by René Lavanchy
PROPOSALS to protect trade union members from unfair dismissal and make it easier for unions to ballot members could be approved by Parliament next week.
Left-wing Labour MPs have succeeded in proposing amendments to the Government’s Employment Bill which include parts of John McDonnell’s Trade Union Freedom Bill, killed off by ministers and Tory MPs last year.
One rule would ban employers from hiring agency workers to do the jobs of striking staff, and force them to inform employment agencies that there was a dispute to avoid an excuse of ignorance. Another would oblige employers to provide contact details for their staff to a union seeking an industrial action ballot, reducing the administrative burden on unions.
Mr McDonnell, who is among the backers, said he hoped ministers would “nod through” the agency workers clause. He added: “On balloting, I think it’s something they’ll have to look at.
Virtually every trade union is affected.”
Gordon Brown rejected such proposals earlier this year when he declared “no return to the 1970s” on union rights.
