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.

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