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Warning from history
On the 50th anniversary of the jailing the Pentonville Five, Professor KEITH EWING recalls how British governments, Tory and Labour, have systematically adapted the law to suppress legitimate trade union activity
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AS THE struggle of the Pentonville Five 50 years ago is commemorated tonight at East Ham Town Hall, it is a timely reminder that British trade unions have never been free: they have always been treated with suspicion, and they have always operated in the shadow of the criminal law, penal sanctions, and the watchful eye of the state.
Suspicion has been tailored into our law since time immemorial, and remains there to this day.
That suspicion has periodically turned to hostility and oppression as trade unions have challenged the authority of the state by protecting their members’ interests in the face of government injustice.
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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
New writing has underlined the importance of the 1873 case that victimised striking farmworkers and led to a national outcry — yet aspects of the law used against them remain on the books, writes professor KEITH EWING
The latest plans to suppress industrial action are chilling. They are the hallmark of authoritarian government – and worse, argues Prof KEITH EWING
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