{"id":5578,"date":"2015-09-10T11:07:27","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T10:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5578"},"modified":"2015-09-10T16:40:15","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T15:40:15","slug":"scrap-the-trade-union-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5578","title":{"rendered":"Scrap the Trade Union bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite, has today (September 10) urged the government to abandon its Trade Union bill, warning that the legislation heralds a new era of divisive industrial relations ill-befitting a modern economy.<\/p>\n

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Further, it would tilt power in an increasingly unequal Britain still further towards the rich and big business.<\/p>\n

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The call comes as the bill prepares for its second reading in the Commons (September 14) and as submissions are made to the business department on three aspects of the Conservative government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans, including changing the law to allow agency staff to be used during strikes; increasing ballot thresholds for strikes in public services; and further tightening of the laws on picketing during disputes.<\/p>\n

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The union is deeply concerned that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposals \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which have been slammed as \u00e2\u20ac\u0098not fit for purpose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 by its own advisors and attracted widespread criticism from human rights\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 organisations \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will contaminate decades of work to improve industrial relations, forcing employers and trade unions into longer, more bitter disputes.<\/p>\n

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Furthermore, the bill is a missed opportunity for the government to modernise trade union balloting, building on the proposals of the previous business secretary Vince Cable to develop secure workplace voting and developing mechanisms that already exist for union recognition ballots.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is hard to find a shred of support for this shabby bill. Former ministers have termed it \u00e2\u20ac\u0098depressingly ideological and completely unnecessary,'” said Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

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He highlighted the criticism the bill has drawn from all sides.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAgency trade bodies are worried about the impact on their members,” McCluskey said.\u00c2\u00a0 “Human resources specialists say it is counter-productive. The police have stated that union protests are peaceful and do not attract complaint or cause concern.”<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNot one of the blue chip companies with which Unite works has said that the law needs to change because good employers value the role trade unions play in the workplace, with far more often than not disputes resolved through consultation and negotiation.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own independent advisors have dismissed it as \u00e2\u20ac\u0098not fit for purpose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt would seem that the only support for it is around the Conservative cabinet table, sadly exposing their prejudice and poor understanding about what unions actually do to support working people and improve working conditions,” he added.<\/p>\n

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Force for fairness
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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTrade unions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and our six million members \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are not the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098enemy within\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, but a force for fairness.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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McCluskey renewed the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call for the bill to be abandoned.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMinisters must scrap these plans,” he said. “Legislation that makes it harder for unions to defend people, encourages employers to string out disputes and permits the authorities to demand to see workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Facebook posts will mean working people living on bended knee. This proposed legislation would be a bad, backward-looking law.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe appeal to the wiser counsels on the Conservative benches, who understand the importance of fundamental freedoms and personal dignity, do not allow these regressive plans to reach the statute book.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey will further tilt power in this country and are simply a gift to bad bosses,” McCluskey added. “In \u00e2\u20ac\u0098One Nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Tory Britain one thing will be certain – working people will be easier to exploit.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite has repeatedly called upon the government to follow a more progressive path in industrial relations, including working with trade unions on measures to develop modern workplace voting.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s challenge to the government is to prove that it is genuinely interested in addressing a perceived democratic deficit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not seeking to make it harder for working people to exercise their basic rights,” McCluskey continued.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo we call upon ministers to sit down with us to discuss effective ways to increase turnout and thresholds in ballots that fit with modern life.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBoth employers and workers are already used to workplace ballots for trade union recognition \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it therefore makes perfect sense to extend this established, successful arrangement to ensure that trade union members can also vote in industrial action ballots in a secure environment. Progress can be made on this now, with no need for this divisive bill.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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As the bill goes up for its second reading on Monday (September 14), be sure to contact your MP and tell them to do the right thing and vote against it. You can do just that right here<\/a> — it takes less than 30 seconds to do your part to protect working people’s rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite, has today (September 10) urged the government to abandon its Trade Union bill, warning that the legislation heralds a new era of divisive industrial relations ill-befitting a modern economy.     Further, it would tilt power in an increasingly unequal Britain still further towards the rich and big business.     The call comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[344],"wps_subtitle":"It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098gift to bad bosses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5578"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5580,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5578\/revisions\/5580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}