{"id":6730,"date":"2015-11-11T15:55:14","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T15:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=6730"},"modified":"2015-11-11T15:55:14","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T15:55:14","slug":"tu-bill-fight-far-from-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=6730","title":{"rendered":"TU Bill fight ‘far from over’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Despite fierce opposition from all sides, including trade unions, human rights groups, the business community and even some Tory MPs, the trade union Bill passed through its third and final reading in the Commons last night (November 10).<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Bill was passed with 305 MPs voting in favour and 271 voting against \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a majority of 34.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Bill will now go before the House of Lords for its first reading today (November 11), although no debate will take place until its second reading, which is yet to be scheduled.<\/p>\n

 
\nTUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady said the fight was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfar from over\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government has shown once again its determination to undermine the fundamental right to strike,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMinisters simply want to make it harder for working people to get fair treatment at work.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile [yesterday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s] vote was disappointing, the campaign against the Bill is far from over,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will continue to oppose it as it goes through the House of Lords.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs was shown in Parliament [last night], there is widespread concern about the threat this Bill poses to good industrial relations. It was welcome to see politicians from many parties recognise the damage it could do.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nFour Tory MPs, including David Davis, Sarah Wollaston, Stephen McPartland and Jeremy LeFroy tabled or signed amendments to the Bill, with Lefroy tabling an amendment that would halt the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ban on \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcheck-off\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, which enables union subscriptions to be automatically deducted from public sector workers’ pay.<\/p>\n

 
\nDuring the debate last night, Lefroy was puzzled by the ban, saying that there could be no viable penalties to the prohibition on check-off, a system which he thought was in any case a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsensible arrangement\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. The government resisted the amendment.<\/p>\n

 
\nShadow business secretary Angela Eagle highlighted in the final debate the draconian nature of the Bill, and emphasised that it violated ILO conventions. She argued that the Bill was only the latest example of a government aiming to silence its critics.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a government that is pursuing a very deliberate strategy to legislate its critics into silence or submission,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re attacking the Human Rights Act, they are targeting the Freedom of Information Act and they are issuing threats to the House of Lords for daring to ask them to think again on tax credits. This is a government that increasingly likes to use the law to clamp down on dissent.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite general secretary Len McCluskey has again pressed the government to consider secure workplace balloting in a recent meeting with business secretary Savid Javid.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorking people will have been aghast to see the lack of understanding displayed by the Tory benches about even the basic work trade unions do to make working life easier for millions of ordinary people every day,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\nMcCluskey railed against the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhuge level of ignorance which has sadly resulted in a bill that nobody in either industry or workplaces wants and will ruin decent industrial relations in the UK.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we will continue to press the case for the government to modify its plans because it does immense damage to working life,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe issue of workplace ballots ought to be straightforward for them to grasp and the government does not seem to have an answer as to why it will not accept them.They are already in place in Australia it seems so what is the problem with adopting them for UK workers?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indeed, industrial ballots are typically run by the Australian Electoral Commission, which gives trade union members in disputes with their employers the option of holding a secure ballot in the workplace.<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\nMcCluskey pledged that Unite would stand firm in its opposition to the Bill.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will keep hammering away at this because I am absolutely serious when I say that what the government is determined to do to working life is extremely worrying for all in our nations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\nStay tuned on UNITElive for updates as the trade union Bill goes through the House of Lords.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite fierce opposition from all sides, including trade unions, human rights groups, the business community and even some Tory MPs, the trade union Bill passed through its third and final reading in the Commons last night (November 10).   The Bill was passed with 305 MPs voting in favour and 271 voting against \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[344],"wps_subtitle":"Unions stand firm against draconian legislation","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6730"}],"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=6730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6731,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6730\/revisions\/6731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}