It should come as no surprise to people that the Labour party was born from the Trade Union movement, that’s the reason the Labour party came into existence. People today often assume that they can look after their own working environment and take the required action to resolve any disputes or misunderstandings between themselves and their employer. But going back a few centuries and following the abolition of slavery the common British worker became the new workhouse slaves as the mighty industrial revolution unfolded. The British Empire emerged and great wealth for some was created but this was at a cost as the largely rural population moved into the new industrial towns to look for work.
The birth of the Trade Union movement stems from the Tolpuddle Martyrs, at the turn of the 19th life as an English farm worker in the 1830s was dismal. Rent and a basic diet of tea, bread and potatoes would cost a typical family 13 shillings a week. But exploitative landowners paid their workers as little as 9, 8, even 7 shillings a week. But when, in 1834, labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset met to form a 'Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers’ and demanded 10 shillings a week. However a local landowner reported them, and under an obscure 1797 law they were arrested and transported to Australia.
Now the current Prime Minster plans to re-negotiate the UK’s relationship with the EU in our interest, but the truth is that he will want a deal that will go against the interests of ordinary working people. Mr Cameron himself has said, “I do not believe it is appropriate for social and employment legislation to be dealt with at the European level. It will be a top priority for the next Conservative government to restore social and employment legislation to national control.” The Tory vision for the future of Europe sounds like turning the clock back to the days before working people had their basic rights guaranteed. Some of the hundreds of rights at work that have been negotiated between European governments, and are guaranteed by European Law that could be at risk if David Cameron gets his way include:
- Four weeks paid leave
- Rights for mothers (not to be sacked for being pregnant, paid time off for ante-natal appointments)
- Equal treatment for workers employed through an agency
- Tea and lunch breaks during the working day
- The right to a day off every weekend.
All the Liberal Democrats like Vince Cable, Danny Alexander and Yeovil's David Laws as Liberal should be ashamed of the company they have been keeping. How can a true liberal party seek to crack down on basic human rights? The long battle over the rights of employees is centuries old and littered with deaths from the Tolpuddle deportation, starvation, illness and dangerous working environments.
Trade Unions have been campaigning for improved protections for UK workers who are currently the easiest and cheapest to sack in the whole of the EU. The Labour party has been too timid to openly support the people that paid to set up the party in the first place and these same people are still continuing to support the Labour party financially. No one wants a series of wild cat strikes and a rerun to industrial warfare of the 70’s, but neither do people want the eradication of the basic employee rights.
At the dawn of what was hoped would be a new age at the end of World War Two with the birth of the NHS, most European countries included trade union involvement in all industrial matters with boardroom representation, but in the UK the then Federation of British Industry (FBI); now renamed and rebranded as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) wanted no role formally from the trade union movement. The Labour party was the only way forward for workers to be included in the process, unlike our EU partners and this still remains so today.
These changes will affect all workers today and our children and grandchildren tomorrow and into the future. With all the hard won advances in the working environment starting to evaporate as uncertainty and insecurity become the norm in the workplace.
