Protect the Right to Strike : Kill the Bill booklet

Head Office Circular No. NP/206/15/MC


To the Secretary all Branches,
Council of Executive members,
Regional Councils and Regional Offices

Wednesday 21st October 2015


Dear Colleagues,

Protect the Right to Strike : Kill the Bill booklet.

A copy of Protect the Right to Strike: Kill the Bill published by IER and the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom has been circulated to all branches. It is an essential tool for trade unionists hoping to defeat the proposals in the Bill.

The publication provides a straightforward analysis of the contents of the Bill, explaining the ideological intentions behind them and the consequences they will have on employment rights and trade union freedoms should the Bill be passed.

According to the authors, the Bill has three particular features:

•    The first is to single out public sector trade unionism for particular assault as part of a strategy to suppress organised resistance to the destruction of public services and the imposition of cuts to pay and jobs.
•    The second is to undermine collective bargaining by introducing yet more restrictions to the right to strike, the cumulative impact of which will be to allow wholly unfettered management prerogative, with collective bargaining reduced to collective begging
•    The third is to silence the political voice of the organised working class, building on the Gagging Act 2014, to ensure unions have limited resources available to offer political resistance to the government.

The authors characterise the Bill as “a full frontal assault on the industrial and political freedoms of the trade union movement, a strategic part of the government’s austerity policy….and an authoritarian announcement of the Tories utter contempt for civil liberties and human rights”.

Additional copies can be order directly from the Institute of Employment Rights for £10 each at http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/protect-right-strike-kill-bill

Yours sincerely,
 
Mick Cash
General Secretary