Trade Union and Strike Ban To Remain In PlaceGovernment Says Proposals To Re-Introduce Increased Workers' Rights Are Premature A closely-monitored protest which was allowed to gather outside the Grand Council building in Wiel.January 4492 - The Government has rejected
proposals by the Ahmadi Alliance to reintroduce trade unions and democratic workers councils back into the country.
Opposition leader Husn Vrkz-Krlmék who brought forward the Trade Union Reform Bill said Vanuku was a "rather hostile environment for trade unions" and that it was important the administration did not support laws which "allow opponents to present it as the enemy of the working man and woman." He also claimed that responsibly-led trade unions had a legitimate and constructive role to play in the Vanukean economy and society.
But Prefect Duke Kspar Nohsrmko Zhtál firmly rejected the proposal and said a blanket ban on unions and the right to strike remained in place... for now.
He said: "Our cautious steps back towards democracy have been successful because they have been just that... cautious. Right now, surrounded by nations where over lenient workers' rights have been abused and used to instigate revolution, topple monarchies and banish the nobility, it would not be prudent to allow these proposals - which could be seized upon by communists and other agents of anarchy - to pass into law in our nation."
However, he did not rule out the prospect of change further down the line adding: " This is under constant review and, just as we will widen out suffrage to more and more people overtime, so we will look again at these proposals and act upon them when the time is right. In the meantime, the country will continue to thrive under the paternalistic conservatism that both my party and the monarchy promote - workers should not fear as their needs will be seen to."
Partial democracy was only recently reintroduced in Vanuku following the best part of two decades as a one-party state. Nevertheless, only nobles are allowed to register political parties and only wealthy people can vote; a ban remains in place on dangerous anti-monarchist ideologies and philosophies such as communism and republicanism.