UK unions demand end to ‘anti-union’ legislation

UK trade unions are calling for a new charter of workers rights to replace what they call ‘anti-union laws’.

The demands come after a report by the UK’s Joint Committee on Human Rights found that British labour laws fell short of some of the rights guaranteed under the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Tomorrow the unions will meet for a rally at which speakers will call for an end to restrictive labour legislation and will ask the Government to replace it with a charter of workers rights.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “For some time now trade unions have been united in the belief that the anti-trade union laws need to be removed from the statute book and replaced with a charter of workers’ rights.

“This joint committee now agrees that our strike laws are too restrictive and is urging the Government to take notice of the criticisms made by international bodies and to review existing UK laws in light of those criticisms,” he said.