New bill to ‘free’ labour movement
A trade union freedom bill to increase workers’ powers of collective bargaining was launched at the TUC conference at Brighton last night.
Activists warn the legislation, which they hope to put before parliament next year, is the only way to reverse the decline in the number of people who come under their protection.
Only 35 per cent of workers were last year covered by a collective agreement, compared to 87 per cent in 1979 – the lowest level in Europe and a reduction that has left unions feeling increasingly powerless.
“This could be an historic congress for the UK trade union movement – where we adopt a policy committing the movement to work for and fight for our own emancipation and rights as trade unions,” said Barry Campfield, the T&G delegate who put the motion to congress.
The two main tenets of the bill are the right to take secondary, or ‘solidarity’, action in support of workers on strike; and abolishing the red tape surrounding a strike ballot, which unionists argue allows employers to stop industrial action by brandishing the small print.
As well as bringing the UK into line with other European countries, supporters argue the proposed legislation will also help reverse the decline in union membership by proving to workers that the organisations can make a difference.
“If we cannot sort this out, it is a message about our future,” said John McDonell, the MP who will be driving the law through parliament.
Not only was improving the power of collective bargaining good for union members, he insisted, but it was also necessary to reverse the worsening inequalities in Britain.
Efforts to effect change through taxation and benefits had failed because at the heart of the problem was the fact that people “no longer have the strength to negotiate themselves decent working conditions”.
Congress has voted to stage a national demonstration to raise awareness of the new bill, but Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, warned that a concerted campaign of education about union rights was also needed across the whole country.
Activists must go into workplaces to explain what the trade union legislation meant, he said, and to point out that “all anti-trade union legislation [is based on] putting hurdles in front of workers fighting back”.
The Labour government must also be told that they had to take action on removing the constraints on the trade union movement, he said. These included the requirement to give seven days notice for a ballot and then to hold the strike within four weeks of then.
Speaking earlier in the day, Mr Crow asked why Labour MPs who voted against nine lots of anti-trade union legislation passed by the Thatcher government had failed to do this again while in power.
“You can’t just expect our chequebooks every four years and expect nothing in return,” he warned the government.
