SOLOMON HUGHES recommends Sunjeev Sahota’s recent novel set in a trade union election campaign for its fresh approach to what unites and divides workers, but wishes the union backdrop was truer to life
IN an earlier article on the Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill recently introduced by the government, we drew attention to the bizarre proposal that employers and trade unions should negotiate minimum service agreements.
The duty is to apply even where a trade union is not recognised by the employer for collective bargaining. Failure to reach an agreement will lead to the Central Arbitration Committee being summoned to do the government’s bidding by making a minimum service determination.
In this article, we examine another aspect of the Bill, together with the government’s claim that the legislation can be justified by reference to practice in other countries — specifically France and Spain — where it is said minimum service requirements already exist.
The unions are unhappy with the Employment Rights Act 2025 and with good reason. KEITH EWING and Lord JOHN HENDY KC take a close look at why the Bill promised more than it delivered
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
It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR



