DOCSLIB.ORG

GMB – BRITAIN's GENERAL UNION PROCEEDINGS at the ANNUAL

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
GMB – BRITAIN's GENERAL UNION PROCEEDINGS at the ANNUAL GMB – BRITAIN’S GENERAL UNION PROCEEDINGS at the ANNUAL CONGRESS The Brighton Centre, Brighton on Sunday, 3rd June 2007 – Thursday, 7th June 2007 SECOND DAY Monday, 4th June 2007. SECOND DAY’S PROCEEDINGS MONDAY, 12TH JUNE 2007 MORNING SESSION Congress assembled at 9.30 a.m. THE PRESIDENT: Will Congress please come to order, that includes Regional Secretaries at the back talking. Colleagues, I remind you that the fire and safety precautions and evacuation procedures are in your wallet and when you see me running we will all go together. I remind delegates that today’s session, and tomorrow and Wednesday morning, is being transmitted on TV. That means your speech will be transmitted live over the internet so all those swear words you have put in, please take them out. Remember to state your name and region quite clearly. Please make sure your mobile phones are off. Where is Charlie from GMB Scotland? I heard yours going yesterday even though it was supposed to be silent. Is he in? THE PRESIDENT: Colleagues, we have a Standing Order Committee Report No. 2 and I call on Gerry Ferguson to present it. Gerry. STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE REPORT NO. 2 BRO. G. FERGUSON (Chair, Standing Orders Committee): Withdrawn Motions – the SOC has been informed that the following motions have been withdrawn. Motion 139: Single Status – Attack on National Terms and Conditions, standing in the name of South Western Region withdrawn in favour of Motion 141. Motion 170: The Replacement of Trident, standing in the name of Yorkshire & North Derbyshire Region. Motion 207: Criminal Offence, standing in the name of the Midland & East Coast Region has been withdrawn. I will repeat, the following Motions have been withdrawn – Motion 139, 170 and 207. Emergency Motions: The SOC has ruled that the following three additional Emergency Motions are in order for debate. Emergency Motion 2 – Remploy, standing in the name of GMB Scotland. Emergency Motion 3 – Hilton Hotels, Barclays Bank – Extra-Territorial Legislation Discrimination Against Cuban Customers, standing in the name of London Region, and I am not repeating that one. Emergency Motion 4 – NHS, standing in the name of North Western Region. Copies of the Emergency Motions will be distributed to delegates following the SOC Report No. 2. Bucket collections: the SOC has agreed to authorise a request from London Region for a bucket collection for the Jimmy Knapp Cancer Fund. I recommend that this takes place at the close of the Monday morning session of Congress today. The Grunwick Dispute. The SOC Committee has agreed to a request from the London Region to allow Chris Thomas access to Congress on Tuesday morning in order to film the presentation of the award to Mrs. Desai. Chris is working for Brent District Council in making a film to commemorate the Grunwick Dispute. President, Congress, I move adoption of SOC Report No. 2. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Gerry. Any delegates wish to come and speak on the Standing Orders? (No response) No. Do you all accept? (Agreed) Thank you. Thank you, Gerry, very much indeed. Congress, I just have a couple of announcements to make. One is to thank the regions for their social last night, which was absolutely fantastic. I am going to say thanks, first of all, to the North West & Irish Region, our first and last, last night; to London Region, my region; to Yorkshire; and Midland & East Coast; and of course the host was South Western Region, it was a brilliant night; and to Northern Region, where we went last night. You will be pleased your General Secretary became the cabaret; he was extremely good. (Laughter) He does remember, do not worry about that. This morning, colleagues, as you know, we are going to deal with Colombia. We will have a short movie and the platform will go down so that we can watch it. Could I say that, and this is a note from the Colombian stall, if there is one thing you can do to support the brothers and sisters in Colombia it is to visit the Justice for Colombia stall. You can join as an individual member and make sure your branch is affiliated too. The GMB is 100% behind the campaign. They are selling some lovely little badges as a reminder. Please visit the stalls out there. Thank you. I drew a raffle yesterday afternoon for the Thorne Credit Union. It was a whisky draw and if I had known that he would not be getting it. The winner was Kevin Flanagan. Kevin, well done. I hope you have picked up your prize. A SPEAKER FROM THE FLOOR: Point of order: Recount! THE PRESIDENT: You might have won it but it does not mean to say you are going to get the bottle! Now, colleagues, we