Unite Legal Services is backing a motion that calls on the trade union movement to defend the Human Rights Act.
Howard Beckett, Unite director of legal services, addressed comrades at TUC Congress on 14 September 2016 to speak about the importance of the Human Rights Act and the threat posed to the Act post-Brexit.
Beckett said: “The principles of collective rights, the protection from enforced slavery, the right of assembly, the right to protest, freedom of speech, the right to belong to a trade union and yes conference, the right to withdraw labour, are all protected by the Human Rights Act [...] These are our human rights, our core and our essence. They deserve to be protected by international law, not subject to the whims of the ruling elitist government, and not subject to the privileged out-of-touch judiciary."