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Below is an article from The Telegraph about the Confederation of British Industry's demand for tightening strike legislation. The story quotes TUC gen-sec Brendan Barber: "The UK already has some of the toughest legal restrictions on the right to strike in the advanced world. Any further restrictions would almost certainly breach the UK's human rights obligations." The article also mentions that "both British Airways and Network Rail have successfully used the courts to block strike action in recent months". What kind of limitations are in place at the moment? --- Strike ballot rules must be overhauled, says CBI By Louisa Peacock Published: 6:00AM BST 21 Jun 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/7842269/Strike-ballot-rules-must-be-overhauled-says-CBI.html The CBI wants to raise the the level of support required for walkouts and is proposing that at least 40pc of the balloted workforce must vote, in addition to the majority voting for industrial action. At present there is no minimum turnout required by law, meaning strikes can go ahead based on a relatively small number of "particularly active" union members, the CBI said. The Civil Service strike in March over changes to redundancy payouts went ahead based on a 30pc turnout, while last June's Tube strikes attracted just 38pc of all union members' support, according to the business group. The Network Rail strike, due in April this year but which was deemed illegal by a High Court judge, saw only a third of balloted members vote. John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said ahead of swingeing public spending cuts that could lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses, the Government must make it harder to strike based on the minority. "It is inherently right that people have the right to withdraw their labour, but our view is there needs to be a pretty high bar if there is going to be a withdrawal," Mr Cridland said. "We've seen an increasing number of strikes in different sectors and industries. It's not about this this winter, it's about the next five years." Despite the concerns, both British Airways and Network Rail have successfully used the courts to block strike action in recent months. The CBI also urged the Government to cut the number of days employees can legally consult on redundancies from 90 to 30 days to reduce uncertainty for staff and allow workforces to respond quicker to falls in demand. Unions were outraged at the proposals. Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, said: "The UK already has some of the toughest legal restrictions on the right to strike in the advanced world. Any further restrictions would almost certainly breach the UK's human rights obligations." -- jjonas @ nic.fi ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
