The attack on workers' rights - a global problem requiring a global response

Keith Ewing, writing on the Guardian blog, takes a wide ranging look at the attack on workers’ rights across the developed economies. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/04/workers-rights-collective-bargaining In an article published to mark the international day of solidarity with Wisconsin public sector workers, Keith says ......

‘as we stand in solidarity with brothers and sisters in Wisconsin, we do so in the knowledge that theirs is not a struggle confined to a single US state. Nor – as the neoliberal strategy of Governor Walker stretches to other states – is it a uniquely US problem. It is a global problem, demanding a global response.'

The unilateral withdrawal from collective bargaining by local government employers since the 2008 pay dispute is mentioned in the article along with the growing use by employers of Section 188 notices to set aside agreed terms and conditions in the face of a redundancy threat.

This is a very useful analysis joining up developments in Europe, the US and Britain - where workers at the receiving end of the Con Dem austerity measures are increasingly aware of the connection between attacks on their employment rights and the drive to cut back public services and the welfare state.

Bob Oram