Category: UK Employment Rights
FBU Calls On Employers To Refuse To Implement ‘Authoritarian’ Strike Ban
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has called on all fire service employers to refuse to implement the government’s new minimum service levels, condemning the legislation as a “draconian attempt to ban strikes”.
In a letter sent to all fire service employers in England, the FBU has warned that implementing work notices will “irreparably damage” industrial relations and threaten public safety.
New regulations issued as part of the Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Act will give fire service employers power to issue ‘work notices’ during period of strike action. ‘Minimum service’ in the fire and rescue sector has been set at 73% of fire engines crewed, while control rooms will be expected to operate as if no strike was happening.
Firefighters, control staff and other fire service employees could face dismissal for remaining on strike during a period of industrial action once a work notice has been issued.
The regulations are expected to be approved by parliament soon. They will apply only in England.
The governments of Scotland and Wales have already said that they will not issue work notices and/or that they have no intention of introducing their own regulations to make the legislation operative.
Fire service employers are different depending on the region, and include fire authorities; police, fire and crime commissioners (PFCCs); mayors; and devolved administrations.
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said: “The government’s minimum service levels amount to a draconian attempt to ban firefighters and control staff from taking strike action.
“This is an attack on the fundamental democratic rights of fire service employees.
“Each fire service employer will have the power to decide whether to threaten their workforce with the sack during a period of strike action.
“The FBU calls on all employers to make it clear that they will refuse to issue work notices, rendering the new laws inoperable in their local fire and rescue service.
“They should agree not to dismiss or take any disciplinary action against any employee for taking part in strike action.”
International Unions Demand Union Rights In Trade Policy
The International Trade Union Confederation has brought the interests of working people and trade unions to the heart of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by demanding that labour rights are embedded in global trade policy.
At this year’s WTO Ministerial Conference, held in Abu Dhabi, the ITUC pushed for a trade framework that prioritises workers’ rights and promotes social justice, while supporting a development agenda for emerging economies to retain policy space to pursue structural transformation without constraint.
ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle said: “Since its creation, the WTO has facilitated trade at the expense of labour rights. The inclusion of the basic rights of working people in trade policy is long overdue.”
During the conference, the ITUC organised a panel discussion with the United States’ trade representative, the European Commission’s executive vice president and South Africa’s trade minister on delivering social justice and labour rights in trade policies.
Luc Triangle stated during the discussion that: “The ITUC considers that the respect of labour rights is implicit at the WTO, as the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work applies to ILO members who are WTO members. We call for greater cooperation between the WTO and the ILO to pursue the inclusion of labour standards in the work of the WTO, in line with the ILO Global Coalition for Social Justice.”
In the discussion, proposals were made regarding the creation of a specific working group on labour and trade charged with working towards the inclusion of labour rights in the WTO agenda.
The Ministerial Conference, however, concluded with minimal concrete outcomes and was marred by concerns over free speech violations, including the detention of participants and restrictions on civil society organisations.
Get Organised Politically!
By Barry Camfield, Campaign For Trade Union Freedom Vice President (Australia)
The Campaign for Trade Union Freedom is to be congratulated for its role in defending our trade unions and in promoting trade union freedom.
The Campaign is showing just how anti-union the UK has become through a combination of continuing Tory attacks since Thatcher allied with Labour’s virtual abandonment of the unions as vehicles for mass worker engagement and political campaigning.
This includes supporting the ending of trade union legal protection in the fight to defend the interests of workers. Unions of course were protected throughout much of the 20th century as long as any dispute was held to be “in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute”.
Thatcher changed all that, but the real horror story is that the Labour Party were in Government for 13 years from 1997 to 2010, and yet the anti-union laws remained firmly entrenched on the Statute Book!
Indeed, the only real protection for working people during that period came from the EU and not the Labour Government of Blair and Brown.
So when Cameron took office for the Tories, guess what, he and his successors could build new anti-union laws from a whole new platform of established anti-union law. “We have the weakest trade union rights in Europe” boasted multi-millionaire Tony Blair.
And today we have Sir Keir Starmer, another Labour Party leader who has no idea of true leadership other than to win Government at any cost. “We are not the Tories” seems to be the battle cry and yes, Labour will probably win the coming General Election despite their humiliation by George Galloway in Rochdale.
So about the Labour Party?
What were the roots that gave it so much support and influence in the post war period. Take a long hard look at the 1945 Labour Party Manifesto.
Wow! This was socialism in action where leaders at every level of the Party campaigned and fought for a NHS and public ownership after the horrors of the Second World War.
It was called “Let Us Face the Future”. See just two key extracts as follows:
“The freedom of the trade unions, denied by the Trades Disputes and Trade Unions Act, 1927, must also be restored.”
“The Labour Party is a Socialist Party, and proud of it. Its ultimate purpose at home is the establishment of the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain – free, democratic, efficient, progressive, public-spirited, its material resources organised in the service of the British people”
As the assault on UK workers gets worse, the International Trade Union Congress has launched an international campaign to defend democracy itself, as the position of unions worldwide is being targeted by a combination of employers and States. Even the ILO has referred the employers challenge to the “right to strike” to the ICJ for an advisory opinion! The stakes are very high. Take a look at the ITUC website.
We have to get organised politically as well as industrially, this is the big message today.
Is the Labour Party still a viable option?
If it is to be saved as such, I believe the Labour Party has to be re-won from the ground up by the active involvement of tens of thousands of union members across Britain. We have the power to change it, but if we do nothing, nothing will happen. We have a world to win!