Lawyering for workers’ rights
When: Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Where: Room 313, Third Floor, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London Mile End Road London E1 4NS
Trade unions and trade unionists have done all kinds of important legal work in defending workers in the workplace and beyond. It seems important to credit these activities while remaining skeptical about legal engagement, given a long history of legal suspicion of workers. We invite participants to reflect on the different dimensions of lawyering for workers’ rights and the role of legal work in transformational movements.
Questions to include: How do trade unions decide to take on legal cases? What do trade union members want from trade union legal work? How can workers best claim, celebrate even, the solidarity work done in moving legal obstacles and making law otherwise? How do workers best build a supportive community of accountability for trade union legal work?
Speakers to include:
- Bruce Robin - Unison Senior Legal Officer on lessons from Unison’s legal support for care worker and trade unionist Fiona Mercer, who won a human rights case against her employer in the Supreme Court (but left the court without a practical remedy).
- Tanzil Chowdhury - Queen Mary University of London, on insights from a legal workers’ inquiry.
- Katie Cruz - University of Bristol and Tessa Herrmann (Ver.di Germany) on the sex workers rights movement and trade unionism in Europe and winning worker recognition for dancers.
- QMUCU - branch committee members on community legal work countering disproportionate ASOS deductions.