Latest editorial
Protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in London, as the Bill on minimum service levels during strikes reaches its second reading. Picture date: Monday January 16, 2023.
DEVOLVED Scottish and Welsh ministers could play a crucial role in blocking the implementation of the Tory government’s widely condemned anti-strikes Bill, Fire Brigades Union leader Matt Wrack said today.
In a letter to SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf and his Welsh Labour counterpart Mark Drakeford, Mr Wrack urged both administrations to convene summits with unions to plan a “united campaign of resistance against the authoritarian legislation.”
The call comes after the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which could empower bosses and even ministers to sack workers who refuse to cross their own picket lines, suffered a string of defeats in the House of Lords earlier this week.
Labour’s watered-down legislation won’t protect us from unfair dismissal or ban some zero-hours contracts until 2027 — leaving millions of young people vulnerable to the populist right’s appeal, warns TUC young workers chair FRASER MCGUIRE
The Bill addresses some exploitation but leaves trade unions heavily regulated, most workers without collective bargaining coverage, and fails to tackle the balance of power that enables constant mutation of bad practice, write KEITH EWING and LORD JOHN HENDY KC