will watch the DVD and we are going to leave the platform. DVD played to Congress. THE PRESIDENT: Colleagues, that is the high price our brothers and sisters pay in other parts of the world, in particular in Colombia, for wanting just the right to belong to a trade union. I think it is an extremely sad reflection of our society today and it is time that countries like ours stopped funding the paramilitary; guns are bought with aid that we send. We have raised this with the Government on several occasions so please, please, go and support Justice for Colombia. Our guest is here. We say we stand with you, we stand shoulder to shoulder with you in your fight for justice for the Colombian brothers and sisters. Thank you, Congress. (Applause) REGIONAL SECRETARY’S REPORT: LONDON REGION (pages 109-117) LONDON REGION 1 MEMBERSHIP & RECRUITMENT Financial Membership 87,767 Section Financial Membership (by each Section): COMMERCIAL SERVICES SECTION 32,734 MANUFACTURING SECTION 9,534 PUBLIC SERVICES SECTION 45,497 Grade 1 members 57,236 Grade 2 members 22,348 Retired, Reduced Rate and others 8,183 Male Membership 43,532 Female Membership 44,235 Total number recruited 1.1.2006 - 31.12.2006 16,321 Increase/Decrease 1.1.2006 - 31.12.2006 +4,139 Membership on Check-off 54,526 Membership on Direct Debit 26,497 Over the last year the GMB London Region has striven to ensure that our levels of recruitment and organization activity has been strong. Our membership has risen by 4,138 members since January 2006. This we have achieved by focusing on four specific sectors Public Services (in particular schools), Aviation (with a particularly strong emphasis on both Airlines, Aircraft Handling Agents, and Aircraft Cleaning Companies), Security Companies (particularly G4S), and a new target of the NHS, where we have made particular strides in recruiting Medical Secretaries. In each of these sectors the region has achieved substantial membership growth. Whilst the London Region has achieved substantial membership growth through organisation and recruitment during 2006 we have also continued to see a series of major closures. Manufacturing plants linked to the motor industry and shipbuilding have continued to close with a disastrous month in August seeing over 1000 GMB London Region members’ jobs lost. It is only because of our Officers, Staff and Lay Activists magnificent recruitment efforts that we have been able to grow our region. This has been achieved by moving into the service sector and the public sector to compensate for losses in manufacturing employment which continues to collapse at an ever more rapid rate. 2 GENERAL ORGANISATION Regional Senior Organisers 3 Membership Development Officers 3 Regional Organisers 17 Organising Officers 8 No. of Branches 129 New Branches 2 Branch Equality Officers 28 Branch Youth Officers 8 3 BENEFITS Dispute 13,230.00 Total Disablement NIL Working Accident 3,796.30 Occupational Fatal Accident 1,066.00 Non-occupational Fatal Accident Funeral 12,572.00 4 JOURNALS & PUBLICITY Press The GMB London Region’s Press Officer continues to spend part of her time on secondment to GMB National Office Communications Department. Within the London Region the Press Office has assisted the GMB London Region in a large number of disputes and campaigns. The Press Office has been heavily involved in the Local Government Pensions Dispute. They have also assisted in the campaign to link state pensions to earnings; the campaign for recognition in ASDA; efforts made by the region to bring to the publics’ attention the behaviour of Ryanair. The Press Department has also played a major role in publicising the evil activities of the BNP in East London. They have also played a major part in highlighting the industrial relations problems at Wembley Stadium, Terminal 5, in British Gas, at CT Plus in Waltham Forest and in British Airways. The department have also publicised the union’s successes in employment tribunals and in our vigorous campaign to cut the number of assaults on Security and Airline workers and the ever growing number of successful employment tribunals that we have won for our members. Campaigns to support our members at Stansted Airport, in Cleanaway at Kings Lynn, in the Remploy Factories and in our ongoing demand for the renationalisation of the water and gas industry have also been supported by the Press Department. Campaigns The Press Department has assisted officers with the recognition campaign at The American Dry Cleaning Company and the health and safety, and recognition campaign at long time target Bakkavor (Katsouris) in Colindale. Two, long running, GMB London Region campaigns achieved success in 2006. Parliament decided on a total smoking ban for all indoor workplaces. The GMB has been campaigning for this since the GMB London Region Casinos Branch motion calling for a total ban became GMB policy at GMB Congress 2001.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ED389242.Pdf
