21 July 2008

Gordon Brown recently hit out at union leaders by publicly announcing that "there will be no return to the ‘70s, ‘80s or even the 1990s when it comes to union rights” and “there can be no question of any reintroduction of secondary picketing rights." This blow to the trade union movement is good news for employers but the game is not all one sided. The powerful arm of the unions has scored victories of late in the employment field and they just might have one or two more up their sleeve.

Who needs reform when the practical reality is that last year around 1 million working days were lost to strike action, the highest for a decade. (Strike 1)

It’s a bit ironic that the Prime Minster’s statement came at a time when the unions were once more flexing their muscles and preparing to carry out the right to take lawful industrial action.  Overcoming the complex balloting rules, several unions have gained their members’ support for strike action over the latest round of pay offers. Last week, hundreds of thousands of council workers, members of Unite and Unison, took part in a two day strike in a protest over a 2.45% pay offer. The Public and Commercial Services union also organised a series of strikes involving pay for civil servants, including Home Office workers, coast guards and driving test examiners. Although this was a separate dispute, the strikes were timed to coincide in a show of solidarity among public sector workers. The force of the unions is not confined to the public sector.  Some private employers, who have collective bargaining arrangements in place, have also felt the heat. Argos workers represented by Unite are staging a series of stoppages in the coming weeks over an offer of a 4% pay increase.

Trade union stronghold over Labour backs the Government into a corner and secures a deal on agency workers (Strike 2)

Back in May, the Government, CBI and the TUC reached an agreement on the way forward for achieving equal rights for agency workers under the EU Agency Workers Directive, settling for a qualifying period of 12 weeks. The unions were instrumental in achieving this dialogue, which came about after growing support in the Commons for a Private Members’ Bill seeking equal treatment from day one. Labour MPs were encouraged by the unions to vote in favour of the Bill after negotiations in Europe were repeatedly stalled, calling in promises made in 2004. Under the “Warwick agreement” the Labour party had pledged that, in return for campaign funding, if it were elected into government, it would support the EU Directive. The agreement reached with the TUC has meant progress in Europe and regulations in the UK are now expected in April 2009.

The Government has also agreed to hold discussions with the unions and the private equity industry on the rights for workers in companies taken over by private equity, which fall outside the scope of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations.  The move came in March after the Private Equity (Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment) Bill failed to get its second reading, but it could signal the introduction of greater protection and consultation rights.

Unions are delighted by Government plans to make private companies provide information when tendering for public contracts (Own goal/Strike 3)

Last week, new rules were announced for private companies bidding for public sector contracts. In future firms will have to demonstrate that they offer employees basic skills training and will be expected to provide information about joining a trade union. Union membership has seen a marked decline with around 25% of the population currently belonging to a trade union. This step could see a growth in membership in the private sector, where union representation stands at 16% compared to 58% in the public sector. 
Provisions in the Equality Bill will also place extra demands on firms in the tendering process, who will have to disclose their diversity statistics, including any gender pay gap. This too will have pleased the unions who have relentlessly campaigned for equal pay and who are now proposing that the Government extend the equality duty to the private and voluntary sectors.

This is just one of the demands that the unions are making on the Government to be voted on at the Labour national policy forum this week. Those that are employment related also include:

• Extending the adult minimum wage to 18 to 21-year-olds and apprentices,
• The right to five days a year paid educational leave for all workers
• Parental leave to be extended to a child’s 16th birthday
• New union environmental reps with similar rights to safety reps, 
• A duty on individual company directors to "take all reasonable steps to ensure health and safety".
• The  right for unions to collectively bargain on equality issues
• All firms bidding to run public services to give a  number of apprenticeships

The rights of unions may have been watered down but they are still very capable of having an influence on employment policy and the labour market. Earlier this month the first global trade union was formed. The UK’s biggest union Unite and the USW, the largest private sector union in the USA and Canada, signed an agreement to form Workers Uniting, which will represent 3 million workers across all industry sectors in Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada and the Caribbean. As they say, strength lies in numbers.