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‘We'll defend the right to strike and the workers who exercise it’
TUC general secretary PAUL NOWAK speaks to Morning Star editor Ben Chacko about the anti-union laws, the strike wave and the Labour Party
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak at the demonstration in Parliament Square, London on May 22 2023

THE Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival commemorates the ultimately successful struggle to win freedom for six pioneering trade unionists transported for their collective stand against low pay.

It bears a special relevance in a year when the Tories are intent on new anti-union legislation — pushing the draconian Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill through Parliament to ban effective strike action in whole sectors of the economy.

Despite tussles with the House of Lords, the Tories have the numbers to impose their Bill and it will likely become law in more or less its current shape. How does the TUC plan to resist it?

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