John McDonnell, supported by the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group,
presented his Private Members’ Bill to parliament on June 30th. If adopted, the
Bill would significantly improve unions’ ability to defend their
members and would be the first step towards the full restoration of
trade union rights. (LRC Press Release)
After coming first in the Private Members’ Ballot and in consultation
with the trade union movement and leading trade union lawyers, John
McDonnell MP is sponsoring the “Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors)
Bill” to tackle the increasing practice by employers of using minor
technical errors in the balloting process – which have no material
effect on the outcome – to take unions to court in order to prevent them
from taking industrial action.
Commenting on the Bill, John McDonnell MP said:
“We have seen in the current BA Cabin Crew dispute and
many other recent disputes, employers have been able to exploit
loopholes in the existing law by using minor technical errors in a trade
union ballot to thwart trade unionists from taking strike action.“This resort to the courts by some ruthless employers is bringing
current employment law into disrepute and undermining industrial
relations in this country. This cannot be right and in the interests of
good industrial relations needs to be addressed.”
Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT, said:
“There is no doubt that this government of millionaire
public schoolboys will encourage the use of the courts to try and stop
workers from fighting back against the attacks that are being lined up
by the ConDem administration.“RMT has been hauled through the courts on the most spurious of
grounds by employers trying to sabotage democratic votes by our members
whose only crime has been to fight for their jobs and safe working
conditions. We have seen the arsenal of legal measures ranged up against
us by the employers increase in recent months as the bosses’ lawyers
have homed in on the most ludicrous of technicalities to try and outlaw
the right to strike by the back door.“John McDonnell is proving himself once again to be the champion of
the working classes in dragging this assault on democracy and human
rights out of the Courts and into the daylight through his Private
Members Bill.”
Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the POA, said:
“The POA supports the Private Members Bill entitled
Lawful Industrial Action as employers are using the anti trade union
legislation to stop legitimate industrial action from taking place, by
getting the Courts to rule on minor technical errors. You only have to
look at the disgraceful cases taken against Unite and RMT Unions. This
is a small step in the right direction but the anti trade union
legislation needs to go to protect all workers.”
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the PCS, said:
“PCS backs John McDonnell’s Bill which would repeal the
law that outrageously allows employers to use the courts to block the
democratic will of trade unionists to take action. If Parliamentary
elections had to satisfy such stringent regulations, we would have no
MPs and 650 court cases pending.“This piece of legislation would improve industrial relations by
encouraging employers to seek dialogue, rather than legal wrangling over
minutiae, to settle disputes.”
Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the FBU, said:
“The Fire Brigades Union strongly welcomes this Bill and
urges everyone to get behind it. The amount of hurdles that unions have
to jump in order to take lawful industrial action is nothing short of a
scandal, and is an infringement of workers’ basic democratic right to
withdraw their labour.”
Joe Marino, General Secretary of the BFAWU, said:
“Recent legal action has shown that the law in relation
to industrial action ballots is an ass. Britain already has the harshest
industrial relations legislation in the civilized world and recent
comments from the CBI show that even this is not enough for some
employers. The Private Members Bill from John McDonnell MP will simply
eradicate some of the most objectionable elements of this legislation
and stop frivolous legal cases by employers who would be better served
seeking negotiation rather than costly legal remedies.”
Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the NUJ, said:
“The NUJ supports the Lawful Industrial Action Private
Members’ Bill because we suffer from some of the worst trade union laws
in Europe. Employers should not be allowed to use the courts as a way to
clamp down on democratic votes in the workplace. The heavily one-sided
nature of the law does not respect basic civic rights and freedoms and
therefore needs to change.”
Note:
* John McDonnell MP is sponsoring the Lawful Industrial Action (Minor
Errors) Bill to amend section 232B of the Trade Union and Labour
Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (c. 52) to extend the circumstances
in which, by virtue of that section, industrial action is not to be
treated as excluded from the protection of section 219 of that Act.
The Bill has been co-signed by Kate Hoey MP, Tony Lloyd MP, Dave
Anderson MP, Michael Connarty MP, Austin Mitchell MP, Frank Doran MP,
Kelvin Hopkins MP, Jim Sheridan MP, David Crausby MP, Ian Lavery MP and
John Cryer MP.
Second Reading of the Bill will be 22nd October 2010. There will be a
mass rally and lobby of parliament on the 13th October 2010.
* The Trade Union Co-ordinating Group (TUCG) brings together eight
national unions (BFAWU, FBU, NAPO, NUJ, PCS, POA, RMT and URTU),
representing over half a million workers, with the objective of
co-ordinating campaigning activities on key issues facing their members
and giving the unions a new and stronger representative voice in
Parliament and beyond.
* The TUCG’s Annual Tolpuddle Commemorative Event ‘Restoring the
Right to Strike’ 7pm, Monday 19th July 2010, Grimond Room, will focus on
John McDonnell’s Private Members Bill.
