BEN CHACKO speaks with Knesset member OFER CASSIF about rising political violence, the prospects for peace and his continuous ‘silencing by suspension’
A minimum service agreement – or a ban on strikes?
Boris Johnson is threatening to effectively ban strike action on the railways
The choice between two Blairites to revamp the tepid centrism of our ruling party doesn’t even come as cold comfort as we wander the city streets suffering from their third decade of austerity and the fifth of wage stagnation, writes MATT KERR
HENRY FOWLER puts the strike of public-sector workers in New Zealand in the wider context of deteriorating employment conditions throughout the world’s major economies
MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today
The Tricontinental Institute for Social Research explores the factors that are bringing today’s highly educated but often underemployed young people out onto the streets, from Chile, to Algeria, to Nepal
The nation’s leading second-hand socialist bookseller that has been running strong for 33 years is changing hands and expanding its vision — now is the time to get involved, buy, donate and support, writes ANDREW MURRAY
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.
Similar stories
Labour’s watered-down legislation won’t protect us from unfair dismissal or ban some zero-hours contracts until 2027 — leaving millions of young people vulnerable to the populist right’s appeal, warns TUC young workers chair FRASER MCGUIRE
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