Wednesday 29 January 2025
17.30 to 19.30
This seminar will be conducted through Zoom. Please register through the following link:
For further details, please email Michael Gold (m.gold@rhul.ac.uk) or Linda Clarke (clarkel@wmin.ac.uk).
Programme:
17.30-17.40: Welcome: Michael Gold and Linda Clarke (Chairs)
17.40-18.10: Paul Smith
Trade Unions, the Right to Strike and the Political Economy of Labour: The Trade Union and Labour Relations Act (1974)
The law of trade unions and industrial action continues to be articulated through contrasting economic and social norms and values, notably the conflict between the political economy of capital and the political economy of labour. This paper explores this theme through an analysis of the struggle to create a right to strike against the legacy of the Combination Acts and the vitality of common law. This culminated in the Trade Disputes Act (1906) which, after the failure of the Industrial Relations Act (1971), was restated in wider language by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act (1974), amended 1976. Judicial opposition to this Act helped pave the way for the legislation enacted after 1979 by a Conservative government committed to restricting the right to strike and union government.
18.10-18.40: Jon Cruddas
Employment Regulation under Labour – From Donovan to Starmer
Since the pandemic, the status and significance of human labour has been re-established at the centre of our political, economic and social life. The recently elected Labour government has promised to enact a New Deal for Working People, ‘make Britain the best place to work’ and ‘fundamentally change our economy’ based around good work. This presentation will investigate the new Government’s labour market interventions and more generally compare and contrast different approaches to employment regulation from the 1964 Wilson Government to the present Starmer Administration.
18.40-19.30: General discussion
19.30: Close
Our speakers:
Jon Cruddas was formally Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham for 23 years, a candidate for Deputy Leader and member of the Shadow Cabinet. His book, The Dignity of Labour (2021), explored the economics and future of work, while A Century of Labour (2024) marked the centenary of the first Labour government.
Paul Smith was formerly a Senior Lecturer at Keele University. He is Lead Editor of Historical Studies in Industrial Relations and author of Unionization and Union Leadership: The Road Haulage Industry (2001), as well as articles including ‘Labour under the Law: A New Law of Combination, and Master and Servant, in 21st-century Britain?’, Industrial Relations Journal (2016), and ‘In Defence of Trade-Unionism: Bill Wedderburn and Rookes v. Barnard, HSIR 42 (2021).