legal

France: transport workers protest against proposed minimum service law

300 block lines to protest at cuts in local train services

The plan to introduce obliging workers to maintain a minimum service during public transport strikes has been taken as an attack on the right to strike by workers and unions.

There have also been strong indications that if the government can establish a minimum service law for the transport sector then it will be introduced for other public and private services. François Fillon, has stated that if the law works it should be altered to include: "other public services, notably education"

Sweden: European Court sets precedent on foreign workers

Precendent: Mengozzi

The European Advocate General, Paolo Mengozzi advised the European Court of Justice that companies should respect local pay and conditions when hiring foreign workers.

The case began in 2004 when a Lithuanian company, Laval, entered the building trade, winning a string of contracts in Sweden. The company, then best known for producing cake, based its strategy on the importation of cheap Latvian labour. Laval argued that as Sweden does not have a legal minimum wage this was entirely legal.

US labor law reform moves forward in Congress

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The main labor law reform being pushed currently by the unions in the USA has just been approved by a vote of the US House of Representatives but Bush threatens to veto it.

The US House of Representatives passed 241 to 185 the "card check" bill that would amend the main labor law in the USA, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRA is the main labor law covering most of the private sector but excluding railways, airlines, agriculture, domestic service, and the public sector.

Your rights at work

A detailed, clearly-written guide to your key rights in the workplace, and important employment laws in the UK.

Pay
National Minimum Wage

The National Minimum Wage applies to almost all people in employment over the age of 16. It is graduated according to age:

- 16-17 year olds: £3.30 per hour
- 18-21 year olds (and some trainees): £4.45 per hour
- 21 years and over: £5.35 per hour

Exceptions
The National Minimum Wage does not apply to:

- Those under the age of 16.

Court staff dispute escalates as solicitors strike

Strikers outside Bow Magistrates Court

Court staff are refusing to work over the Christmas and New Year holidays as pressure builds for strike action over pay. Meanwhile wildcat strikes of solicitors have swept the country against reforms of the legal aid system.

David Hencke and Clare Dyer reported in The Guardian that festive rowdies could face being locked up in police cells for longer than they might wish over Christmas and new year following a decision by court ushers and security staff to refuse to work over the holiday period because of a pay claim.

France: Leaflet on 35 hour week, 2005 - Mouvement Communiste

Leaflet from Mouvement Communiste in which they argue that the new "Aubry" 35 hour working week law was not in fact a victory for workers but served above all to submit the work force even more to the imperatives of capital, and at lower costs.

Heavy sentences for four anti-CPE protestors

There were large numbers of arrests in the CPE struggle

France: On Friday 10 November four people were jailed for their role in the struggle against the employment law the CPE.

On Friday 10th November four militants, Jean-Pascal, Reda, Valentin and Pierre-Louis were sentenced by the court in Aix-en-Provence. All four were accused of "rebellion" and "violence towards members of the police force in the performance of their duties" during events as part of the anti-CPE movement.

Employers who fail to pay employee tax and National Insurance

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A guide for workers on dealing with employers who don't pay employee taxes or National Insurance. This can leave you unable to claim benefits if you become ill or unemployed.

Here’s a real case of fraud that the government does nothing to stop meaning that rip-off bosses keep getting away with it.

Many people are unaware of a problem until they become unemployed or sick and need to claim contributory-based benefits. They will be refused these benefits and cannot win their appeal if no National Insurance has been paid.

Key employment rights

Knowing your rights: The stuff your boss doesn't want you to know. A brief guide to your rights at work in the UK as of 2003-4.

Regardless of work status (temporary or permanent, agency, full or part-time) or our contracts of employment, most of us have certain basic rights. These include:

1. The right to be told in writing how much and when we are to be paid.

Terrorism Act 2000 guide

Terrorist? Blair heckler Walter Wolfgang

A quick guide and brief summary of the parts of the British Terrorism Act 2000 of relevance to radical workers.

"Terrorism" is defined very widely and could include what people would normally think of as direct action. It gives the Police very wide powers to stop search and arrest, and limits people's rights - including on arrest.

Section 60 advice guide

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Some information and tips on the law, your rights, and how to react when police have enforced a "Section 60" order on a demonstration or picket.

At some recent demonstrations, police have cordoned off the demonstration, corralling large numbers of people into an increasing confined area before taking their names, addresses and photographs, eventually releasing them one by one. This was done under the obscure Section 60 of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994 (originally designed to prevent minor football disturbances).

US: Rail bosses sue over "sick-out" wildcat strike

Between September 22 and 24, 80% of the Salt Lake City area's train engineers called in sick in a row over working hours. Now Union Pacific are suing their union.

Paul Beebe in The Salt Lake Tribune reported that in a move that upends conventional wisdom about labor disputes, Union Pacific Railroad Co. has sued the union representing Salt Lake City-area train engineers who walked off their jobs because they couldn't work as many hours as they wished.

Section 6 legal notice for squats

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A legal warning notice on Section 6 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 which protects the rights of occupiers of properties.

If you are squatting it is strongly advised you display this notice to inform people of your rights - and let them know that you are aware of your rights

LEGAL WARNING

Section 6 Criminal Law Act 1977
As amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
TAKE NOTICE

THAT we live in this property, it is our home and we intend to stay here.

Bush seeks to avoid human rights violation charges

Bush is trying to pass legislation that would immunise government personnel for abuses against detainees at Guantanamo, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq, including those abuses it authorised.

If the Bush administration is still good at anything, it's this: distracting its opponents and seizing little victories from what might have been big defeats.

House OKs controversial detainee treatment trial bill

Guantanamo

The Bush administration’s controversial military commissions and detainee treatment bill is one step closer to being signed into law.

On Wednesday, the House approved its version of the measure, leaving it to a vote in the Senate today. Under the new bill, detainees would be prevented from challenging their imprisonment and denied access to evidence used against them.

1916-1927: The execution of Sacco and Vanzetti

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

The story of two Italian-born anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, framed for murder and then executed for their beliefs.

"Did you see what I did to those anarchist bastards?"
- Presiding Judge Webster Thayer

1915: The murder of Joe Hill

Joe Hill

The story of the death of the American trade unionist, revolutionary and popular song-writer Joe Hill, framed for murder and executed.

Don't mourn - organise!

Older workers sacked in pre-emptive strike

Complaints of older workers being sacked have increased dramatically in recent weeks, reports Age Concern, which it attributes to a preemptive strike by employers to avoid age discrimination laws.

"We have seen a rapid and sharp increase in the number of calls from older employees who are very, very concerned, many of whom are angry," said Michelle Mitchell from Age Concern.

1912: The syndicalist trials

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A short history of the trials and legal repression of radical trade unionists in the UK in the early twentieth century.

The relatively high degree of political liberty which was enjoyed during the first decade of the twentieth century in this country was the result of the continuous struggle which radicals and reformists had waged against their rulers for a century and a half.

World Bank says: work 24/7 with no rights

A new World Bank report calls for the wholesale elimination of workers' rights.

The 2007 edition of the ‘Doing Business’ report has declared the Marshall Islands to be the world’s “Best Performer” for its almost total absence of labour regulation, displacing last year’s champion, Palau.

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