The Trade Union bill is currently in the committee stage (started on the 13th October).  I am part of a small group of MPs scrutinising it line by line.  

The Trade Union Bill had its second reading in the Commons on the 14th September where unfortunately it was passed by 314 votes to 281.

The Bill is undemocratic and will do nothing to address the productivity gap and will stifle legitimate rights to take industrial action.

The main measures in the bill are:

• The government plans to remove the current ban on the supply of agency workers to replace individuals who are participating in official industrial action
• Excessive turnout and voting thresholds for ballots for industrial action which are rarely used anywhere else in our democracy – not even in recent referenda
• Treating abstentions as ‘no’ votes for industrial action
• Information requirements relating to industrial action – including information that must be included in the ballot paper and information given to union members and to the Certification Officer following a ballot, amounting to new burdens and red tape
• Arrangements for the timing and duration of industrial action, requiring two weeks’ notice (expanded from one week) of any action to be given to an employer, and that a ballot mandate for industrial action expires after four months

You can join Labour’s campaign against the Bill by signing the Labour party’s petition here www.labour.org.uk/w/trade-union-bill-petition