CON DEMS ATTACK TRADE UNION RIGHTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2013 :: RMTnews 19 G overnments of every hue have a reputation for burying damaging stories by releasing them late on a Friday when everyone is winding down for the weekend. But this government has made a fine art of slipping controversial legal changes through by introducing them at the last minute or tucking them away in the small print. They did it earlier this year with the removal of strict liability for employers on health and safety, over-turning a law that went back to 1898. Now they are trying to do it again with the cumbersomely- named Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill. Introduced just as the summer holidays were starting, the Bill was trailed by the government as being about tackling corrupt lobbying. It fails on that score because, while it restricts charities campaigning on issues of concern to them, it leaves big companies free to do as much lobbying as they like. But for trade unions there’s a nasty sting in the tail: Part 3 gives the state alarming powers to require unions to hand-over membership records and private correspondence. For years now, unions have had to submit annual membership returns to the government’s Certification Officer (CO). It’s been open and transparent, giving union members the right to check the records and complain to the CO if something is wrong – and no one has since 2004. Now the government wants to intrude much further by: • Requiring unions with more than 10,000 members to appoint an Assurer from among ‘qualified independent persons’ as named or defined by the Government • Requiring unions to submit an annual ‘Membership Audit Certificate’ (prepared, in the case of those with more than 10,000 members, by an Assurer) • Giving the Assurer the right to access membership records and require union officers to provide information. • Giving the CO and CO staff and CO inspectors and Assurers powers to require production of documents and to make copies of them, including individual membership records and private correspondence from ‘anyone who appears…to be in possession of them’ if there is ‘good reason to do so’. If the bill goes through, literally hundreds of state personnel and contractors will have the power to access the personal information of more than seven million union members. As the TUC says: “It is not the business of the state to know who is or who is not a trade union member and where they live.” The government is invoking article 8(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to over-ride data protection laws. But that article says the right to privacy can only be limited by ‘the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.’ By implication, the government is saying trade unions are a threat to all these things - and therefore it is okay to do what they propose. The Bill has come from business secretary Vince Cable’s department, yet again displaying a shocking lack of liberalism from a Liberal Democrat minister (and complete disregard for internationally recognised privacy and trade union rights). This is a spiteful piece of anti-union red tape from a government that’s meant to be opposed to red tape. Its intrusion on privacy is chilling and has serious implications for freedom of association. People join trade unions for all sorts of reasons, but it’s a private matter. No other membership organisation is going to be required to hand- over personal information. The government says the law is needed because ‘trade union activity’ affects people’s daily lives. In other words, they want to make it even harder for unions to take strike action. And that’s what this is really about. Under existing legislation, employers often challenge strike ballots, winning some and losing others. RMT won a major victory in the Court of Appeal against Serco in 2011, which reset the standard required for the union’s ballot information in terms of “as accurate as reasonably practicable”. But this bill would provide employers with new evidential tools to undermine the RMT’s victory and make it more difficult for members to take collective action. At the same time, it would put membership records at risk of being misplaced or misused – something union members have good grounds to fear given evidence of widespread blacklisting in some industries. Parliament is now debating the Bill. You can influence the outcome by writing to your MP and supporting your union in campaigning on this issue. For more information on the Bill, see the Thompsons briefing on Thompson web site - thompsonstradeunionlaw.co.uk Richard Arthur is the national coordinator for trade union law at Thompsons Solicitors. LEGAL CON DEMS ATTACK TRADE UNION RIGHTS