ANYONE NEEDING a reminder of the grim implications of a fourth term Tory government only has to ook as tar as their latest plans for extending the existing draconian anti-trade union legislation.
lory amployment secretr Michael Howard has already laws, to be pushed quickly onto win the election. His proposals are based on 'Industrial Relations in the 1990s', the Green Paper published last year. The principle measures include:
COMPULSORY postal ballots for all strikes, except the very smallest, reversing the legislation of the 1980s which allowed workplace ballots as the acceptable method of tak ing da mini.
minimum of SEVEN DAYS strike notice after completion of the ballot, and a legal obligation to give the employ full information on any ballot either planned or carried out.
Nurses
Nurses protest af undertunding • the RIGHT of members of the public to sue strikers in the public service industries. goes way beyond the existing situation where a union can be sued and its funds sequestrated if it steps outside of the existing Tory laws.
renesya dae authorisation for deduction of union dues from wages. This is designed to undermine unions who rely heavily on such agreements for their member• the 'RIGHT' of workers to Uc join any union they wish, in defiance of membership agreedoes not the right of recognition for the join, simply the 'right' to break up existing agreements.
One original proposal in the Green Paper - to make collective agreements legally enforceable has been dropped from the Howard proposals. This follows opposition from employers, who teared it could be used against them in some er camsaaros to carorceasiee ments they wanted to abandon.
In all other respects the Green Paper is incorporated to the full. It shows a continuation of Tory tactics in progressively introducing further anti-union laws once the previous package has been accepted.
POTasuons. dangerous these measures is the right of members of the public to sue strikers directly, rather than the union. This is a direct response to the strikes in public transport over the summer of 1989. Journalists hit back at Obviously it has particular implications for workers in public transport, hospitals, and à range of public services. Any member of the public claiming actual or potential damage oi could go to the courts and claim damages from the strikers concerned. Failure to pay up would land workers in jail All these new measures not only show the importance of electing a Labour government, but also show the importance of the campaign to force Labour to repeal all anti-union laws.
Britain now has more repressive employment legislation than any other EC country, and at the same time tewe: positive rights for those at work. We cannot allow a Labour government to preside over such a sitation.