Trade unions gather to gear up for fight against Tory attacks

“This bill is not a declaration of war on the trade union movement”, said Business Secretary Sajid Javid as he defended one of the biggest crackdowns on unions in thirty years. It’s an assault that even Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t have dreamed of, that Tory MP David Davis likened to something out of “Franco’s Spain”, and that former Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable, condemned as “vindictive”. It threatens to take out the bottom of the union movement by striping it of money, organising power and the ability to strike. And on Monday it was ushered through Parliament by 33 votes.

The next day as delegates and journalists gathered at TUC Congress, excitement over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership victory – he was, after all, backed by eleven unions – was dampened by what is to come for unions. Everyone I spoke to was trying to prepare for the challenge ahead.

The Bill is hard to digest because it’s so large in scope. The Government’s attack on trade unions ranges from imposing harsh 50% thresholds for strikes (while not allowing online, e-mail or phone balloting, this is what Javid apparently considers as “modernisation and reform”) to stopping worn out workers’ in key public services from going on strike unless 40% of those entitled to do so vote in favour

But this is just the ominous beginning of the Government’s plans. There are a number of lesser known but frighteningly ludicrous elements to this Bill. One is that there curtains will be closed on the “check-off” system, where union subs are taken directly out of members’ pay packets. It may sound like a small change but unions will crushed by the bureaucracy of it all; their time will be consumed by getting members to set up direct debits just so they can pay their subs.

In an Orwellian turn, unions will also have to fork out a fee for the Government to police them. A government-appointed certification officer, whose job it is to regulate trade unions, will investigate and fine unions over their political expenditure and how they carry out internal elections. In an attempt to strange unions’ funding, they’ll have to pay for this pleasure through a levy.

Add to these plans to introduce “picket supervisors” who will have to be present at strikes, wearing an armband so they’re easy to identify. They also have to take “reasonable steps” to let the police know their name, contact details and the picket location. In another financial hit, unions could be fined up to £20,000 each time the certification officer decides they’ve breached these rules.

The Government say this Bill will “protect… hard-working men and women who are hit hardest by industrial action.” The more realistic of us realise that their plans for “working people” are quite the opposite. They want to tie up unions in financial tape so that all of their energy is focussed on paying and chasing funds – so workers’ rights are even more vulnerable than they already are.