The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
AS we go through the circus of the “coronation” of Rishi Sunak as the third unpopular Tory prime minister in three months being imposed upon us, across the labour movement we should be clear in understanding that the Tories have always held trade unions in contempt, and always will.
The reasons for this are simple at their core — we, as trade unions, empower workers to stand together collectively to demand better and support them in doing so, which goes against the key Tory ethos of helping the rich get richer whilst the working class should be “knowing their place,” both in terms of the workplace and broader society.
The new proposed round of anti-trade union restrictions from the Tories were initially set out by the now-departed Liz Truss over recent weeks and came on top of Boris Johnson pushing through changes in his last days in government to the law that allowed employers to use agency labour to break a strike.
General Federation of Trade Unions president and bakers’ union general secretary, SARAH WOOLLEY, guides us through the GFTU’s Summer School happening this week at Quorn Grange Hotel
Four decades on, the Wapping dispute stands as both a heroic act of resistance and a decisive moment in the long campaign to break trade union power. Lord JOHN HENDY KC looks back on the events of 1986
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


