Kill the Tory Trade Union Bill!

On their first day in Parliament, the newly elected Labour leader will face the first debate on the Tories’ Trade Union Bill. This represents the biggest attack on the Labour and trade union movement attempted since Thatcher. Our ability to organise collectively in the workplace is a major obstacle to their austerity attacks.

The extreme plans in the Bill seek to crush the ability of working people to defend our living standards and smash the political funds of trade union, in order to deny us any voice. The right to strike is a fundamental cornerstone of any democratic society. Freedom of association and expression are protected under the European Convention of Human Rights, but the Tory plans would seriously compromise both.

With the TUC leadership otherwise occupied at its Congress in Brighton and not mobilising any protest, the left-wing Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union has teamed up with the National Shop Stewards Network and Unite the Resistance to organise a demo outside Parliament on Monday (14 Sep) from 6pm, with a rally in the Macmillan Room, Portcullis House from 8pm where speakers are set to include MPs John McDonnell, Ian Lavery and Chris Stephens, together with BFAWU President Ian Hodson and victimised National Gallery worker Candy Udwin from PCS.