The Socialist 9 February 2011

Big Society? Big Con!

Big society? ... big con!

Fight the cuts - whoever makes them

Ditch the library cuts

Hands off our forests!

Campaigners reject maternity unit cuts

Billy Bragg helps raise Exeter Anti-Cuts funds

Institute of Directors, bosses' organisation, bares its teeth at unions

Solidarity with the Egyptian masses

Uprising in Egypt - Socialist Party public meetings

EDL racists terrorise Luton

Fast news

National education shutdown needed

PCS young members' network conference

Yorkshire: organising the student movement

Demonstrating against cuts in Grimsby

Volunteering 'plaster' for unemployment

Egypt: Is revolution derailed?

Economic crisis in Greece: Immigrants made scapegoats

Solidarity messages needed for US prison reform activist

Southampton campaigners march in defence of jobs and services

Jobs massacre at Pfizer

Striking against health job cuts

Scottish Unison members oppose leadership's sell-out

Leicester Unison members rally against all cuts

March against the job losses in Greenwich

Unite anti-cuts conference

Woody Sez

Life on the autistic spectrum

PDFs for this issue




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Institute of Directors bosses' organisation bares its teeth at unions

THE RIGHT-wing bosses' organisation - the Institute of Directors (IoD) - has called for trade union collective bargaining to be scrapped for teachers and NHS workers.

Such a measure would enshrine the 'race to the bottom' in terms of workers' pay and employment conditions. This blatant attack on workers' rights follows hot on the heels of government plans to stymie the ability of trade unions to fight spending cuts and low pay with new anti-trade union legislation, commonly referred to as the 'employers' charter'.

The IoD, the government and also the bosses' Confederation of British Industry claim that their anti-worker measures will 'lift red tape' and 'promote job creation'.

In practice, the employers' charter will make it easier to sack workers and push through cuts in public services.

The bosses' organisations and government proposed measures include:

Increasing the qualifying period from one year to two before workers can lodge unfair dismissal cases and implementing a charge of £500 to lodge an employment tribunal claim.
Changing the already existing restrictive strike ballot laws by making strikes illegal if less than 50% of union members take part in an industrial action ballot.
The CBI further insists that a strike ballot should only be valid if over 40% of those entitled to vote do so, instead of the current simple majority of those who vote.
The IoD is calling for deeper cuts in public spending than even the current coalition government is pushing through.
It also wants developers to be able to override local objections in the planning system for big infrastructure projects in the greenbelt around cities.

"The IoD pretend they are simply interested in the economy but they are really interested in the naked pursuit of profits by big business at our expense.

They know that the public sector trade unions have the strength to oppose the Con-Dems' spending cuts and clearly they want to break those unions.

Instead, we have got to use our collective strength to break those who would ruin the economy and our public services in the interests of the super-rich."

Martin Powell-Davies, NUT national executive, (personal capacity)

"This threat by the IoD to crush the living standards of health workers in order to make us pay for the crisis in capitalism must be answered in the strongest terms by the trade unions.

In particular, the leadership of the public sector unions must mobilise rank and file trade unionists in a coordinated programme of industrial action to stop cutbacks and attacks on union rights."