Owen Jones meets Frances O'Grady | 'The trade union bill is sinister'

at 1.40 is a that a rat or squirrel? Bit off topic.

Jeremy Corbyn won't sing the national anthem during a ceremony to remember British battle of Britain pilots!!...but he will sing the red flag!!

Thanks Owen, Frances & Behind-the-scenes folk.

Too short and no summary. Ended very abrupt. Room for improvement?

Trade unionism is a necessary response to an unnecessary mode of production that is Capitalism. Class-based negotiations between the employees and employers would not be necessary if workplace decisions were made directly by the workers themselves. Workplace democracy would obviate the need for trade unions.

Owen, if your phone rang and when you answered it a sinister voice said "if you ever want to see your mum again you will pick a politician and punch them in the face live on bbc news" who would you choose?

Can I point out to all conservatives that before Thatcher, there was not a single Conservative party leader who did not support trade unions (since universal suffrage) even the likes of Churchill and Macmillan didn't oppose them

What's with the KGB-style meeting on the edge of the park? Surveillance avoidance?

Well it's obvious that the government will always back business and not the workers. They are the ones paying for the parties funding on a regular basis, and by the millions. Let's have no private funding and a set amount by the state.

Like trade unions of course but they need to be released from the grip of the far left

Cameron and his band of lunatic bandits are really up against it this time.
If this EU legislation is introduced, then the UNIONS have STATED that they WILL advise their members ( in the forthcoming referendum ) to vote OUT.
With my heart,I sincerely hope the bastard tories introduce it and hopefully this will mean an end to us being in this dreadful EU.
OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT.
ps
As for Corbyn,believe me,he really does pose a massive threat.Hence the negativity from ALL of the press,mainly SKY and the BBC.Bastards the lot of them.
Believe it or not,ordinary people want the STATE to work for us,not for us to work for the state.
95% of our wealth,going to 1% of the electorate is def wrong.
THE TIME HAS COME :)

Would do a FOI request if I were you Owen. See if you've been put on the tories no-fly list, what with you being linked to a "national security threat". How messed up is that?

Owen, I think you should interview Richard Murphy about People's Quantitative Easing and the tax gap.
Too many people, including many on social media, simply misunderstand Jeremy Corbyn's policies because they've only heard right-wing commentary which has unashamedly lied about them.

Owen where people really need to organise into unions is in the private sector, especially in retail and in call centres. This is where the real exploitation is.

I would bet that the US has very similar laws in regards to trade unions. In fact, probably worse.

I would of liked you to question her on the railstrikes earlier this year, it was argued the unions did not put a government deal to its members & that they were more interested in political statements over its members workers rights. What are the validity of these claims?

Is their also any argument that over the past 30+ the main issues with unions has been it's focus politics and not workers rights overall?

Not saying I hold these opinions, but I think they're important questions.

Fuck the unions. I could support them if they were actually about workers rights.

Hi Owen! You have mentioned in the past how Labour cannot rely alone on low income earners to win in 2020; they must recruit middle earners too. How can Labour expect to do this when John McDonnell aims to dramatically raise taxes for the middle classes?

Long Live Trade Unions

Please meet Anjem Choudry or David Irving next.

Owen, you've told us the Jeremy Corbyn movement will only work if we band together and create and strong grassroots movement. However can you please give us more information on how to do it. Are there websites with meetings, or would you prefer us canvassing? Any guidance would be fantastic. I'm at university in Newcastle and am very much interested in getting involved with helping out the movement. Thanks

Unions ought to be more horizontally organized. Basically no hierarchy between workers and the leaders.

for an engineer, a lawyer, a doctor, a dentist, an i-banker, Union is absolutely useless and not essential.

the gist is, don't do a dying profession which can be replaced by an illiterate farmer from the third world country or a robot.

I was a striking coal miner from Nottinghamshire, If there a good reason for going on strike, I still vote with my feet,

Yo owen, why don't sinn fein come to parliment? Jez could use some back up and sinn fein could do with getting past their media demonisation at the minute.

Hi Owen, I'm very much enjoying these videos thank you for taking the time to make them.

