To defend Puerto Rico’s right to peace is to defend Venezuela’s right to exist, argues MICHELLE ELLNER
A minimum service agreement – or a ban on strikes?
Boris Johnson is threatening to effectively ban strike action on the railways
Despite the apocalyptic destruction RAMZY BAROUD points to Gaza’s triumph of spirit against the architecture of genocide
We are demanding action from our politicians to deliver justice, fairness and decency throughout our communities – join us, says ROZ FOYER
After NGOs and the EU, UN condemns Germany’s crackdown on Palestine Solidarity, writes LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
It’s not just the Starmer regime: the workers of Britain have always faced legal affronts on their right to assemble and dissent, and the Labour Party especially has meddled with our freedoms from its earliest days, writes KEITH FLETT
Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH
TRADE unionists now have a real choice: more attacks on the right to strike from the Tories. Or the most progressive programme of rights from a Labour government committed to higher wages and better conditions, the reintroduction of industry-wide collective bargaining and the restoration of trade union freedoms.
Having tried and failed to ban rail strikes in the Trade Union Act 2016 by inflated participation thresholds of 40 per cent, the Tories are now proposing to tighten the screws still further, with a manifesto commitment to require that “a minimum service operates during transport strikes.”
It is not clear whether this is intended to apply to all transport strikes, or to rail strikes only, the passage in the manifesto acknowledging that while “rail workers deserve a fair deal,” “it is not fair to let the trade unions undermine the livelihoods of others.” No mention of course of the unfairness of employers imposing driver-only trains.
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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
It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR
Falling short of what was promised: many of the new rights in the Employment Rights Bill have defects or escape loopholes that all need addressing, writes LORD JOHN HENDY KC