Labour Party

This is Janine's speech seconding the motion on the Trade Union Act at TUC Disabled Workers' Conference 2019. The motion was passed unanimously.

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RMT welcomes PCS’ motion and its focus on electronic balloting. Our amendment extends this discussion to the rest of the Trade Union Act and to the rest of the anti-union laws.

Under UK law, we can not take lawful industrial action except in so-called ‘trade disputes’:

Ian Townson reviews 'Minnie Lansbury: suffragette, socialist, rebel councillor' in Solidarity 491, 16 January 2019

Minnie Lansbury was one of the rebel Labour councillors of Poplar (East London) who in 1921 forced the Tory¬Liberal coalition government to start central government payments to equalise resources between councils in poor and in well¬off areas.

Janine Booth’s biography of Lansbury is rich in detail about her life; working¬class conditions at the time; and much more. It is a solid achievement given the scarcity of material available on Lansbury to work on.

Published by The Clarion, 27 November 2018:

Janine has co-written (with Sacha Ismail and Simon Hannah) this pamphlet for the Clarion magazine, giving a thorough but readable explanation of Britain's anti-union laws and calling on Labour to carry out its policy to scrap them all.

Just two pounds per copy, from here.

This is the speech I gave at the fringe meeting at Labour Party conference on 25 September 2018 about the draft Labour Party Autism / Neurodiversity Manifesto.

A lot has happened since I said to John McDonnell at a book launch two-and-a-half years ago that it would be a good idea for the Labour Party to have a specific manifesto on autism and neurodiversity.

In July, I spoke at an event organised by Islington Labour Party women’s forum, called ‘Keeping women and girls safe in Islington’. There were various speakers from community organisations, the council and the police, plus workshops on domestic abuse, sexual harassment, hate crime, gangs and bullying. My job was to speak about harassment and violence against women on public transport.

Published by The Clarion on 21 July 2018 ...