Still a fundamental attack

On the eve of the trade union Bill’s report stage, due to take place next week (November 10), the government suddenly climbed down on some of the legislation’s key elements.

 
Controversial measures that would require trade unions to supply the police with detailed plans on how they plan to use Twitter or Facebook during a campaign or dispute were officially dropped last night (November 3) by the department for business, innovation and skills (BIS).

 
The government’s published response to its consultation on picketing highlighted other proposals it would no longer be pursuing, including requiring trade unions to publish intended plans for action during a dispute, treating picket line intimidation as a new criminal offence and requiring all members on a picket line to identify themselves to police and employers.

 
Another controversial proposal scrapped from the Bill is the requirement that an identified picket supervisor carry a letter of authorisation with all their personal details, which would have to be shown to the police and any member of the public who asks to see it.

 
But Unite general secretary Len McCluskey questioned the timing of the last-minute decision by the BIS to drop a handful of measures in order to make the Bill more palatable to Tory ministers who might be inclined to vote against it.

 
“This token move by the government does not redeem what is widely regarded as a needless bill designed to undermine working people and their unions,” he said.

 
“An overwhelming consensus spanning employers, the police, former ministers and personnel professionals condemn this bill because it is backwards, divisive and will ruin industrial relations in this country,” he added.

 
McCluskey warned Tory members weighing up how to vote at next week’s report stage that they “should not be fooled”.

Needlessly draconian

“This bill destroys Conservative claims to be the party of the working people, and working people will remember the malice behind this legislation for a very long time to come,” he said.

 
“Regrettably we have also yet to hear a sensible response from ministers on the issue of modern, workplace balloting,” McCluskey went on to say. “It is ridiculous that in this day and age, unions and their members are forced to use costly postal services yet the Tory party can conduct their ballots using new technology. All we are asking for is a level playing field for Britain’s workers.”

 
“The absence of progress on this fundamental issue means that suspicions only deepens that the sole purpose of this bill is to part working people from their rights,” he added.

 
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady argued that there were still many measures in the Bill that are needlessly draconian.

 
“Picket organisers will still have to wear an armband,” she explained. “They’ll still have to give their name and address to the police. And they’ll still have to carry a standard letter from the union authorising the picket. So concerns about blacklisting and victimisation may be reduced but they haven’t gone away.”

 
“And, more widely, from giving employers powers to substitute strikers with agency workers and new opportunities to win injunctions and damages, the trade union Bill is still a fundamental attack on the right to strike and to organise,” she added.

Today’s news follows a mass rally and lobby organised by the TUC on Monday (November 2), which gathered together thousands from across the country to oppose the trade union Bill.
With less than a week left before the trade union Bill goes before the Commons in report stage and third reading, there’s still time left to email your MP and tell them what you think. It takes only minutes – find out more here.