‘How Labour’s New Deal for Working People will strengthen trade unions’

Labour quietly released its finalised employment reforms on May 24th – although some parts of it, for instance a single status of worker and sectoral collective bargaining, have been significantly altered since it was first launched in 2021, it should make it significantly easier for trade unions to organise.

This is why, with the limited exception of Unite – which is focussing their criticism on the fire and rehire provisions – the affiliated trade unions are remaining disciplined and supportive of the package. The legislative package, not all of which (particularly the parts covering trade union legislation)  will go through a consultation period, does this in three ways: It makes labour a more secure commodity, removes legal prohibitions on trade union activity, and provides unions with more rights.

Making labour more secure

Labour providing full day one rights to all employees means that, contrary to ill-informed reports about probationary periods, employees cannot so easily be dismissed. Equally, providing permanent zero hours workers, plentiful in the NHS and hospitality,  with the right to be provided with a contract that guarantees a working pattern reflective of their average work across as 12 week reference period does the same.

The more secure labour is the easier it is to organise. What is more ambiguous is how well Labour’s proposed limitations on ‘fire and rehire’ function. Currently, Labour is proposing to implement a statutory code of conduct that will give employers an obligation to consult with trade unions before deciding to fire and rehire their staff. Failure to follow this code will add worth to any claims of unfair dismissal (which can be brought if an employee is still employed but under different terms) at an employment tribunal.

This differs from Labour MP Barry Gardiner’s proposed bill that amended the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act to oblige employers to share information with trade unions (if they did not then the dismissal was automatically unfair) and gave the central arbitration committee the power to issue an injunction. It remains to be seen if a statutory code has the same effect on employers but is unlikely to deter the more determined ones.

Furthermore, it should be noted that these measures will not affect workers who are ‘self-employed’, meaning that much of the Gig Economy will still be insecure and undermine more secure Labour- as CWU found many of Royal Mail’s competitors have done so.

However, Labour’s other commitments grant unions with more rights of access to workplaces, and it is not impossible to secure recognition with gig economy entities, as GMB have demonstrated with Deliveroo.

Changing anti-union legislation

Labour will make it easier for trade unions to take industrial action and negotiate with employers, by fully repealing the 2016 Trade Union Act, the 2022 Agencies Regulations, and the 2023 Minimum Service Levels Act.

The most significant of these is the 2016 Act, as the other two are still relatively nascent, although ASLEF and the FBU have already had to grapple with the 2023 Act. Repealing this would mean that unions such as UNISON, the  RCN, and UCU would find it easier to organise national strike action.

Equally, Labour’s commitment to implementing electronic and workplace balloting means that ballots will be cheaper. Although, as the BMA found out with its referendum on the pay offer for consultant doctors, electronic balloting will not be a silver bullet for reaching disengaged members.

Removing restrictions on industrial action is not about trying to encourage strikes (a practice that different unions have different perspectives on), it is to give trade unions more scope to bargain as they will not have to waste negotiating time by going to painstaking steps to ensure a ballot a and subsequent industrial action is legal in order to avoid sequestration. A more effective measure would be to restore the 1906 immunities that unions were deprived of in 1982; unfortunately, Labour is unlikely to do this.

It is in the spirit of encouraging bargains that Labour has pledged to reform the process for achieving statutory recognition by removing the requirements for unions to demonstrate that at least 50% of the workers in a proposed bargaining unit are likely to support recognition and for a ballot to have a turnout of at least 40% of all workers in the bargaining unit. For an example of how effective this could be, look at GMB’s efforts to gain recognition at Amazon in Coventry.

Giving unions new rights

Labour has also pledged to provide unions with improved rights such as a right of access to the workplace, and more protections and facilities time for lay representatives. This should make it easier for unions to recruit and organise from the ground up, as the union movement is one that depends on shop stewards and the ability to recruit members.

What these rights are is currently undefined, as it is easier for Labour to identify what and how they would repeal than how they would implement something that works. Given the above commitments, there is reason for cautious optimism that Labour will sincerely engage with providing unions with new rights and its agreement to create a single enforcement body with TUC and trade union representation is significant.

Each of these three categories supports and strengthens each other as ultimately they make it easier for trade unions to grow and for workers to advance their collective interests.

Trade union pragmatism means that while the New Deal is far from perfect, the affiliated unions will now back it to the hilt, as they recognise how, if combined with effective and strategic action on their part, it has the potential to be transformative for their movement and reverse decades of decline. Within the comforting confines of labourism, all else is secondary.

Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.

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