TUC general secretary PAUL NOWAK speaks to the Morning Star’s Berny Torre about the increasing frustration the trade union movement feels at a government that promised change, but has been too slow to bring it about

THE response of the Tory government (whoever leads it) to the cost-of-living catastrophe facing the working class is not to control prices, tax the profiteering energy companies, or take steps to increase incomes.
No. Instead, it published last Friday the Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. This will impose yet further restrictions on the capacity of workers to protect their wages by taking strike action where persuasion fails.
The new law is likely to be followed by legislation requiring a union to ballot its members on strike on every offer made by the employer in the course of negotiations.

The Bill addresses some exploitation but leaves trade unions heavily regulated, most workers without collective bargaining coverage, and fails to tackle the balance of power that enables constant mutation of bad practice, write KEITH EWING and LORD JOHN HENDY KC


