DAVID Cameron’s controversial trade union reforms are “crumbling”, the SNP has claimed, after a leaked UK Government letter suggested Whitehall was preparing to make significant concessions, including consulting with Scottish Government ministers.
Welcoming the shift, Labour demanded the Conservative government now scrap the “rotten” Trade Union Bill altogether.
The legislation, which would make it much harder for workers to strike and, Labour argues, will seriously cut its funding, has been met with fierce opposition north of the border from both unions and political parties. The Scottish Government has sought to oppose the legislation because it would impact on devolved services.
At the weekend, Scotland’s trade union movement was urged to fight "outside the law" in an attempt to kill the bill. Unite has called for all 630,000 union members in Scotland to resist the "malicious" legislation now going through in its final stages at Westminster.
A leaked letter from Nick Boles, the UK skills minister, has set out a series of concessions, including consulting the Scottish Government on the requirement for a 40 per cent support threshold for strike action in important public services, facility time - time spent on union activities - and check-off - arrangements for collecting union subs from salaries.
In addition, if this did not prove to be a sufficient safeguard, Mr Boles said he proposed disapplying the ban on check-off to devolved public services in Scotland and Wales.
The move has come about because it is believed the UK Government fears the House of Lords will defeat certain aspects of the bill. No 10 declined to comment, saying it did not comment on leaked documents.
The letter, leaked to the Socialist Worker as peers began debating the bill, also includes proposed concessions around issues such as the need for a picket supervisor to wear an armband, increasing the notice period for strikes from seven to 14 days and whether unions should be allowed to conduct e-ballots for strikes.
Chris Stephens for the SNP said: "This letter is further evidence that the Tories' draconian Trade Union bill is rapidly crumbling under pressure and this regressive legislation has no place in modern day Scotland.
"It shows that the Tories are desperately trying to make concessions and amendments in the face of defeats to this unnecessary and unwanted legislation.”
The Glasgow South West MP claimed the legislation, as it stood, would destroy industrial relations across the country.
"If the Tories are willing to exempt Scotland and Wales from certain provisions in the Bill, then they should also be prepared to scrap the whole thing completely," he added.
Angela Eagle for Labour said the leaked letter showed her party had been right to oppose the bill from day one and it was welcome that ministers now privately accepted large parts of it were not fit for purpose and would have significant legal and constitutional implications if it was forced through Parliament.
“The Trade Union bill is a divisive and partisan piece of legislation, which Labour opposes in its entirety and while the changes discussed in this leaked letter are important, they don’t go nearly far enough. The Tories should do the decent thing and scrap this rotten piece of legislation altogether,” said the Shadow Business Secretary.
Grahame Smith for the Scottish Trades Union Congress said the leaked letter was proof the Prime Minister had seriously over-stepped the mark on trade union rights and the principles of devolution.
"Our campaign to ensure that significant sections of the bill do not apply to devolved government is making serious inroads and we are grateful to all the Scottish political parties who have united with us in opposition to the bill.”
He argued that the clause on check-off should be disapplied across the UK not just in Scotland and Wales. But he admitted there was some relief that union members would continue to be entitled to pay their dues in the most straightforward way.
"However, the central elements of this nasty and ideological attack on our members' rights are still in this bill. We are, therefore, still committed to using every available means to defeat it," he added.
Lynn Henderson, Public and Commercial Services union national officer, echoed the point, saying while the concessions were welcome, the campaign to stop the legislation would continue.
"As the Bill is about to be scrutinised further by the House of Lords we will continue to put pressure on peers to oppose all aspects of the legislation," she said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here