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 389 242 HE 028 760 AUTHOR Saunders, Bob TITLE The Effects of Employment Legislation on Collective Bargaining. Mendip Papers MP-038. INSTITUTION Staff Coll., Bristol (England). PUB DATE 92 NOTE 18p. AVAILABLE FROM The Staff College, Coombe Lodge, Blagdon, Bristol BS18 6RG United Kingdom (3 British pounds). PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.)(120) EDRS PRICE .F01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Collective Bargaining; Employment; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; *Labor Legislation; Labor Relations; Political Influences; Political Issues; Political Power; Unions IDENTIFIERS *United Kingdom ABSTRACT Employment legislation in the United Kingdom from before 1970 to the 1990s has changed and with it collective bargaining in higher education. Industrial relations before 1970 were treated as a voluntary activity virtually unregulated by law. Then the Remuneration of Teachers Act 1965 set up the Burnham Committees, which until 1987 were the forum for salary negotiations and associated matters. In the 1960s and 1970s the normal pattern of collective b&rgaining was that unions made demands and management resisted, trying to minimize the concession they needed to make. The Donovan Commission and the resulting Donovan Report (1968) led to a great deal of legislation between 1970 and 1978 aimed at encouraging better regulated collective bargaining at workplace level. Legislation from 1979 onwards was aimed at regulating the power of the trade unions and bringing about a shift in the balance of power between unions and employers. As a consequence employers are now likelier to take a tough line in their handling of disputes and resulting defeat for the unions.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Power of Nuisance Law: Labor Picketing and the Courts In
    Fordham Law School FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History Faculty Scholarship 1998 Political Power of Nuisance Law: Labor Picketing and the Courts in Modern England, 1871-Present, The Rachel Vorspan Fordham University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, and the Labor and Employment Law Commons Recommended Citation Rachel Vorspan, Political Power of Nuisance Law: Labor Picketing and the Courts in Modern England, 1871-Present, The , 46 Buff. L. Rev. 593 (1998) Available at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/344 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The orF dham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of FLASH: The orF dham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BUFFALO LAW REVIEW VOLUME 46 FALL 1998 NUMBER 3 The Political Power of Nuisance Law: Labor Picketing and the Courts in Modern England, 1871-Present RACHEL VORSPANt INTRODUCTION After decades of decline, the labor movements in America and England are enjoying a resurgence. Unions in the United States are experiencing greater vitality and political visibility,' and in 1997 a Labour government took power in England for the first time in eighteen years.! This t Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University. A.B., 1967, University of California, Berkeley; M.A., 1968, Ph.D., 1975, Columbia University (English History); J.D., 1979, Harvard Law School.
    [Show full text]
  • General Secretary's Report
    GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT ANNUAL CONGRESS 2008 PLYMOUTH PAVILIONS CONGRESS - SUNDAY 8 JUNE 9.30 am - 12.30 pm, 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm CONGRESS - MONDAY 9 JUNE 9.30 am - 12.30 pm, 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm SECTION CONFERENCES – TUESDAY 10 JUNE 9.30 am - 12.30 pm, 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm SECTION CONFERENCES – WEDNESDAY 11 JUNE 9.30 am - 12.30 pm CONGRESS – WEDNESDAY 11 JUNE 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm CONGRESS – THURSDAY 12 JUNE 9.30 am - 12.30 pm, 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm CONTENTS General Secretary’s Introduction ……………………………………………………………….………..… 3 A Framework for the Future of the GMB: Update …………………………………………………..……. 5 National Organising Department Report ………………………………………………………………... 8 Communications Department ………………………………………….…………………………………… 9 Executive Policy ………………………………………………………………………………………….….. 13 Report on Motions & CEC Special Reports & Statements Carried by the 2007 Congress ….. 17 Report on Motions Referred to the CEC by the 2007 Congress ……………………................. 24 European Office …………………………………………………………………………………………….… 27 International Solidarity Report …………………...…………………………………………………………. 31 Health & Environment Department ……………………………………………………………………….... 35 Legal Department ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 38 Pensions Department ………………………………………………………………………………….……. 41 Political Department …………………………………………………………………………………………. 44 Appointment & Election of Officials ………………………………………………………………….......... 51 Gold Badge and Youth Awards 2007 …………………………………………………..……………..….. 52 Deputy General Secretary’s Report ………………………………………………………………………. 52 SECTION REPORTS: COMMERCIAL SERVICES
