The Trade Union Bill urges more police involvement in pickets
Yesterday Dave Prentis, the general secretary of UNISON, wrote on these pages about government plans to further clamp down on workers’ rights when they introduce the Trade Union Bill. The latest proposals include requiring all striking picket workers to identify themselves to police and give 14-days’ notice of all picket and protest plans.
Prentis said these proposals were ‘all about making life tough for unions and the working people they represent just for the hell of it’. Today a YouGov poll shows that more than three-quarters of the public agree that these new measures are a waste of police time.
The survey, carried out for the TUC, shows that 77 per cent of people -including 69 per cent of Conservative voters – think making it compulsory for unions to give 14-days’ notice if they are planning to use a loudspeaker or carry a banner is ‘a bad use of police time’.
A similar number (72 per cent) think the same of forcing unions to submit what they are planning to post on social media and blogs during a strike two weeks ahead of time.
This specific proposal seems like a gross infringement on media freedom; if unions breach this rule or others they could be hit with financial penalties of up to £20,000.
The poll also showed public concern about the victimisation of union members. 60 per cent) of the public think making the lead person on a peaceful picket line give their name to their employer will have a negative effect on that person’s career.
The findings come as the government prepares to bring its Trade Union Bill before parliament for its second reading, which could take place as early as next week.
The Trade Union Bill was described this week as ‘a major attack on civil liberties in the UK’ by human rights groups including Amnesty International, Liberty and the British Institute of Human Rights:
“It is hard to see the aim of this bill as anything but seeking to undermine the rights of all working people.”
Ministers have also been criticised by the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) – the government’s red tape watchdog – for trying to rush through the Bill without proper consultation.
The RPC described the government’s three impact assessments on its proposals as ‘red – not fit for purpose’ and said the government had not made the case for the changes.
The government has said it felt forced to make the changes after a number of strikes based on small turnouts.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward
Want to read more posts like this? Then *sign-up to Look Left* and make sure you have the facts to rebut right-wing spin
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
22 Responses to “Three-quarters of the public think government strike plans will be a waste of police time”
Mick
What I started? I couldn’t stand those PC lunatics!
But oh, the poor Labour Party! You won the election landslide hat trick but you lot still can’t go fast enough to live that down!
OK, Labour appealed to the public enough but it wasn’t what you wanted, therefore it’s crap. Gotchya. No we have to look at how Old Labour were always drummed out of office in disgrace….. right back to the great Ramsay MacDonald, I believe.
Mick
Read my point again about a moderate trades union presence being a good part of checks and balances.
All that’s needed is a simple majority call for a strike – over 50% of a 40% ballot turnout. If the issues are vital enough, they’ll turn up.
No, what Serwotka and his loonies want are the bad old days of intimidating mass pickets, ‘blitzkreig’ strikes, 3 day weeks, the lights going out and union rage dominating Labour party policy, all from minority block votes and thugs. We can cut that nonsense for a start!
blarg1987
Well the previous conservative government, would have lost if the opposition had a monkey as its leader.
We could easily say that the conservatives have always been kicked out of office in disgrace on the same level.
Mick
Not as much as you think. For some examples, Churchill only lost office to make way for a lovely day tomorrow, supposedly. The Tories just ran out of steam to make way for Harold Wilson, 20 years later. Edward Heath was consumed by the same rabid minority union militancy you think should be restored, while Mrs. Thatcher was also threatened by the same phenomenon. She was ousted by her own mates – not the Left – for John Major, whose restored economy wasn’t enough to save his also tired government because he broke it in the first place.
Labour, on the other hand, are still acutely embarrassed by 1970 and 1979 – losses so bad as they reflected the catatonic states of the economy, their own union buddies or social system. Unlike the Tories, Labour losses are so bad that the party feels a need to actually radically change ethos.
Though Labour still does lose office less, paradoxically; though only because the party’s there less often.
stevep
It`s not everyone else missing the point, it`s YOU missing the point.
A “Moderate” Trades Union presence is useless up against the powerful interests it seeks to negotiate with, they will just trample all over workers and ignore the Unions, just like they have been doing for the last 30 or so years since the first wave of oppressive legislation to restrict Trades Union activity was introduced by Norman Tebbit.
Parity in strength and the resolve and commitment to stand up to them is what the wealthy companies fear. The only thing they understand is money and profit. They don`t give a stuff about laying off hundreds or thousands of loyal workers to keep profits up and the shareholders and directors happy. They don`t give a stuff about their future either.
That`s why companies lobby governments to keep such legislation in place and improve on it.
You seem completely oblivious to the point I was making in my initial post. That is that you owe virtually everything you have to Trades Union resolve, collectivity, sacrifice and the vision of a better future. You enjoy decent housing, good sanitary conditions, decent public services, free education for children, a decent health service, universal suffrage and proper representation in Parliament. And much, much more.
Go back in history to a time before The Trades Unions and the Labour Party and you will see the filthy conditions most people lived in, the long, backbreaking hours of work in desperately unsafe and unsanitary conditions to scrape a pittance of a living. Children as young as six working in factories and
down mines to support their family.
The poor laws and the horrors of the workhouse for those who went under.
The split families and the lives of servitude.
All this at a time when Britain was the richest country on the planet.
You don`t know you are born.