Clause 5 - Union communications with workers after acceptance of application
Employment Relations Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
The union will have had to recruit members and must be in a position to explain to the CAC that it has reached the cut-off point for the number of members recruited. It will have tried the voluntary route, and that will not have worked. It will then have gone on to the statutory procedure. Surely it is important, in a democracy, that people should get the maximum amount of information that is available from all parties concerned, so that they can make a balanced judgment about what they want.
We took cognisance of the force of the arguments put to us by unions, and the clause provides the arrangements for access. This is about modern industrial relations. The system is working well and we do not want to see intimidation on either side. There is no extra cost to the employer because the union covers the cost of the communications that go to the CAC through the independent person. It is right and fair that we strike a balance. I know that Opposition Members do not accept that for reasons that have been explained in the debate. I believe that this is the right way forward.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill.