by Joana Ramiro and
Paul Donovan

ILLEGAL strikes will not be condemned by transport union TSSA leader Manuel Cortes, who vowed yesterday to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with workers.

Mr Cortes gave a rousing speech as he moved an emergency motion calling for a commitment to the Association’s core principles including the defence of workers’ rights.

It came in response to proposals by the Conservative government to toughen anti-union laws, making industrial action illegal unless more than half of union members hand in their strike ballot.

Mr Cortes said: “We have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to try to defeat the Tories.

“And I tell you, I am proud that when our members in Ireland occupied a Thomas Cook shop illegally and I ended up being locked out and in front of a High Court judge — I am proud of that.

“I did it for our members in Ireland and I’ll do it for our members wherever they are prepared.

“If they have got the will to fight I will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them.

“No law is going to stop us from defending our members.”

While his appeal was passed under general consensus, the transport union leader was not the first to come out in support of potential illegal strikes.

Earlier in March, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey addressed his members saying: “When the law is misguided, when it oppresses the people and removes their freedoms, can we respect it?

“I am not really posing the question. I’m giving you the answer. It ain’t going to happen.”

And Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O’Grady called yesterday for “unity and discipline” in the face of Tory attacks on trade union rights.

“This is a crucial time for our movement and the people we represent,” said Ms O’Grady, who declared that “the TUC will always stand on the side of the worker taking strike action.”

John Hendy QC highlighted how the Tory government is determined to destroy the trade unions as the next stage toward the fulfilment of the neoliberal capitalist agenda.

Mr Hendy said there were 80 per cent of workers under collective bargaining agreements in 1979 but that this was now down to 20 per cent.