The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
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The myth of the labour market
PROF KEITH EWING and LORD JOHN HENDY QC explain there can be no simple labour market under the free market: humans are humans, not inanimate commodities to be traded. To overcome this nonsense we need to reinvigorate the concept and practice of collective bargaining
In Britain, nine million people in poverty live in working households. Since the pandemic we have seen how the most valuable of our key workers, on whom we all depend, suffer low wages, insecurity of employment and the highest risk of illness and death.
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THERE are a number of expressions which are particularly grating, especially when spoken by comrades.
Hearing the Prime Minister referred to affectionately as “Boris” is one, the use of the phrase “labour market” is another.
The phrase “labour market” gives a legitimacy to a capitalist mythology in which buying and selling labour is a natural and unalterable part of the human condition, in which humans who work for a living are no more than disposable “human resources” and in which those who sell and those who buy labour have some equivalence of bargaining power as they contemplate the wares on the stalls in the “labour market.” These myths are unrelated to the reality of capitalism.
More from this author
Labour’s long-awaited Employment Rights Bill does not do nearly enough to remove the restraints on trade unions or to give them the powers they need to make a significant difference to the lives of the millions of workers, write KEITH EWING and Lord JOHN HENDY KC
Professor Keith Ewing and Lord John Hendy KC examine the new deal for workers outlined in the King's Speech and what should follow it
We know the legislation intends to compel unions to force a ‘minimum’ number of workers over their own picket line, but how exactly is not clear, write KEITH EWING and LORD JOHN HENDY KC
by Professor Keith Ewing and Lord Hendy KC
