Kevin Rowan column
May 2 2006 By Kevin Rowan, The Journal
There are many views on what constitutes a `modern, democratic' society.
Some consider electoral participation as a key indicator, others see democratic accountability as the issue, there is also a view that the gap between rich and poor, relative poverty, is the crucial indicator; others suggest it is about a balance of power.
They are all, of course, valid characteristics that help to define us as a nation. In a capitalist world, the relationship between those who employ and those who are employed must also be considered.
The ability of working people to contribute to whatever their employer is making or the service they are providing is what makes workers valuable to those employers. Without workers, employers are unable to do anything at all.
That fact ought to be enough for employers to value workers well and to treat them with respect and dignity at all times; sadly this is not always the case.
There are many good employers who do follow this progressive dynamic, there are those, however, who will seek to squeeze and exploit workers in a bid to minimise their costs and maximise their profits.
The ability of workers to organise collectively to challenge that abuse, to say, "enough is enough" to those employers or to support their efforts to gain improvements, is not only what defines trade unionism, it is also a hallmark of a modern, democratic society.
Within that collective organisation must be the right to take industrial action, the right to strike, without facing additional detrimental and vindictive reaction from the employer.
There is a current right to strike, of course, and workers and trade unions are protected. But that right and those protections are both limited and restricted.
It is 100 years since the Trades Disputes Act gave immunity from tortious liability to unions whose members take action.
It's about time that law was modernised and today workers will mobilise to demonstrate against these restrictions, and will propose a Trade Union Freedom Bill which will give workers a real and meaningful right to take lawful industrial action and be protected from detrimental actions as a result of so doing.
The ability to withdraw one's labour without fear of intimidation and detriment is a crucial bargaining tool in the imbalanced relationship between workers and employers.
It is the last resort for workers when struggles for fairness fall upon the deaf ears of intransigent employers.
Without that right, the employment relationship is one of servitude. In that situation how could we claim to be a modern democratic state?
