A government which claims the right to kill its own citizens with no judicial process on the basis of the vote of 24.4% of the qualified electorate, legislates that workers cannot strike without the support of 40% of their qualified electorate because strikes can inconvenience people. Not as inconvenient as being sliced to pulp by flying metal, I should have thought.
David Davis, a decent Tory, said that some of the provisions of the Trade Union bill are Francoist, and he was not exaggerating. You can read the dispassionate official analysis of the bill by Parliament staff here. One of least publicised yet appalling aspects of the bill is the arbitrary power given to an anti-strike witchfinder, the Certification Officer. He is specifically given the powers of the High Court to compel individuals to give evidence or produce documents, and to make arbitrary judgements.
That extreme authoritarian stance is reflected throughout the bill. It is more publicised that notice must be given of picketing, with names reported to the police and identifying armbands worn, with letters of authority from the union to be there which the Bill states must be produced not only to the Police but to anybody who asks on request. This gives employers a whole new avenue of harassment of strikers.
The provision that 14 days notice must be given of any strike is obviously designed to reduce the effectiveness of strike action. The right to bring in agency staff to replace agency workers is not in the Bill, but the parliamentary staff analysis indicates it is intended to bring that in under secondary legislation – power delegated to the Secretary of State. That obviously is designed to combine with the 14 day notice to make strikes ineffective. The regulation of what individuals say about the industrial dispute on social media is so repressive as to verge on the incredible.
It is obvious the Tory government serve the agenda of corporatism, pure and simple. But it is perhaps surprising they are so entirely open about it. If you do not have the chance to withdraw your Labour, you are a slave. In the days of real slavery in Jamaica, foremen or gangmasters were generally slaves themselves (as opposed to the southern United States where they were generally poor whites). Very often the black gangmasters were extremely brutal to the slaves under them, imparting floggings with gusto to try to cement themselves in the favour of their white masters.
That is the function that token Muslim Sajid Javid plays in this Conservative government, flogging the workers with more gusto than his Old Etonian masters would dare to do. Plus they wouldn’t want to get blood on their trousers. Javid is a most enthusiastic Uncle Tom determined to tick all the establishment boxes. He certified the Trade Union Bill as compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, when it is plainly in contravention of Article 11. But his most spectacular effort to fit in with his Tory masters came at the Conservative Friends of Israel where ignoring completely the terrible suffering, humiliation and repression of the Palestinian people, he declared
“Mr Javid, who described himself as a “proud British-born Muslim”, announced that if he had to leave Britain to live in the Middle East, then he would choose Israel as home. Only there, he said, would his children feel the “warm embrace of freedom and liberty”. For him, only Israel shared the democratic values of the UK.”
Sajid Javid promotes measures rightly called Francoist because he is a person it is perfectly reasonable to call a fascist.
Sajid Javid Hankers After “Israel’s Warm Embrace”
“Why not electronic voting instead of the archaic traipsing out and back?”
Members might get to exercise their own discretion. The whips can – and do – physically shove waverers through one lobby or the other. They like it that way, and there’s approximately zero chance it will ever change.
Speaking of racism, the Charlie Hebdo crowd are back to their old tricks.
Outright provocation.
Charlie Hebdo Causes Outrage with Drowned Toddler Cartoon
Copies of Charlie Hebdo are sold at a newspaper stand in Paris. | Photo: AFP
15 September 2015
The French satirical publication could face legal action for inciting hate crimes.
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Charlie-Hebdo-Causes-Outrage-with-Drowned-Toddler-Cartoon-20150915-0002.html
Mary
“You are a twister as well as a racist, Anon 1.
I said ‘A traitor on many fronts including his working class origins.’
His father was a bus driver or did you not know.”
________________________________
And you call me a twister!
You wrote: “Javid is a traitor to his country. to his Muslim heritage and to his Palestinian brothers and sisters.
9 April, 2014 – 9:54 pm
“His father was a bus driver or did you not know.”
Yes I did, but what does it have to do with anything? He is entitled to his views whether he is a Muslim, bus driver’s son or anything else you think ought to make him conform with your rules for how such a person ought to think.
