The creeping attack on the right to strike in public services

A defining feature of successive Thatcher led governments during the 1980's was their systematic attacks on trade union rights. Now the TUC is raising the alarm about a new round of anti union legislation starting with the Crime & Courts Bill which will remove the right to strike from 3000 civil servants working for the National Crime Agency:

On cue, this week Tories on the Greater London Assembly launched a report calling for strikes to be outlawed on London Underground and replaced with a compulsory dispute resolution process. This proposed attack on workers’ rights was predictably backed by the right wing Evening Standard.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow spoke for all trade unionists in his response to the Thatcherite proposals: “This crowd have obviously over-dosed on their post-Thatcher adulation and are looking to ramp-up the anti-union rhetoric in advance of the publicly financed funeral on Wednesday. Of course, banning the fundamental human right to withdraw your labour, a right that distinguishes a free workforce from forced labour, is all the rage on the far right and anyone stupid enough to try and embark on such a policy is doomed to failure as Boris Johnson found out.”