TU Bill: no justification

IndustriALL, the world-wide trade union, has hit out at the government’s trade union Bill, calling for it to stop the attacks on trade unions and start a dialogue.

IndustriALL warns the bill will impose severe restrictions on trade union rights to organise and will undermine the rights of UK workers to take part in strikes and other forms of industrial action.

IndustriALL is so alarmed at some of the proposals, including health and safety concerns, it says it will alert the European Commission’s directorate general for employment.

It will call on a range of organisations asking them to oppose the Bill, including trade union organisations, the European Commission, European Works Councils and individual companies, and to submit responses opposing the trade union Bill during the open consultation period that runs until September 9, 2015.

Dialogue best way

In a joint letter to Sajid Javid MP, secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, IndustriALL’s global and european regional general secretaries wrote, “We urge the UK government to desist from further action that would place restrictions on the legitimate and fundamental rights of workers to organise and strike….we believe that dialogue between the UK government and the trade union movement is the best way forward for companies and their employees.”

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL global general secretary and Ulrich Eckelmann, European general secretary said they were strongly opposed to the government’s proposals.

They warned the trade union Bill “will impose severe restrictions on trade union rights to organise themselves and will undermine the rights of UK workers to take part in strikes and other forms of industrial action.”

They said there is no justification for legislation because of the drop in the number of days lost to strikes.  “It is estimated that industrial action is at its lowest level for decades. Since 2010, average days lost to industrial action have totalled 647,000 annually, compared to over seven million in the 1980s.”

They also warned that the government proposals could do long-term damage to industrial relations making it more difficult to achieve amicable settlements through negotiation.

IndustriALL said they would work with their member trade unions to stop any attempts by the UK government:

• to remove legal ban on agency workers being employed to replace striking workers during disputes;
• to increase ballot turnout thresholds required for any lawful industrial action;
• to demand workers to provide the employer with 14 days advanced notice of any industrial action;
• to criminalise picketing and demonstrations in support of any dispute, as well as to criminalise the use of social media in support of labour struggles and
• to remove paid facility time for workers’ representatives, including health and safety representatives, to carry out their functions in protecting workers’ interests.

Raina and Eckelmann warned that, “The UK government’s proposal for agency labour to be used to replace striking workers would be counterproductive to achieving a settlement, prolong disputes and have a negative impact on employee relations beyond the dispute itself. The use of agency labour could also give rise to serious concerns over matters of health, safety and welfare at work.”

Under the plans –branded as ‘spiteful’ by the TUC – up to 3.8m public sector workers lose the right to have trade union subs automatically deducted from pay.

And in an attack on trade union links to the Labour Party, unions will have to ask members to sign up to the political levy every five years.