Strikes before ballots?

As Ed Miliband read out a list of concessions to Thatcherism during his leader’s speech, he referred to the outlawing of the closed shop and "strikes before ballots”, no doubt intending to signal support for the legal straightjacket in which successive Tory governments placed UK unions (which was accepted by Labour when in power).

It is a shame that in a radical speech, which challenged the neo-liberal economic legacy of both Thatcher-era Conservatism and New Labour, Miliband was unable to acknowledge the need to restore individual and collective employment rights sacrificed on the altar of the market.

In stark contrast, a new pamphlet, ‘Days of Action’, by Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC begins to challenge the orthodox view that a Day of Action, or political strikes, taking place on a weekday, would be unlawful. http://tinyurl.com/65v6c74