One less barrier for workers: tribunal fees struck down in court!

An unexpected piece of good news from the courts today, as the introduction of fees for workplace tribunals, a move that discouraged countless workers from attempting to challenge unjust treatement, was struck down. Of course, the tribunal system as a whole is still based in employment law, which is massively stacked in favour of the employer, and the strongest protection is still solidarity from other workers, but still: getting to have your case heard for free, no matter how unsatisfactory the outcome may be, is an awful lot better at having to pay a grand for it. The accounts of this story from Unison and the general secretary of the IWGB say pretty much everything that need to be said from a simple trade unionist position; I don’t have a huge amount more to add myself, except to note that this is especially satisfying when we remember that the introduction of tribunal fees was followed by the even more short-lived criminal courts charge – who would have thought, back in, say, May 2015, that both would be gone so soon?