to congratulate Tristram Hunt for crossing the picket line

[longfingernails]

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/tom-watson-hits-out-at-scab-tristram-hunt-for-crossing-picket-line-to-give-marx-lecture-9121775.html

Shame about his lecture material...

[BumpNGrind]

Sorry but he absolutely needs to resign.

[longfingernails]

Why?

He chose to ignore union thugs and go to work. It's a matter for praise rather than censure.

[Custardo]

hes a nob

fucking labour

i dispair - i really do

crossing a picket line

LABOUR

PICKET LINE

fucking cock

[Custardo]

thugs - arse

i'm not playing with you LFN you tory

[GobbySadcase]

NB for anyone reading OP is astroturfer. Exercise caution.

[JanineStHubbins]

Union thugs? In UCU? Bah ha ha ha.

You really don't know what you're talking about, do you longfingernails?

Hunt is a scab. Shame on him.

[ilovesooty]

He should resign. Immediately.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I'm not a labour supporter but I really like him. He represents a neighbouring constituency & really seems to care.

[ifyourehoppyandyouknowit]

I'm confused, why shouldn't he have crossed it? Are you obligated to support every single strike, even if you don't believe in it?

[BumpNGrind]

Dear dear me, considering that trade unions are the largest paid into civic membership movement in the UK, that's a lot of people to call thugs.

[JanineStHubbins]

Pity he doesn't seem to care about his former colleagues at QMUL who are being docked a full day's pay for a 2 hour strike.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

If they don't want their pay to be docked then they should have turned into work then.

[edamsavestheday]

He's a scab. Pissing on the memory of people who fought, at considerable risk, to win the right to strike and all other employment rights.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Presumably if someone has the right to strike then someone else has the right not to strike

[backwardpossom]

Why shouldn't a Labour MP cross a picket line?

[JanineStHubbins]

Their pay is being docked unfairly. A full day for a 2 hour strike.

[ilovesooty]

If Ed Milliband has any balls he'll sack him.

[BrandNewIggi]

I have just had to google him as I felt sure I was misreading - a Labour politician crossing a picket line! Wtaf.

[JanineStHubbins]

A Labour politician who wrote a biography of Friedrich fucking Engels. What a tosser.

[backwardpossom]

(Just to be clear, my post above is a disbelieving question, rather than an actual question)

[Bowlersarm]

So all Labour MPs have to support all strikes, full stop?

[ifyourehoppyandyouknowit]

You can support someone's right to strike, without actually believing in the strike though surely?

I just don't see why its such a big deal for him to do something he had an obligation to do. He wasn't striking, students were still turning up for a lecture, why wouldn't he go?

[BumpNGrind]

We have the right to strike because we live in a democracy. As citizens in a democracy, we have a say in the way our society is run and when negotiations take place, to which the outcome would be detrimental, we have a right to express our opinions peacefully, maybe through a strike, or hopefully long before that, many other forms of civil action. When you cross a picket line, you undermine the collective action of everyone else who is fighting for their rights.

We have a voice and therefore we have a right to strike. Should you wish to not have a voice, you can chose to not participate, to not vote, to not strike etc. However, trade unions are the reason why fewer people die at work, why employment laws protect us, why women have equal pay legislation (even though there's still a great deal of work still needed to make that a true reality.

The UK spends a smaller proportion of its GDP on wages now, than it ever has before. There are strikes because the money that we earn is worth less now than it was 10 years ago, living expenses are higher and employees are being squeezed tighter and tighter.