The Queen's Speech is used by the government to set out the laws it hopes to get approved by Parliament in the year ahead. Among the many proposals in this year’s speech are plans to toughen up trade union strike laws. Reforming strike laws is called a government priority. Among the envisaged changes of the strike rules are a 50% turnout threshold for ballots on industrial action, the removal of restrictions on using temporary workers to cover for striking staff and the prevention of intimidation of non-striking workers. Observers have noted that the draft legislation, unveiled in the Queen’s speech, could make strikes significantly harder to organise.
English: http://www.bbc.com/news/business …
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.