PODCAST - The War on Trade Unions

Len McCluskey, Lord John Hendy KC and Yvette Williams (Justice for Grenfell co-founder)

On a June morning in 1984, one of the most violent episodes in British industrial relations unfolded. 5000 striking miners gathered at the Orgeave Coke processing plant in South Yorkshire. They'd face an assault by some 6000 police.

1:35 - The Dunnes Store strike as viewed from the UK

5:47 - The unions fail to properly resist the attacks against them

9:51 - Company closures and the tactics of resistance

13:10 - The Conservatives learn from their defeats of the 1970s

14:03 - How the Unions intersected with other movements

16:15 - The international face of British trade unions

19:53 - Restrictions imposed on unions and their legacy today

26:36 - An alternative vision of labour laws

29:36 - The power of working class solidarity