Repel the attack on all fronts

Repel the attack on all fronts - Morning Star.

Once again little Vince Cable has been summoned into action by his Tory masters and once again it's to do their dirty work - this time on industrial tribunals.
And, regrettably, once again he's dumped his much-vaunted principles in the ashcan and leaped to do their bidding without so much as a by your leave to his party.
It must be endlessly gratifying for the Tories to have a collection of willing bag-carriers on tap who will eagerly get their hands dirty without more than a murmur of demurral and who will, at the same time, provide the majority to squeeze the Tories' vindictive class war attacks through Parliament.
But enough of Lib-Dems. It's probably kinder to leave them to traduce every principle that they once claimed to hold in decent privacy.
Although it should be remembered that at least some Lib-Dems are not quite so slippery, labelling the Tory policies that Cable is advancing as a "fire at will" philosophy.
And that's just what it is.
The Tories are not proposing a few small adjustments to our "last-ditch" tribunal system.
They are damn near demolishing it.
Protection under the law is, they propose, to be restricted to those who have been working for at least a two-year qualifying period rather than the one year that now applies.
And, guess what, the Tories envisage a structure of "protected conversations" to allow bosses to discuss issues such as retirement or poor performance without it being used at a subsequent tribunal claim.
Or, in other words, to threaten employees without the employee having any redress whatsoever.
In linked legislation, the government plans to reduce the consultation period on large-scale redundancies from 90 to 30 days - oh, and if you had missed it, if you go to a tribunal you had better be able to pay, because it ain't going to be free any more.
Which is not going to help appellants who are appealing against the loss of their job and income very much.
It goes without saying that all of these measures are to assist employers to dismiss or otherwise abuse employees with considerably less "red tape" involved.
Just shows that one person's red tape is another person's job protection, doesn't it?
The Tories apparently think this is a good thing - you are entitled to think differently, of course.
But unless you do something about it in pretty short order, that's what the coalition's majority will ensure happens.
You may not like it.
You may be busy trying to organise to defend your pension on November 30, but unless you also watch your back, this overwhelming broad front attack by the Tories will swamp rights at work as well as in retirement.
We all know how difficult it is. The assault is coming from all sides and on all fronts. If It"s not your pension it's your job and if it's not your job it's your rights at work or your working hours.
And if it's not any of the above, it will be your National Health Service that needs defending or your home that's at risk because of the bankers' financial gymnastics.
Looked at that way, it may seem utterly overwhelming and a lost cause, too big to fight all at once and too confusing to comprehend.
But it's not. We will fight on against every single one of these attacks to the best of our ability.
We will throw the People's Charter in the faces of those who are constructing a bosses' charter.
And in the course of those fights maybe we can build a movement fit to make the decisive move, throw the bankers' stooges out of our Parliament and fill it with workers' delegates to construct a Britain for the people, not the profiteers.

If you have enjoyed this article then please consider donating to the Morning Star's Fighting Fund to ensure we can keep publishing your paper.

Link: Morning Star