    [Show full text]
  • Chapters the Politics of the Strike
    Durham E-Theses The 1984/85 Miners strike in East Durham, A study in contemporary history. Atkin, Michael How to cite: Atkin, Michael (2001) The 1984/85 Miners strike in East Durham, A study in contemporary history., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2015/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 THE 1984/85 MINERS' STRIKE IN EAST DURHAM, A STUDY IN CONTEMPORARY IDSTORY BY MICHAEL ATKIN The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published in any form, including Electronic and the Internet, without the author's prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. MAY 2001. 2 2 MAR 2002 CONTENTS Page PREFACE 1 INTRODUCTION
    [Show full text]
  • The Policing of Protest, Disorder and International Terrorism in the UK Since 1945, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-29059-5 392 INDEX
    INDEX A Austerity measures, 60, 72, 117, 145, ‘ABC’ trial, 324 193, 354, 356 Adapting to Protest 2009, 331–332 Agents provocateurs, 40 Alderson, John, 193, 224, 323 B al-Qaeda, 238, 240, 243–244, 248, Baton rounds, 221, 313 251, 252, 259, 265, 266, 270, ‘Battle of the Bogside’ 1969, 252 284–285, 359–361, 384 Black bloc tactics, 67–68, 370 Amnesty International, 134, Blacking, 154, 159, 165 253, 279, 291 Blacklisting, 170, 171 Angry Brigade, 240, 242, Blockades, 47, 88, 89, 102, 250, 289 108–109, 113, 125, 329 Anomie, 192–193 ‘Bloody Sunday’ 1972, 252, 254 Anti-capitalist movement, 16, 99, Bomb Squad, 289 353, 356 Breach of the peace, 126, Anti-fracking, 32 167, 172, 215 Anti-globalisation movement, Brexit, 361 353, 354 Bugging, 39, 43 Apartheid anti-apartheid movement, 35, 60 Association of Chief Police Officers C (ACPO) Cabinet Office Briefing Room Manual of Guidance on Keeping the (COBRA or COBR), 47, 259 Peace, 1983, 222 Campaign groups, 15, 118 Public Order Manual of Tactical Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Operations and Related (CND), 14, 35, 40, 43, 54, 55, Matters, 2007, 28, 174, 314, 315 62, 104, 308 Attenuating energy projectiles, Channel, 1, 57, 201, 278, 221, 223 280, 283, 294 © The Author(s) 2016 391 P. Joyce, The Policing of Protest, Disorder and International Terrorism in the UK since 1945, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-29059-5 392 INDEX Chicago School of Human Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Ecology, 195 Unit, 280 Child poverty, 217–219 Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, 384 Citizen journalists, 69, 330 Counter Terrorism Units,
    [Show full text]
  • Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
    Monday Volume 599 14 September 2015 No. 43 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Monday 14 September 2015 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2015 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 739 14 SEPTEMBER 2015 740 a Secretary of State to determine them. It is very good House of Commons that the authorities across the west midlands are coming together and working so well. Monday 14 September 2015 Mrs Maria Miller (Basingstoke) (Con): The great county of Hampshire has submitted a compelling bid The House met at half-past Two o’clock for devolution. Does the Secretary of State agree that further devolution could be pivotal in unlocking further PRAYERS economic potential in the southern powerhouse as well as the northern powerhouse? [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] Greg Clark: I do agree. “Powerhouse” is an apt description, because the economy of the south and the Oral Answers to Questions part of Hampshire that my right hon. Friend represents is really firing on all cylinders. I remember launching the growth deal there, where the new centre for 5G COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT technology is up and running, creating many thousands of jobs. The Secretary of State was asked— Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab): When the Minister brags about devolution proposals for local government, Devolution Deal why does he not do the decent thing and say to local 1. Peter Heaton-Jones (North Devon) (Con): What government that the coalition Government and this one support his Department is providing to areas seeking a have taken up to 40% off local authorities? Pay that devolution deal.