This is an evil law, as if we have not got enough. You have to fight evil by any means possible and when the law does not meet the needs of the electorate then the electorate, with or without their trade unions, should take action appropriate with their needs. Otherwise we go back to the bad old Dickensian days and later with a big pool of unemployed, doffing their flat caps begging for work. The Tories love grovellers and sycophants.
Striking is not the only tool of leverage in the hands of workers. There are tools like work-to-rule (in which employees still get paid despite taking action). If strike action is necessary it should perhaps be in the form of wildcat strikes. In the sixties we would never have let the Tories get away with something like that. Sometimes it is necessary to make the action fit the grievance. My father was a shop-steward for thirteen years. When his government factory was closed the workers were offered work at other factories. This meant in his case, and all other workers prepared to up sticks at his factory, travelling nearly 90 miles there and 90 miles back each weekend.
There was an obligation on the government to find housing for the families. Some were found houses but the majority were not. This dragged on and the superintendent, a man called Watkinson, actually said to my dad “I think we can find you and your family a house Mr Goss.” My dad told him in no uncertain terms that he could find us a house when he had found all those above him on the list houses. The action the shop-stewards committee took was to go in late on a Monday morning by the amount of travelling time from one destination to another, about four hours.
In the end we found our own premises, shop premises, and my mother started a business. It was uncommon in those days for women in the West Riding to work, or at least it was traditionally uncommon though changing fast, but in Lancashire where the cotton mill industries were located they had had more than a century of women working. Men and women of this country should oppose this act. A national strike is what is called for. That should rattle a few cages, even mentioning it on this blog.
So you keep a file too Anon1. So what if I said that 17 months ago.
You misrepresented me about what I said here today.
Giyane at 5.26 pm. Spot on. If Labour get to power it could well precipitate the pending crash if the BRICS bank, or war, does not bring it about first.
The thing that goes unnoticed as well as the disproportional representation of votes to elected MPs is what I have often said. The electoral college has seen all these Labour career politicians on the candidate list when in fact constituencies should elect their own MPs. The electoral college, centrally picked candidates forced on constituencies by a leadership looking for Yes-people to push through government policy however detrimental. What the recent groundswell has shown, both in the Scottish Nationalist Party in wiping out these Labour creeps, and in the Labour leadership election is that the Labour Party has been totally out of touch with its members’ desires. The first thing Labour should do now, and it does not need an election to do it, is changing the way parliamentary candidates are selected.
He’s really pissing off the media now, is Corby.
Giving them soundbites from speeches, which don’t appear in the actual speech – SKY and Telegraph.
Ignoring their stupid “questions” – SKY
They think he’s making mistakes.
No.
He’s just treating these superficial windbags with the complete and utter contempt they deserve.
By-passing them.
Policy, policy, policy and policy again. These media clowns today have had an easy ride for a long long time.
Most of them can’t hack it at anything more than personality and soap opera politics.
Corporate interests might be well advised to sack these over-promoted inadequates and employ more policy wonks.
If they care for their interests, that is.
“There isn’t going to be another referendum any time in Jeremy Corbyn’s life time”
_______________
Says who?
*************
“Meanwhile I see Edinburgh University has dropped four places in the rankings, Glasgow dropped seven.”
________________
The University of St Andrews has climbed 20 places in a table ranking campuses across the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-34252585
Aye Fred keep them coming….touche.
“It might not be perfect but any rational person would rather live in Israel than any other country in the region.”
______________
This is satire right…..is this the guest poster Laura having a laugh…nice one.
Which one would you rather live in RoS? I mean the rational choice.
Anon1
5:46 pm
“It [Israel] might not be perfect”
Careful now – that’s approaching anti-semitic!
“Speaking of racism, the Charlie Hebdo crowd are back to their old tricks.
Outright provocation.
Charlie Hebdo Causes Outrage with Drowned Toddler Cartoon”
__________________
Thanks for the link Mary….Cue another falseflag attack on Hebdo offices, and more Mr Bean Muslim terrorist leaving their ID’s in getaway cars.
Will they fool the public again.
This clown can’t even remember the adage, how the hell did he ever become president.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KjmjqlOPd6A
“Which one would you rather live in RoS? I mean the rational choice.”
________________
You gotta love this guy, it’s a bit like asking, in which country would you rather live in bordering Germany during WWII.
Lysias
5:48 pm
“The year 1935 brought more concerted attacks on the rights of German workers. These measures were condoned, and in some cases actually initiated by the DAF.”
