{"id":7878,"date":"2015-11-24T18:45:13","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T18:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=7878"},"modified":"2015-11-24T18:45:13","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T18:45:13","slug":"cardiff-lawyer-opposes-trade-union-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/24\/cardiff-lawyer-opposes-trade-union-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff lawyer opposes Trade Union Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A CARDIFF-BASED lawyer has come up with a list of ways to fight the government\u2019s controversial Trade Union Bill which would make\u00a0it harder for unions to strike.<br \/>\nSpeaking at a meeting on Friday at the Cardiff offices of the union Unite, solicitor Michael Imperato said: \u201cLegal challenge will not be easy but we\u2019re playing for very high stakes.\u201d<br \/>\nThe Trade Union Bill, which is currently being reviewed in the House of Lords, has been fiercely criticised by unions, Labour and even some Tories. Trade unions represent nearly half a million Welsh workers who would be affected by this bill.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7880\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7880\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/DSC_0201.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7880 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/DSC_0201-e1448384619412.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0201\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7880\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7880 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/DSC_0201-e1448384619412.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0201\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> Michael Imperato addressed union representatives on Friday with his possibilities for legal challenges to the Trade Union Bill<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nThe main aim of the bill is to raise the required voter turnout for a union to call a strike to 50% of its members. Unions representing workers in key public services would need 40% of all eligible voters to vote in favour of action.<br \/>\nCritics of the move compare the figures with the last election when the current government was elected with 36.9% of the vote on a voter turnout of 66%, meaning 24% of all eligible voters voted Tory.<br \/>\nMr Imperato said the bill might be challenged under the right to freedom of assembly in the European Convention on Human Rights.<br \/>\nIn a document given out at the meeting he wrote: \u201cIt is not for Government to interfere with the internal organisation of groupings of private individuals who otherwise operate within the law.<br \/>\n\u201cHowever, the proposals in the bill strike at the heart of the freedom of trade unions members to come together in an effective manner.\u201d<br \/>\nMr Imperato suggested the bill might also be challenged on the basis of the government\u2019s own equality impact assessment, saying: \u201cThe government\u2019s analysis of its proposals to weaken workers rights is that there is zero impact on equality.<br \/>\n\u201cHowever, a couple of embarrassing editing slip ups indicate they don\u2019t have the data to back up their analysis.\u201d<br \/>\nLabour shadow chancellor John McDonnell also addressed the meeting, calling the bill \u201can existential threat to trade unionism in this country\u201d.<br \/>\nCardiff council is discussing a motion this week to write to Westminster opposing the trade union bill. The Welsh Assembly and other councils including Caerphilly, Birmingham and every council in Scotland have already done this.<br \/>\nLabour councillor for Splott, Edward Stubbs, who proposed the motion, said: &#8220;It is right that the council debate the Trade Union Bill, which is an important matter for the residents of Cardiff and council staff, many of whom are union members.<br \/>\n\u201cThe UK government are worried they are losing the argument on public services and are now legislating to stop working people from having their collective say. Legislating to block criticism by effectively stripping people of their democratic right to strike. \u201c<br \/>\nLlanrumney Labour councillor Keith Jones who is seconding the motion said: \u201cIf this bill passes, the right to strike will be under threat. The right to strike is a basic right as important as the right to vote.<br \/>\n\u201cWe know how hard fought these basic human rights were and we will not stand by and let a Tory Government in Westminster turn the clock back to nineteenth century Dickensian Britain.\u201d<br \/>\nSome Cardiff councillors do support the bill. Tory councillor Rod McKerlich said: \u201cThese people are living in a time warp if they think the right to strike is the most important right.<br \/>\n\u201cI\u2019d rather talk about council services and attracting more high paid jobs to Cardiff. \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A CARDIFF-BASED lawyer has come up with a list of ways to fight the government\u2019s controversial Trade Union Bill which would make\u00a0it harder for unions to strike. Speaking at a meeting on Friday at the Cardiff offices of the union Unite, solicitor Michael Imperato said: \u201cLegal challenge will not be easy but we\u2019re playing for very high stakes.\u201d The Trade Union Bill, which is currently being reviewed in the House of Lords, has been fiercely criticised by unions, Labour and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,292],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-7878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-city","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cardiff lawyer 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