trade unions

Researching International Labour Law

Online guide to resources in international labour law written by Erica Friesen who is a Research and Instruction Librarian & Online Learning Specialist at Queen’s University’s Lederman Law Library in Kingston, Canada and Brianna Storms who is a Research and Instruction Law Librarian at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. The guide highlights key International Labour Organization (ILO) resources giving advice on how to navigate these. Resources covered and linked to include international labour standards, fundamental conventions, governance conventions, databases and statistics.

Certification Officer

Website of the Certification Officer whose role is to maintain a list of trade unions and employers' associations and to ensure the trade unions comply with statutory requirements. The Certification Officer also investigates complaints regarding elections, mergers, financial irregularity and breaches of union rules. Decisions and registration documents of current and former trade unions can be viewed on the site in PDF.

Central Arbitration Committee

The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) is an independent statutory body of the British government which adjudicates on decisions relating to the recognition and derecognition of trade unions in the UK for collective bargaining purposes. The CAC also provides voluntary arbitration in industrial disputes. Its website provides information on the purpose, membership and statutory duties of the Committee. It also includes access to recent decisions, press releases and annual reports. Information is provided on the process of trade union recognition in the UK.

Labordoc

Labordoc is a searchable database which contains more than 360,000 records relating to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other labour organisations, since 1919. Its coverage is very wide and includes materials relating to socio-economic development - especially work-related human rights issues. There is a strong focus on empirical literature, although some material on labour economics, gender economics and welfare economics is included. Much of the collection focuses on developing and transition countries. There are direct links to online texts from over 12,000 publications.

WorkSMART

WorkSMART is a free online advice guide to employment rights produced by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The website deals with employment rights providing FAQ's covering a range of areas including contracts, pensions, tax, discipline, discrimination and training. The section dealing with health at work covers all aspects of health and safety at work including stress, bullying, occupational health and disability rights. There is a 'union finder' on the website which allows you to search for trade unions by employer or sector.

Human rights: 800 years of human rights in the United Kingdom explored using original documents from the National Archives

Online exhibition created by the National Archives, last updated in 2008. Provides free access to a large collection of primary source materials relating to human rights in the UK from 1215 to 1945. Users may browse a timeline, view supporting images and read background information. There is also a glossary of terms. Topics include Magna Carta; the Peasants' Revolt; women's rights; and trade unions.

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