For the benefit of those (including myself) who are less knowledgable than Lysias…
DAF stands for “Deutsche Arbeitsfront” or German Labour Front, the state-run amalgamated trade union organization of Nazi Germany. [Wikipedia]
Most of the Tories on the front bench are stooges. I don’t think Javid should be singled out for vitriol because he is a Muslim.
Mary
5:50 pm
“Why not electronic voting instead of the archaic traipsing out and back?”
I can think of one very good reason…
Bush v Gore election – Diebold scandal.
RoS: “You gotta love this guy, it’s a bit like asking, in which country would you rather live in bordering Germany during WWII.”
Ha! Then again, why would a Muslim possibly want to live in Israel, an apartheid state, where he’ll be treated as a third class citizen at best, and definitely be regarded as not quite as human as the rest of God’s chosen race of superior beings?
“You gotta love this guy, it’s a bit like asking, in which country would you rather live in bordering Germany during WWII.”
Your Holocaust denial would be welcome in any number of countries in the region but again, I am asking for a rational choice, not one based on your existing prejudice against Jews, though I understand that might make life better for you outside Israel.
I see Malcolm Turnbull, the new Aussie PM, was a lawyer who successfully defended MI5 assistant director Peter Wright, in the “Spycatcher” case in 1986.
According to the press the British government banned Wright’s book, it was then first published in Australia.
Unfortunately, article 11 may not be violated by this legislation because part two of that article provides such broad-ranging caveats as to make it possible to interpret those caveats as enabling this legislation. However, Article 17 be be a different matter:
Article 17 – Prohibition of abuse of rights
Nothing in this Convention may be interpreted as implying for any State,
group or person any right to engage in any activity or perform any act
aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein
or at their limitation
Article 17 has no qualifying caveats; and therefore may prohibit the limitations of union activity in the legislation. The obvious key here is for a union, or perhaps the TUC, to take the matter to the Supreme Court (expecting no succour) and then to the European Court of Human Rights.
Bert.
“Then again, why would a Muslim possibly want to live in Israel, an apartheid state”
It’s not an apartheid state you silly idiot. Had you actually been there you would see for yourself that Muslims are very well assimilated.
If the Murrayistas are going to attack Javid (because he is a Muslim and therefore they know how he should think), they must nominate a better country in the region to live in.
“Ha! Then again, why would a Muslim possibly want to live in Israel, an apartheid state, where he’ll be treated as a third class citizen at best, and definitely be regarded as not quite as human as the rest of God’s chosen race of superior beings?”
_________________
Got it in one.
Glenn I’m pretty disappointed in you, for doing Habbs gopher work, in backtracking other folks comments, especially Mary’s so Habb can use them against her in one fashion or another.
If I’m totally mistaken then fair enough tell me to STFU, and I’ll accept it.
Anon –
“Had you actually been there you would see for yourself that Muslims are very well assimilated.”
Is that “assimilated” as in the Borg?
Re Apartheid, I have spent a lot of time in India and would say that the caste system there is much closer to South African apartheid than anything you will see in Israel. But sadly our *human* rights activists here have no interest in that. Just Israel.
And when the electoral college has been removed Corbyn should set his team to work on proportional representation, the new boundaries. For example, there are six constituencies in Cornwall (all Tory). One would be quite adequate, if not overgenerous. After all these constituencies are really nothing more than councils and can be run by town councillors. One MP is enough for Cornwall. Reducing the number of seats in parliament would be a big bonus and save the taxpayer a lot of money.
Any other suggestions for boundary changes most welcome.
“Careful now – that’s approaching anti-semitic!”
Antisemitosis lite?
Mary I too find myself repulsed by the way that corporations alongside the warfare state have hijacked rememberance for the purpose of cheap marketing.
Last November 11th I was forced to observe a minutes silence at the checkout in Lidl (of all places).
Rememberance these days is all about being seen to wear a poppy and ostentatious displays of crocodile tears.
Far more useful to making sure it never happens again is to skip the holiday in one’s Tuscan villa and spend some time touring the battlefields and cemeteries of the Western front.
Ishmael
7:18 pm
“JC … he’s just riding the wave”
I disagree. I think he is MAKING waves.
I don’t like you when you’ve been drinking.