the law?
“We need to change the balance of forces in this country” – Kevin Courtney on repealing the anti-union laws
The first conference of the merged National Education Union in 2019 passed policy on repealing all anti-union laws. Free Our Unions supporters held a fringe meeting at which joint-NEU General Secretary Kevin Courtney spoke. This is a slightly abridged version of his speech.
Free Our Unions 