    [Show full text]
  • Summary and Transcript of Interview of Mary Davis by Chris Thomas, 2007 (803/18)
    Summary and transcript of interview of Mary Davis by Chris Thomas, 2007 (803/18) Approximate timings given in minutes and seconds in various places. Summary Subjects include (transcript paragraph numbers given in brackets): serious foot injuries sustained by Davis during attack on her on picket line by members of police Special Patrol Group (8); negative reaction to her appearance at subsequent press conference organised by TUC (8); unsupportive attitude of Labour government to the strike and to trade unionism generally (12, 18, 60); right-wing groups supporting George Ward, owner of Grunwick (13-17, 19); underestimate by government of level of support for strikers (22, 46); significance of support given to Asian women by labour movement (22, 60); blacking of Grunwick mail by Cricklewood postal workers and lack of support from their own union (23-34, 42); role of the TUC (36-42, 46, 55); conservatism of APEX and its general secretary Roy Grantham and the way in which the dispute forced them to be more progressive (44-46); lack of unified sense of purpose in labour movement (48, 54); role of the media and its relationship to government (50-52, 60, 63); concern of Labour government and TUC to preserve Social Contract and (54); George Ward’s disregard for conciliatory procedures (58); reactions to rise in trade union membership to a peak in 1979 (60). Transcript 1. CT: Right [?might as well] start at the beginning. I mean, what was your trade union, what trade union activity were you involved with at the time of the Grunwick dispute? 2.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Wake of Grunwick Andy Forbes
    386 MARXISM TODAY, DECEMBER, 1978 In the Wake of Grunwick Andy Forbes (Grunwick has been one of the most important industrial struggles during the period of Labour Government. This month sees the publication of Grunwick: the Workers' Story by Jack Dromey and Graham Taylor. In this article the author looks at some of the questions thrown up by the Grunwick dispute.) "Through us the public can see the true attitudes of This article attempts three things. First, a political the government, the TUC, the courts and the police. characterisation of those groupings involved in the We have found reality. It is a good experience— strike—what were their aims, their motives, their don't you think so? We have gained many things. political situations? Secondly, an examination of how If there is a defeat it is not our defeat, it is the defeat of the TUC and the Labour Government. We the law mediated between their arguments. Thirdly, I are fighting for basic rights". venture to suggest perspectives for a new, clearer Jayaben Desai1 attitude to and intervention in the process of legal mediation. The dispute which started in August 1976 at the Grunwick film-processing laboratory in Willesden The Company and the Workforce was one of those strikes that history chooses to The strike began on Friday, August 20 1976, when throw into the national-political arena. Originally six employees of Grunwick Ltd., walked out of the an argument about conditions of work at one fac­ factory in protest at oppressive working conditions. tory, it was transformed, during a series of legal The six resolved to build a union base within battles and physical confrontations, into a declared Grunwick and their initial campaign resulted in a struggle for basic democratic rights, and the whole mass walk-out of a further sixty workers the follow­ spectrum of British political organisations, from right ing Monday.
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret Thatcher & the Miners
    Pierre-François GOUIFFES MARGARET THATCHER & THE MINERS 1972-1985 Thirteen years that changed Britain Creative Commons Licence 2009 This e-book is the English translation of “Margaret Thatcher face aux mineurs”, Privat, France (2007) Comments on the French edition Lord Brittan (Home Secretary 1983-5, former Vice-President of the European Commission) “The fairness and accuracy of the book are impressive both in the narrative and the analysis. I am not aware of anything comparable to what Pierre-François Gouiffès has produced.” Dr Kim Howells MP (now Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, spokesman for the NUM South Wales area in 1983-5) “Mr. Gouiffès’ book describes key events, such as the 'winter of discontent' and the industrial disputes of the eighties which had a major impact on the Labour party.” Other material available on www.pfgouiffes.net or www.mtfam.fr TABLE OF CONTENT Foreword 3 Prologue: the rise and fall of ‘King Coal’ 12 Coal: its economic, social and symbolic importance in the United Kingdom during the 19th century 13 The painful aftermath of World War One 18 The search for consensus after 1945 24 Tensions escalate from the 1960s 29 The NUM victorious: the strikes of 1972 and 1974 42 Crystallization of conflict 43 The 1972 blitzkrieg strike 51 1974: an arm-wrestling contest leading to strike and General Election 63 The legacy of the strikes of the 1970s 75 1974-1984 : the Labour interlude and Margaret Thatcher's early performance 80 The Labour interlude 81 The early years of Margaret Thatcher 108 The 1984-5 strike part one: from explosion to war of attrition 133 First steps in the conflict 134 The flashpoint 143 2 MRS.
