European TUC Emergency Motion on The Right To Strike Agreed May 26th

Kate Bell, Deputy General Secretary of the TUC speaking on the Emergancy ETUC motion of The Right To Strike said:

“The UK may have left the European Union, but the bonds of solidarity that link workers across Europe can never be broken.

Workers in the UK have badly needed that solidarity this year.

In the middle of not just a cost of living crisis, but the longest and deepest fall in real wages for 200 years, our government has launched an attack on working people, their unions, and the democratic right to strike.

The UK already has some of the most draconian trade union legislation in Europe.

And the minimum services level bill currently in our parliament would allow government ministers to force workers to attend work during strike action.

If they refuse to cross their own picket lines they face the sack, and their unions face substantial fines.

It’s an outrageous attack on the democratic right to strike; the action of a government that is increasingly seeking to criminalise dissent.

And it is likely to breach the international commitments on labour rights that this movement has worked so hard to secure.

We know why they’re doing it; they want to take away workers’ most powerful tool in the fight to secure decent rights and pay.

A right that is delivering better pay for so many workers this year who have had to take industrial action to secure what they deserve:– health workers, postal workers, train drivers, fire fighters and so many more.

So please help us send a message today that workers across Europe are united in resisting these attacks on our power.”