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In this webinar Professor Alan Bogg (Dean of Graduate Studies (Research), Oxford University) considers the right to strike: a menace to hardworking people or fundamental human right?

The prospect of strike action rouses strong feelings in public debate. For governments and the right-wing media, strike action is easily portrayed as a selfish attack on the interests of hardworking people affected by the strike. For trade unions, the right to strike is increasingly presented as a fundamental human right. Recent jurisprudence in the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Canada has characterised the right to strike as an aspect of the human right to freedom of association. Certainly, the right to strike is an unusual right – an ugly right even – as it involves the intentional infliction of economic damage on another party. This presentation will consider recent jurisprudence on the right to strike, in order to assess its standing as a fundamental human right warranting constitutional protection.

This webinar was recorded on June 30, 2015 by the Oxford Human Rights Hub at the University of Oxford.