Long hostile to the legal system, British trade unions have changed
The IWGB best embodies British trade unions’ new legalistic approach
BARELY A WEEK goes by without a court case on workers’ rights. In a case last month supported by the GMB, a union, the appeal court upheld an equal-pay ruling against Asda, a supermarket. Next week a case begins in the high court, backed by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and involving the University of London, concerning the extent to which outsourced workers have collective-bargaining rights at the place where they work. Before long the IWGBwill battle Uber in the Supreme Court over whether the ride-hailing firm wrongly classifies its drivers as independent contractors. Unions, it seems, increasingly see the courts as a good way to protect their members.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “From the barricades to the bar”
Britain February 23rd 2019
- Britain’s Parliament splinters
- Honda’s departure adds to the gloom enveloping Britain’s car industry
- The British government is growing warier of China
- Long hostile to the legal system, British trade unions have changed
- Brexit weakens Britain’s influence at the UN
- Police need to rethink how they deal with organised crime
- John McDonnell, Labour’s hard man
From the February 23rd 2019 edition
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The best British companies to work for to get ahead
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A tiny island fights the scourge of plastic on the beach
A Northern Irish experiment in recycling
A sticking-plaster policy for Britain’s strained courts
Magistrates get more power. Will they get punch-drunk on it?