To: The Prime Minister, David Cameron MP

David Cameron: Don't threaten the right to strike

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Thanks to everyone who signed. We joined with SumOfUs.org to present over 200,000 signatures to David Cameron. The government are looking rattled on the Trade Union Bill - let's keep the pressure up!

The proposals in the trade union bill fundamentally undermine the right to strike in the UK. Withdraw the bill now.

Why is this important?

Daisy works for the Ritzy, a very profitable cinema that wasn’t paying staff enough to live on. As the cost of rent and bills went up but their pay didn’t, Daisy and her workmates couldn’t make ends meet. As their employer refused to listen to their concerns, they decided to take strike action as a last resort. It wasn’t easy, but they succeeded in winning a significant pay rise – making a huge difference to their daily lives.

The trade union bill currently going through Parliament threatens the basic right to strike. It will allow employers to bus in agency temps to break strikes, supposing of course that workers manage to get over major new voting and legal barriers to be allowed to hold a strike in the first place. It will bring in new restrictions on picketing and protests during strikes, and make it harder for unions in the public sector to recruit members and represent people who need them.

The right to strike is a last resort for ordinary workers when employers won’t listen. No-one wants to go on strike – and most disputes are settled long before it gets to that point. But it’s often crucial in bringing employers to the negotiating table. Threatening the right to strike tilts the balance in the workplace too far towards the employers. And that means ordinary workers like Daisy can’t defend their jobs or pay.

In a country where inequality, low pay and insecure employment are rising, the last thing we need is to restrict the rights of ordinary workers like Daisy to stand up for themselves. Please sign this to show your support and put pressure on David Cameron to think again.

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Reasons for signing

  • It is said this bill has not been thought through properly. I suggest it has been fully thought through by people who have no concern for the class that make this country great.
    Keith H. 2016-01-21 06:38:26 +0000
  • Strikes do not happen lightly and do not occur very often, contrary to some sections of the media. We do not want to go back in time, our rights were achieved through Union activism. Your attack on such rights is unjust and many of the electorate want the right to strike. Serve the electorate and not the agenda to undermine workers rights
    Gail N. 2016-02-07 01:53:12 +0000
  • The trade union bill stands against fairness. People don't want to strike. They are forced to strike, you just need to look at the anguish that young doctors feel at the moment with their action – action that has massive public support. Workers want to work it but they also want and need fairness.
    Simon K. 2016-02-11 11:33:12 +0000
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Updates

2016-02-11 11:38:06 +0000

What's next? Well, we’ve seen this week that the campaign against the bill is getting the government worried. They’ve been forced into some smaller concessions already, and lost their first vote on an amendment in the House of Lords. Now a leaked letter on Monday showed they recognise they’ll lose more if they don’t make more concessions.

We need to keep up the pressure. The concessions the letter shows they’re considering are a step, but they’re certainly not enough. This is a bad bill right the way through, and we’re going to oppose it in its entirety.This week is heartunions week – a campaign week to celebrate the great work done by unions and their members in workplaces everywhere, and to highlight the damage the trade union bill would do to our rights, our economy and our society if it goes ahead. There’s lots more you can do to get involved with the week – check out the site at http://heartunions.org

2016-02-11 11:36:57 +0000

Thanks to everyone who signed our petition to Prime Minister David Cameron, showing our opposition the Trade Union Bill.

We teamed up with campaign group SumOfUs.org and together handed in 203,979 supporters’ names to Downing Street yesterday. The TUC’s Frances O’Grady and SumOfUs’ Martin Caldwell were joined by union reps Su Patel (Shopworkers’ union USDAW), Natalie Linder (Midwives’ union RCM) and Melissa Jackson (Physios’ union CSP).

See a quick video from the hand in at: https://goingtowork.org.uk/203979-tell-david-cameron-dont-threaten-the-right-to-strike

The PM has still not agreed to meet with the TUC over this damaging and divisive bill, so it was good to be able to take the message to him so clearly from people right across the country.

2015-12-04 01:50:58 +0000

50,000 signatures reached

2015-11-12 12:31:03 +0000

Thanks to all who helped ask MPs to oppose the trade union bill and protect the right to strike. Tens of thousands emailed, tweeted and shared, contributed to consultations, told your personal stories, and lobbied MPs in person, turning an issue that the media barely reported into a wave that caught the government by surprise, and led to parts of the bill being dropped to head off a backbench revolt.

But ultimately, we couldn’t convince MPs to overturn the bill. Government and opposition lines stayed solid and the government got its bill through the House of Commons at last night’s final reading, with only one minor extra concession.

The campaign is far from over, and we're staying with it into the Lords, where our case may well get a fairer hearing. We still need to keep up the pressure, and not let things go quiet as the government would much prefer.

Find out more about what happened, and what’s next: http://goingtowork.org.uk/trade-union-bill-what-happened-in-the-commons

2015-11-06 17:46:20 +0000

There are only a few days now until the bill gets its final reading in the Commons. Can you contact your MP, and ask them to oppose the bill and vote for amendments that will help protect the right to strike? You can email your MP here: https://secure.goingtowork.org.uk/page/speakout/tubill-3rd-reading

2015-11-05 19:53:43 +0000

20,000 signatures reached

2015-11-02 08:35:21 +0000

50 signatures reached

2015-11-02 08:00:48 +0000

25 signatures reached

2015-11-01 21:48:45 +0000

Watch Daisy and two other workers who've had to use their right to strike tell us why they did, and why it's so important to protect, in this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=110&v=lDwbRtxyAOU

2015-10-27 21:23:55 +0000

10 signatures reached