Clause 7 - Postal votes for workers absent from ballot at workplace
Employment Relations Bill
Public Bill Committees, 3 February 2004, 3:00 pm
Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
The answer goes back to the earlier point about the test that someone must pass to become a qualified independent person to run and to access ballots. Employees of the companies that I mentioned have all passed that test.
The hon. Gentleman clearly has a strong view on whether there should be workplace or postal ballots. I think that the CAC should attend to the issue in the context of the particular industry, the relationship between the trade union and employer, and what normal practice has been in that sector. The CAC has the power to examine that, but it does not have the power to have a combination of the two voting systems. Surely the hon. Gentleman does not want people to be prevented from voting through no fault of their own.