The Employment Law Sub-Committee of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers is launching a new campaign on workers rights at this year's TUC Congress. The initiative is entitled "Rights at work: a manifesto for change" and aims to shake the movement out of its current state of resignation on the issue.
New Labour's acceptance of the old Tory anti-union laws mean that they will soon begin to be seen as Labour anti-union laws. Labour ministers' claim of wanting to take a balanced and neutral approach to industrial relations cannot work in a situation where the balance of power has been shifted so decisively in favour of the employers. How can you be neutral when you maintain laws that conflict with most of the basic regulations laid down by the UN's International Labour Organisation or practice throughout the European Union?
If the Labour Government is seen to sit by with hands folded or even to support the multinationals when they use these laws to victimise and bully British workers into accepting ever lower wages and worse conditions, there will be a wave of disillusionment among the electorate which threatens any chance of a second Labour term.
The new government faces a backlog of pent-up frustration. Conflicts are coming in which millions will demand that they act differently from the last. Such a situation will develop dynamically, opening up opportunities for proponents of workers' rights to demonstrate the need for new legislation.
In the view of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers it is important to prepare now for this situation. In particular we need to get across the need for major legal reform in an accessible and popular way. This is why our new Rights at Work campaign tries to shift the emphasis away from union rights to workers' rights. Of course, individual rights must be part of collective union rights, but we want to bring home to workers that this issue is also about their problems and their future, not just that of a few trade union leaders and their headquarters' staff.
It was low wages, worsening conditions and job insecurity that helped produce the scale of Labour's victory. If New Labour wants to secure a second term it needs to begin to tackle these problems and this can only be done hand in hand with the trade union movement.
This new campaign for workers' rights needs to be as broad-based as possible to succeed. If your union branch or organisation would like to sponsor the campaign or you need information please write to: Bernard Ryan, c/o Kent Law School, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NS.