Birmingham public rally against the Trade Union Bill

Birmingham public rally against the Trade Union Bill  

Date: 21 September 2015
Embargo: 00.01, 22 September 2015

Workers from across the Midlands will join the public in a rally against the Government’s Trade Union bill at Carrs Lane Church in Birmingham at 7.00pm tonight.

The Trade Union Bill, which started its passage through the House of Commons last week, will enable employers to break strikes by bringing in agency workers to cover for strikers. Such legislation could have significant safety implications, lead to worse public services, and will undermine the right to strike.

And bill proposes huge restrictions on peaceful picketing and protests. Striking workers will have to tell their employer all their plans – including what they will post on Facebook - two weeks before they strike.

TUC polling published last week found that:

• 65 per cent of the public think that employers using temporary workers as cover during strikes will give permanent workers less power to defend their pay and conditions at work.
• 77 per cent of the public think making it compulsory for unions to give two weeks’ notice if they intend to use a loudspeaker or carry a banner during a strike is a “bad use of police time”.
• 72 per cent think forcing unions to submit what they are planning to post on Facebook, Twitter and on blogs during a strike two weeks in advance to the police would be a “bad use of police time”. 
• 60 per cent of the public (and 79 per cent of trade unionists) think making the lead person on a peaceful picket line give their name to their employer will have a negative effect on that person’s career.

Midlands Regional Secretary, Lee Barron, will say:

“The government's Trade Union Bill is the biggest attack in thirty years. Not just against trade unions, but against our best chance of raising productivity, pay and demand. Because here is a simple truth: you can't create wealth without the workforce. And you can't spread that wealth around fairly without trade unions.

“If an employer believed we couldn’t strike, they wouldn’t bother to bargain.  We wouldn’t have safe workplaces, we wouldn’t have paid holidays and we wouldn’t have equal pay.

“Nobody would deny that strikes can be inconvenient. But when it comes to a threat to the fundamental right to strike, the public are with us. Because that's exactly what this government is doing. Attacking the very principle of the right to strike.

• - ENDS-

Notes to editors

- All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,742 adults (of which 163 were members of a Trade Union). Fieldwork was undertaken between 6 and 7 September 2015. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

- Public Rally details

Time:     7.00 pm

Venue: Church Room, Carrs Lane Conference Centre, Carrs Lane, Birmingham, B4 7SX

Speakers:

• Professor Keith Ewing, President of the Institute of Employment Rights
• Candy Udwin, PCS Representative from the National Gallery
• John Rees, People’s Assembly
• Gerard Coyne, Unite Regional Secretary
• Ravi Subramanian, UNISON Regional Secretary
• Kate Hudson, CWU Midlands Regional Secretary
• Lee Barron, TUC Midlands Regional Secretary

Chair: Joe Morgan, GMB Regional Secretary; TUC Midlands Regional Chair

Media enquiries:

-  Lee Barron, Regional Secretary, T: 0121 236 4454 M: 07919102472 E: lbarron@tuc.org.uk
- Rob Johnston, Policy & Campaigns Officer T: 0121 236 4454 E: rjohnston@tuc.org.uk