01 March 2019
By Carolyn Jones, IER Director
Last week, the officers of the Institute of Employment Rights were guest speakers at an international conference of trade unionists, policy makers and…Read more…
The IER’s 30th Anniversary Reception
By Roger Jeary, IER blogger
15 February 2019
On a cold wet night, the celebratory mood inside the well-filled Great Hall at NEU, Mabledon Place could not be dampened, as members, friends and…Read more…
Civil Liability Bill: An attack on workers’ rights
08 February 2019
By RMT
On November 20, the government passed the Civil Liability Bill through its final stages, the effect of which strips workers of their rights. The fight to stop this goes on…Read more…
Outsourcing on the ‘never-never’
14 January 2019
By Professor David Whyte and Ben Crawford, University of Liverpool
In the first report from a collaborative project between the Institute of Employment Rights and the University of…Read more…
One step forward for Shrewsbury pickets
14 December 2018
By Eileen Turnball and Carolyn Jones
In 1972, building workers across the UK took part in the first ever national strike. At that time, construction workers faced powerful,…Read more…
Court gives green light for pickets to challenge CCRC
07 December 2018
By Eileen Turnbull and Harry Chadwick, Shrewsbury 24 Campaign
On Friday 9th November 2018 the Shrewsbury pickets won an important victory in their long struggle to overturn their…Read more…
Teachers and headteachers consider ‘unprecedented’ joint strike over schools cuts
12 November 2018
By Sarah Glenister, National Development Officer, Institute of Employment Rights
This week, three education unions will consult their members over taking industrial action in…Read more…
Brexit, the gig economy and the rise of the machines
12 November 2018
By Sarah Glenister, National Development Officer, Institute of Employment Rights
Every autumn, for over a decade, employment law experts have gathered for the Institute of…Read more…
Bellman – more on vicarious liability
26 October 2018
By Paul Scholey and Tony Rippon, Morrish Solicitors
Bellman v Northampton Recruitment Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 2214
Following a recruitment agency’s Christmas party, to which all…Read more…
Giving ‘gig’ workers rights isn’t radical, it would bring the UK up to international ‘norms’
19 October 2018
By John Hendy QC, Professor Keith Ewing and Carolyn Jones
This week has seen ‘gig’ workers and people on zero-hours contracts take a stand against low pay and insecure jobs, with…Read more…
Workers on boards and ‘inclusive ownership funds’: How should it be written into law?
12 October 2018
By Dr Ewan McGaughey, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, King’s College, London, and research associate at the Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge
Democratic…Read more…
Mencap v Tomlinson-Blake: a disaster for the sustainability of social care?
12 October 2018
By Dr Lydia Hayes, Reader in Law, Cardiff University
The decision of the Court of Appeal in Mencap v Tomlinson-Blake has overturned a decade of progressive decisions at the EAT and…Read more…
Shake it up: IER agenda for health and safety reform
06 July 2018
By Phil James, Middlesex University
Too many workers and their families continue to suffer from the failure of their employing organisations to provide safe and healthy working…Read more…
Two neoliberal infernos: Grenfell, and Piper Alpha 30 years on
06 July 2018
By David White, University of Liverpool
Thirty years ago today the Piper Alpha oil platform exploded and was engulfed in flames killing 167 people. Only 61 survived in in what remains…Read more…
Wage war: Delivering workplace justice through union collective bargaining
29 June 2018
By John Hendy QC, IER Chair
The sole justification for the policies of austerity inflicted on most of the peoples of the world has been that there is a structural deficit in the…Read more…
The Time Has Come for Sectoral Bargaining
By Larry Cohen, Chair of Our Revolution
It is now clear that enterprise-based organizing and bargaining in the U.S. has a dim future. U.S. workers’ collective bargaining coverage is back to early…Read more…
What are the barriers to improving union recognition in the workplace?
By Sarah Veale, Institute of Employment Rights
12 June 2018
Legislation giving workers the right to have their union recognised by their employer exists but is weak and little used.
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Regulating supply chains – reclaiming our rights
12 June 2018
By Aristea Koukidaki, The University of Manchester
The structuring of contemporary production methods, often complex and global in scope, creates an environment that is conducive to…Read more…
Blacklisted workers need more than a public inquiry – they need a change in the law
27 March 2018
By Alex Just, employment and trade union law expert
Friday’s admission by the Metropolitan Police that special branch officers colluded in the blacklisting of construction workers…Read more…
Fast food workers’ health, safety and welfare in drive-thru’s
By Janet Newsham, Hazards Campaign
The IER manifesto makes an important contribution in emphasising the importance of collective bargaining. In the Hazards Campaign we know that where workers are…Read more…