    [Show full text]
  • Engaging Labour: British Sociology 1945-2010
    Engaging Labour: British Sociology 1945-2010 Huw Beynon, Cardiff University ABSTRACT This paper traces the interrelationship between changes in the British trade union and labour movement and the development of sociology in Britain since the war. It considers the ways in which both have been affected by economic and political changes and how different patterns of engagement have emerged in times of crisis. KEYWORDS Britain, labour movement, Sociology, trade unions, United Kingdom Post-war Reconstruction, Pre-sociology: 1945-1962 In post-war Britain the relationship between the labour movement and social research took place through intellectuals involved in the major political parties, with the Labour and Communist parties dominating. The Fabian inheritance of the Webbs continued as did the Mass Observation studies initiated alongside the Left Book Club by the Communist Party in the 1930s. The Census of 1951 recorded 14.7 million manual workers – 64.2% of the labour force. The trade unions were overwhelmingly based on the industries employing these workers. At this time, for example, there were 730,000 coal miners and the leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers alongside the leaders of the general manual unions (TGWU and GMBW) were major power brokers – ‘the Big Three’. The ending of the war had seen the election of a Labour Government with a landslide majority conducting a major programme of reconstruction alongside a radical transformation of the British state. As such, much research and writing was concerned with questions of industrial reorganisation and the living and working conditions of the working class. At this time, Sociology was not established as a major discipline within British Universities.
    [Show full text]
  • Law, Politics, and the Attorney- General: the Context and Impact of Gouriet V Union of Post Office Workers
    LAW, POLITICS, AND THE ATTORNEY- GENERAL: THE CONTEXT AND IMPACT OF GOURIET V UNION OF POST OFFICE WORKERS PETER RADAN* The role of the Attorney-General as the guardian of the public interest, in considering granting his or her fiat to relator proceedings in relation to the enforcement of public rights, often attracts political controversy. This is vividly illustrated in the circumstances surrounding the decision of the House of Lords in Gouriet v Union of Post Office Workers, which confirmed the traditional rule that the Attorney-General’s decision to refuse to grant his or her fiat is not justiciable (the fiat rule). This article details the rationale for the fiat rule, explores the political context and impact of the Gouriet case, and briefly details the impact of the decision on the rights of a private individual to enforce public rights. I INTRODUCTION It is well established that the Attorney-General, on behalf of the Crown and as the guardian of the public interest, has the principal role in the enforcement of public rights. The traditional rules relating to the standing of a private individual to enforce public rights are encapsulated in the two limbs in Boyce v Paddington Borough Council (Boyce).1 Under the first limb, a private individual can enforce a public right if the infringement of that right also amounts to an infringement of his or her private right.2 Under the second limb, a private individual can enforce a public right if, as a result of an infringement of the public right, he or she would suffer ‘special damage peculiar to himself [or herself]’.3 However, a private individual can also approach the Attorney- General to seek the latter’s fiat or consent to bring relator proceedings.
    [Show full text]
  • The Picket Line in 1970S Britain
    Accepted: 18 April 2020 DOI: 10.1111/tran.12388 REGULAR PAPER Class struggle and the spatial politics of violence: The picket line in 1970s Britain Diarmaid Kelliher School of Geographical and Earth The late 1960s to the mid‐1980s in Britain was a period of intense industrial Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK struggle, with strike levels at their highest since the 1920s. Concerns surrounding trade union power became central to broader anxieties about British “decline” and Correspondence “ ” Diarmaid Kelliher crisis. These issues took a spatial form in conflicts around the nature of the Email: [email protected] picket line. This paper discusses the picket line in 1970s Britain in the context of recent debates on the geographies of violence, particularly in relation to questions Funding information Urban Studies Foundation of class and property, and the mutually constitutive temporalities of structural and direct violence. Rather than focusing on the diffuse processes of an abstract capi- talism, I argue for greater attention to be paid to class conflict in shaping experi- ences and epistemologies of violence. This paper therefore places more emphasis on agency in the production of violence than has been prevalent in recent debates in geography. Drawing on extensive archival research, the paper focuses on three key disputes in this period. Building on work in labour geography, it explores how the assertive working‐class presence of mass pickets were portrayed as vio- lent through an account of the miners' strike in 1972. It then considers a similar process in relation to flying pickets during the 1972 builders' dispute, emphasising the threat of a politicised working‐class mobility.
    [Show full text]