WAVE OF ACTION UK

Pack 2: Legalities of A General strike.

A general strike (or mass strike) is a strike action in which a substantial proportion of the total labour force in a city, region, or country participates.

General strikes are characterised by the participation of workers in a multitude of workplaces, and tend to involve entire communities. General strikes first occurred in the mid-19th century, and have characterized many historically important strikes. General strikes have been done in order to seek "democracy, political representation and the provision of basic education and healthcare".Ralph Chaplin, editor of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) newspaper Solidarity and later, of the Industrial Worker, identified four levels of general strike,

* A General Strike in a community.

* A General Strike in an Industry.

* A national General Strike.

* A revolutionary or class strike—the General Strike.

Legal advice received by Unite suggests a general strike could be legal under human rights legislation if it were called as part of a political - rather than a trade - dispute.

Although ‘general strikes’ are not banned per se (they were for a brief period after the General Strike of 1926), strikes are only lawful when they are called in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute. A ‘trade dispute’ has to be between ‘workers and their employer’ and must concern the objects of collective bargaining.

The International Labour Organization has consistently held that strikes of a political nature aimed at seeking solutions to economic and social policy questions fall within the scope of the principle of freedom of association enshrined in ILO Convention 87. Not only has the UK ratified this convention, it is considered to be a Core Convention binding all ILO member states by virtue of membership. It can therefore be concluded British unions have a public international law right to call protest or general strikes.