To defend Puerto Rico’s right to peace is to defend Venezuela’s right to exist, argues MICHELLE ELLNER
P&O and freedom of association: a memo to Keir Starmer
A Labour government would be wise to implement new recommendations from the ILO that would protect trade unionists and their right to bargain collectively, writes Professor KEITH EWING
Staff onboard the moored Pride of Kent at the Port of Dover in Kent. Delays to Channel crossings are being driven by the suspension of P&O Ferries sailings after the operator sacked nearly 800 seafarers without notice last month
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
ON November 2 2023, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) freedom of association committee released its report on the P&O case. Readers may recall that on March 17 2022, P&O Ferries dismissed 786 seafarers and replaced them with agency workers recruited overseas on terms and conditions of employment greatly inferior to those of the staff they replaced.
To compound the mischief, it was alleged that the staff in question were given letters of instant dismissal and that workers on the vessels at the time of their dismissal were escorted off by hired security, passing replacement crews waiting in coaches nearby.
All this was done without prior notice, without consulting the recognised trade unions, and in breach of collective agreements between the unions and the company.
It will also be recalled that shortly after the decision was taken, P&O was the subject of excoriating criticism and its senior personnel humiliated by parliamentary committees.
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As the Employment Rights Bill enters Parliament, JAMES HARRISON introduces a podcast designed to help trade unionists, as well as MPs, understand its intentions and how to go about improving it