At the risk of sounding like every newspaper columnist -- can you guys get Corbyn's act together QUICKTIME!
it's all very well not being led by the media agenda etc. But he's got to look like he knows what he's doing instead of being surprised every 5 min by a National Anthem or Sky News in the street!
The totally illegitimate criticisms will be more than enough to copr with without adding legitimate ones!

People are learning not to trust the establishment media.. People are awakening to how extreme our own government are, with the properganda warfare again Jeremy Corbyn. This was predicted by Owen James prior to JC winning. SO YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU!
I wonder if OWEN will ever team up with others to create an alternative 24/7 TV/TV internet station to the establishment media. Perhaps even a mix of groups under a common cause. I.E Russel and the Trews perhaps! Well Owen, will you lead the March???????????????????

Hello Owen, do you still support electoral reform and if so what type of system? Personally I'm leaning towards MMP, since you have both PR and local representatives. Do you think Jeremy Corbyn is more or less likely to make Labour support electoral reform?

Owen

It seems to me that one of the ways that the Tories get people to accept their polices is to have a limited number of simple messages, which are then repeated ad infinitum, up to and beyond an election. Labour didn't do that before the last election, and I don't think that absence of simple, consistent messaging helped.

I think one way for the Corbyn-led Labour Party to cut through the fog of lies and distortions coming from the Tories and their media friends is to adopt this strategy of simple, repeated messages. It doesn't mean we can't do more sophisticated things too, but I do think it is necessary to cut through the ideological static. I think those messages have to be positive: Labour wins, as I think you've said, when it does hope -the tories do fear.

Do you agree? and if you do, what should the messages be?

Chris

Owen, do you not think it's wrong who people join a trade union (For specific representation in the work place) are then being forced to fund the labour party and there far wider reaching political policy and that there usually is no option to opt out of this political affiliation if one should need representation at work? Should the labour party not acknowledge that while they were born of trade unions the modern trade union member may not share there beliefs anymore and just wants to be represented at work by the union not on the national political stage?

this government is utterly anti working people. We're going back to a Victorian future!

this government is utterly anti working people. We're going back to a Victorian future!

owen jones is the anti Christ read the book of revelations.

Are they really that democratic? Unions can be great things and they have achieved a lot for our nation but in some ways I support the bill. It seems right that a democratic movement should have the approval of more than half its members if it wants to do something like go on strike which can have such a large impact on society as a whole.

If trade unions are allowed to grow in power like they did from after the war to the 80s they will destroy every industry they work in.

when these industries can't afford them they will go to the government to be bailed out and subsidised at the expense of the tax payer.

Our laws pertaining to trade unions are, as far as I'm concerned, so draconian that trade unions are well within their rights to break them! Moreover, when that happens, and when we have a repeat of the 1984-85 miners' strike, with Cameron sending his state-sponsored thugs to beat the shit out of working people whose crime is to have the temerity to stand up for themselves, I think that the strikers in question should petrol-bomb the bastards back into the stone age!

Actually this law might be better for workers. Get back to Wild Cat strikes and the Secondary Action of the 19th century. How are they gonna stop strikes - send in the troops?

Ever heard of civil disobedience?

The Trade Union Bill is not sinister. There is nothing sinister about compelling trade unions to secure the agreement of a simple majority of their members before going on strike. There is nothing sinister about the Government ending it's collection of union subscriptions from public sector workers. I wouldn't expect the government to collect my gym subscription. If public sector workers really want to pay into a union every month, they just need to set up a direct debit like everything else that they pay for. The unions know that people really aren't into them, and just won't be bothered to set up a direct debit once the government stops automatically collecting subscriptions on their behalf.

I think it's kind of conclusive now.

The Tories are actually against the principle of an engaged democratic society.

I thought we were living in the 21st century! The government with its cooperate masters want to turn people into slaves.

Is the trade union bill a feature of the British values which the Tories want us to adopt and support? Yes it is creepy! Fellow workers must organise and oppose it.

Great interview.

Hi Owen, i'm a late arriver to your channel. I'm learning about Scargill and the NUM at school, I was wondering what are your views on them. Cheers

Dirty little fruit meets useless turnip headed union leader

Frances is my great aunty :)