Tonight the Trade Union bill passed its third reading. For those who aren’t procedural aficionados, it means that rather soon it’ll become law. It’s unlikely that we’ll see the “constitutional crisis” that affected the Tax Credits bill and see it thrown back into the House of Commons to be reconsidered or scrapped.
A lot of attention has been given to another proposal that will infringe civil liberties. The rejuvenation of Theresa May’s snoopers charter, a means for the Government to keep an eye on digital communications so to precipitate, and stop crime on the web.
The by-product of that is that it means the government will be keeping tabs on what all of its citizens are looking at, in general terms, for a year after. It’s the equivalent of before the internet, the government rootling through your post and recording the topics you had covered.
It’s all a bit invasive and over the top, letting the Government see into the private lives and interests of its citizens. As the Guardian’s Heather Brooke pointed out, it makes George Orwell look short-sighted.
Why then, if this ‘Snoopers Charter’ is so terrible, is the Trade Union Bill worse?
All it’s going to do is clip the wings of the unions who hold the country, its citizens and commuters to ransom every time they haven’t had a wage rise in the last six minutes? They have too much power anyway don’t they? Besides, membership is at an all-time low. Since when are they even relevant anymore?
Wrong.
What the bill does is far more than clip the wings of the Trade Unions. Instead it cuts their wings off, as well as lopping off their legs for good measure. Leaving Trade Unions a bit like a beached whale, sitting there, obsolete.
The bill will make strikes unlawful unless 50% of those eligible to vote, exercise their right to. That’s something that doesn’t apply to the majority of Conservative MPs who have been elected to Parliament. The same people who voted in favour of the bill.
They won’t allow electronic voting, which may encourage engagement. Despite it being okay for Zac Goldsmith to be selected as the Conservative candidate in London for the Mayoral election by this method.
It’ll criminalise pickets that have been formed without checking with the police. It’ll allow the Government to set a limit on the amount of time a public sector worker can spend on Trade Union duties, and require those on pickets to inform police in advance of the content they plan to put on social media.
It’s a bid to make any possible industrial action vettable by the police, who are there to inform the laws of the day’s Government. It’ll cut down on disruption yes, but that’s precisely what a strike is intended to do.
If a worker can’t withdraw their labour in protest at their treatment. What can they do?
It’ll make Unions less able to support, and stand up for their members, who are usually some of the most vulnerable in working society. Which if you’re unsure, is the main purpose of a Union.
Workers who are on a good wage, with money in the bank, if they’re being bullied or intimidated, can hire a lawyer themselves. It stands to reason if they’re earning good money, that they can also take their valuable labour elsewhere if their pay is substandard, or hours are unsatisfactory.
What about those that aren’t in that well-off position? Or whose work is manual, easily replicated? That’s where Trade Unions can come in, providing that legal support, standing up for better pay, fairer working hours. Without the Trade Union movement we wouldn’t have two-day weekends, eight hour working days, maternity leave, retirement age, good health and safety, or paid holidays. The list goes on.
These things were won with Trade Union pressure, not a kindly decision by company directors across Britain.
It’s a co-operative ideal, that if everybody clubs their funds and support together, it can benefit everybody, the manual worker and the executive. It’s a reason why Trade Unions such as Unison have a graded membership fee, so people only pay what they can afford to support one another.
Alas, that’s all in the past. It’s taken for granted. In fact many of my generation accept that as the norm, and don’t think its been different since the Victorian era.
The achievements of Trade Unions may have all come in the past, but the issue is the Trade Union bill will stop the progress of tomorrow, to give better working lives for Britain’s people. It’ll erode one of the few lines of protection for the British workforce. It needs to be fought and stopped for the benefit of the lives of future generations.
BBC Presenter and former Kidderminster resident, James O’Brien summed up the benefits of Trade Unions earlier this summer on LBC, and it’s well worth a listen.
Speaking From My Soapbox 